The Much More Simplified Version of The Craft to Heal Program!
Scratch that, rewind, try again ... my first announcement was too confusing and I want to make it easier for you to see if crafting to heal is something that is right for you!
Yesterday I sent out a newsletter announcing the launch of my new year-long program called Craft to Heal. And the minute that I did, I knew that I had made a mistake.
Not with the program itself but with the way it was presented. It was confusing. There’s nothing wrong with admitting that something doesn’t work and fixing it. So that’s what I’m doing here.
This is the super simple class info. And, for those who are interested, the Art Meets Mental Health story behind the change.
The Super Simple Edit
Craft to Heal is a guided creative journey and supportive community designed to help you explore personal growth, healing, and connection through the crafts you love.
Each month has a theme - mindfulness, facing fears, embracing adventure, strengthening relationships.
Each month I’ll offer an introductory lesson on crafting to heal for that month's theme, a second more advanced lesson, and the opportunity for 1:1 creative guidance. You can join any or all of these each month.
Sign up for the March 2025 class. It’s only $5 and it provides you with a solid foundation for starting to Craft to Heal.
Want more details?
I have updated the original newsletter post with all of the information. Read that here.
Detailed information about the entire course is here. This includes:
More about me and what brought me to this work
Can’t make it to the first class on March 18th? That’s okay. All classes will be recorded so if you sign up to attend, you’ll receive the video of the class once it’s complete, whether or not you’ve attended the session.
On Making the Edits
All of the important class information is above. But for those who are interested, I thought I’d share a bit about deciding to send out this second edited version the day after the first version.
Why? Because what I am passionate about is illuminating the complex relationship between art and mental health. Sharing my art life and how it intersects with my mental health is the basis for that.
Let me start by saying that I’ve been working on this program for awhile, and I’m excited about it, and I’m proud of it.
This is the ten year anniverary of its predecessor - the book Hook to Heal. This is one of my books that I’m most proud of. It’s the book that I wrote because I needed it. It’s a book filled with creative approaches that I developed and have used again and again in my own life.
But it wasn’t without its flaws. It’s a long text-heavy book with no images. It’s a crochet book with no patterns (intentionally, but that doesn’t particularly market well.) Since the very day that I published it, I’ve always planned to offer it as a more interactive program. It’s taken ten years.
It’s taken ten years because I wasn’t ready. In those ten years, I got my Masters in psychology, studied Visual and Critical Studies at the Masters level, interviewed hundreds of people about crafting to heal, expanding my own craft practice, ran workshops and delivered lectures and sat on panels. It took all of that to be ready.
So, when I felt ready, finally, I got really excited. And I designed something that made sense in my brain. And I launched it …
I launched it too fast. Without editing. Without making sure that what made sense in my brain would make sense to most other brains. And I did that because: ANXIETY.
I was/am so excited to get this out there … and also I’m really passionate about it and vulnerable and what if nobody is interested and what if it completely fails and what if, what if, what if. My depressed/anxious/unique brain has all of the what ifs.
And I did that thing we do sometimes … self-sabotage.
The subconscious thinking is something like: “I’m going to hurry up and put this out even though I know it’s not ready because then if people don’t like it, it’s about that and not about the thing I made. So even if everybody hates it, they don’t really hate this thing that is so precious to me that I’m afraid to put it out there.”
I am no perfectionist but there’s a common perfectionism/procrastination thing that happens for a lot of people with anxiety. Especially “high functioning” anxiety. You want the thing to be perfect and you know you can’t make it perfect so you put it off and put it off and put it off and then you do it last minute and blame the imperfections on that. Raise your hand if you’ve been there.
So, that’s what I did. And as soon as I did, I realized what I did. So I took a deep breath, snuggled my dog, reminded myself that there’s no rule that says I can’t change what I just said I was doing, and started again.
The bones of the Craft to Heal program were all there. Everything I’ve created and planned to do is all there. So reworking it wasn’t even that difficult. What was difficult was saying, “hey, I did that wrong, and here’s another try, and hopefully you’ll like it because I really really want you to like it.”
I’ve removed the super complicated pricing structure that made so much sense in my head and took days to set up in favor of a really basic, “here’s a link to my class, sign up for it on the days you want” approach. I’ve simplified and streamlined.
It’s still not perfect. It’s never going to be. But it’s actually ready this time. So I hope that you’ll take a look and see if it’s something that’s right for you.
With much gentle love and creative energy,
Kathryn (and her anxious/depressed/inspired/excited brain)