Essay Collection: Crochet/Craft As Therapy
From Many Years Spent Exploring the Healing Benefits of Handcrafts
I’ve been writing about the complex relationship between art and mental health for many years now.
It started with a specific interest in the mental and physical health benefits of crochet.
I interviewed 2 dozen women about that for my book, Crochet Saved My Life.
I interviewed hundreds more over the years for various online and print articles including 8 years writing the monthly Crochet Heals column for Happily Hooked Magazine.
I created 100 exercises for using crochet to improve various areas of life for my book Hook to Heal, a book which has been used by therapists and mentors in prisons, substance recovery centers and other institutions.
I launched a collaborative online project that turned into a book and California art exhibits to raise awareness about depression, suicide, and crafting to heal as a response to the death by suicide of crochet designer Mandalas for Marinke whose story had been in Crochet Saved My Life.
Then I expanded into exploring the therapeutic benefits of other crafts. And eventually to the current niche of looking at the more complex and shadowed relationship between art/craft and mental health.
I sometimes share writing I’ve done about crochet as therapy/crafting to heal. Explore those essays below; they are organized into the categories:
Excerpts from Crochet Saved My Life
Therapeutic Crochet Exercises from Hook to Heal
Interviews about Craft as Therapy
Craftivism
Other Essays on Craft as Therapy
Mandalas for Marinke awareness raising
And more … (podcasts, audio, other stuff)
Excerpts From Crochet Saved My Life
The Early Days of My Depression Story and How Crochet Came to Help
Crochet/Craft to Break the Cycle of Rumination and Reduce Depression Symptoms
Blind Crocheters and Visually Impaired People Who Crochet
Therapeutic Crochet Exercises From Hook to Heal
Thoughts on Letting Go, Releasing, and the Importance That I Stop "Shoulding" On Myself
Facing Fears and Trying New Things: Guest Post and Excerpt by Maggie Maris + Crochet Exercise by Kathryn Vercillo
Interviews about Craft as Therapy
Slow Crafting: An Interview with Writer/Artist Yarrow Magdalena
Sophie of Wallflower Weavings Shares The Mental Health Benefits of Weaving
Crochet Heals Interview: Ecocrafter The Crafty Therapist
Knitting Heals: Interview with Stroke Survivor Rebecca Robinson
A Scientist Shares How Knitting Helped Her After Having a Stroke
Crochet Heals: Interview with Athena Field
Crochet Heals: Interview with Akua Lezli Hope
A great-granddaughter looks back at how her grandmother crocheted her life story
6 Artists Respond to How Health Challenges Changed Their Choice of Medium
On Craftivism
Passing the Torch: Northern California Liberty Crochet Mural Moves From One Hand to Another in Display of Solidarity for Women’s Reproductive Rights
Mindful crochet as an act of kindness healing individuals and communities ...
Craftivism: Slow and Small and Quiet = Powerful
Other Essays on Craft as Therapy
How Craft Fits Into the Slow Living Movement
Benefits of Crochet for Ten Symptoms of Depression
7 Health Benefits of Crafting for People with Age-Related Memory Loss
5 Ways Rag Rug Weaving Improves Mental Health
Crafting Meaning: How to Find Belonging through Craft
Craftfulness Book Review: Mend Yourself by Making Things
Mandalas for Marinke
Mandalas for Marinke: 300+ Crocheters Came Together to Raise Awareness About Depression, Suicide, and Crafting to Heal
Now-Closed Small Yarn Store Had Contributed 50 Mandalas to Crochet Project Raising Awareness about Depression and Crafting to Heal
An altar, a tree, and 100 mini mandalas all crocheted to raise awareness about depression, suicide, and crafting to heal
And More
How Crochet Taught Me Gentleness With Myself
A Conversation About Crochet Saved My Life
Crochet as Therapy in Academic Research
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