A Loving Legacy: Turning Memories into Memoirs
~ Leaving words on the pages of time ~
3 Mondays – 5/19, 6/2, and 6/16
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Date: 3 Mondays – 5/19, 6/2, and 6/16 - Meets every other week, starting May 19
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm [please note earlier start time than past workshops]
Program Description:
Memories of everything that has ever happened to you are stored in your unconscious. There are hundreds of stories residing inside you. These stories are your identity.
Using combined techniques of relaxation, visualization, and Fast Flow Writing™ to access emotions, sensory memories, and life experiences, Dr. Ballon will help participants transform their memories into memoirs.
Dr. Ballon brings a unique expertise as an international writing consultant and longtime psychotherapist in facilitating self-exploration, self-discovery, and a powerfully authentic voice in writing.
Each workshop will involve a combination of listening, writing, sharing, and receiving feedback. Sharing what one has written is optional. The program is well-suited for adults and high school students. No writing experience is necessary.
Location: (Directions and Parking Instructions below)
UnUrban Coffeehouse
3301 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Fee: $35 for series of three sessions . Enrollees must register for the whole series in order to participate, because group continuity maximizes the experience. The fee enables us to meet our costs while capping enrollment at 30, so that participants may have more opportunities to share their work. FREE PARKING.
Enrollment Instructions:
Instructions for registration online or by mail can be found at www.uclartsandhealing.net/events.php. You can also get instructions for registration by mail by calling 310-452-1439. Checks must be received in order for registration to be complete.
This is a highly popular program, so pre-registration is recommended in order to prevent delays at the event and to guarantee admission. Drop-ins are advised to check the website at www.uclartsandhealing.net/events.php for space availability on the first day of the event (the information will be noted next to the title of the event on the event information page). There will also be a pre-recorded message on 310-452-1439 with space availability information on it.
Items to Bring: Paper, pen, and something firm on which to write. Laptops are permitted, as long as they are quiet.
Presenter(s):
Rachel Ballon, Ph.D., M.F.T.
Hailed "Doc Hollywood" by the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Rachel Ballon is a licensed psychotherapist and international writers' consultant who specializes in personal and professional issues experienced by writers, such as fear of rejection, success, or failure, and procrastination. As Founder and Director of the Writer's Center, Dr. Ballon teaches and helps thousands of writers connect with their inner cast of characters and reconnect to their most potent creative resource - themselves. She brings her expertise in these both fields to her seminars, workshops and books. Her innovative Fast Flow Writing Method has enabled clients to write emotionally honest screenplays, novels, plays and non-fiction. Their works have won awards and many have gone on to become successful novelists, screenwriters, and writers for children and young adults.
As a marriage and family therapist in private practice in Westwood for over twenty-six years, Dr. Ballon has used writing therapy with her clients and has developed specific techniques to teach mental health professionals how to use writing with clients, individually and in group settings. She is also a published poet and poetry therapist who studied with Dr. Arthur Lerner, the founder of the Poetry Therapy Institute in Los Angeles.
Dr. Ballon teaches mental health and health care professionals how to use narrative - such as theme, story structure, transformational arc and resolution - with clients to help them transform their negative personal stories into happy endings. She has conducted workshops at UCLA, UC Irvine and CSUN in "The Use of Writing as an Adjunct in the Counseling Setting," "The Therapeutic Power of Story" and "Fast Flow Writing to Heal" workshops. Other workshops at UCLA in the Human Development department have included: "Be the Hero in Your Career and Life: The Use of Writing for Growth and Change," "The Personal Journal: Write Your Story, Right Your Life," "Visibility: Gaining Personal and Professional Recognition," and "Creativity, Imagination and Spirit: Unlocking the Blocks."
A master teacher and noted writing coach, Dr. Ballon has reviewed hundreds of scripts for major Hollywood studios such as Fox Entertainment, Fox Family Channel, UPN and Saban Entertainment. A former Adjunct Professor in scriptwriting at USC School of Cinema and Television, where some of her students and clients have won awards for their scripts, she has taught writing to thousands of writers throughout the United States. She has conducted seminars for UCLA's Writer's Program, the American Film Institute, the Writer's Guild of America, the Director's Guild of America, Women in Film, Women in Theater, Northwestern University, and major writing conferences worldwide.
Dr. Ballon has taught her screenwriting and story development methods to executives, directors, producers and writers at RAI-TV in Rome, Italy, where many were produced in television and feature films. Two of her producers were nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign short film. She also conducted workshops on Creativity and Values in Film in Valencia, Spain. As a member of the Writer's Guild of America, Dr. Ballon is a scriptwriter with produced television credits on ABC-TV, and several of her scripts have been optioned by major studios. She was a writer on an award winning documentary entitled, "Then Their Were None," and is the author of five critically acclaimed books, Blueprint for Writing: A Writer's Guide to Creativity, Craft and Career and The Writer's Sourcebook: From Writing Blocks to Writing Blockbusters, Breathing Life Into Your Characters, Blueprint for Screenwriting: A Writer's Guide to Story Structure and Character Development and The Writers' Portable Therapist: 25 Sessions to a Creativity Cure. Dr. Ballon is a clinical member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and she conducts "Writing to Heal" workshops throughout Los Angeles.
Directions and Parking Instructions:
The UnUrban Coffeehouse is cozy, with character. It has coffee, baked goods, and healthy homemade food (for vegetarians also). And it is affordable. Arrive early or stay late for supper. Open 7 a.m. until midnight. 310-315-0056
The UnUrban Coffeehouse is just off the freeway near the 405 Fwy and 10 Fwy interchange. Take the 405 Freeway to 10 West Fwy and Exit on Bundy North. Make an immediate left onto Pico Blvd. The UnUrban is about 1/2 mile on the right, at the corner of Pico and 33rd Street, across the street from Trader Joe's. To park, turn left at 33rd and make an immediate left into the U.S. Bank parking lot. Parking is free and convenient.
Sponsors:
UCLArts and Healing aims to facilitate the use of the arts as a healing tool in the community by: 1) offering affordable experiential learning opportunities to educators, health professionals, community workers, caregivers, artists, and the general public, and 2) designing and evaluating programs that can be implemented broadly in educational and health care settings. Program planning addresses the needs of those in the field, and involves partnerships with academic institutions, educational and health care institutions, community-based organizations, schools, professional organizations, and private industry. www.uclartsandhealing.net
This program is part of the educational outreach component of the UCLA Collaborative Centers for Integrative Medicine. www.ccim.med.ucla.edu The UCLA Collaborative Centers for Integrative Medicine (CCIM) is a campus-wide program committed to the study and application of integrative medicine. The CCIM sponsors public and professional education, facilitates research and promotes appropriate practice of complementary, alternative, and mind-body medicine.
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