For me, the Family Institute for Creative Well-Being workshops have been a place to find acceptance and creativity.

For over 10 years I have felt an uneasy fit at any social gatherings due to our 14-year-old son's disabilities and neurological idiosyncrasies.  Earlier this year, 2003, I discovered the Family Institute for Creative Well-Being and have participated in their workshops with my son.  Both of us had refreshing experiences.  I found acceptance; I have found friends and families.  Regardless of the degree of disabilities, everyone fits in.  My son may not have realized it but, I know he was relaxed and enjoyed himself at these workshops. 

We have attended two workshops, The Beat Goes On, and Illuminating the Fog.  Minnesota guest artists assisted at both workshops.  Without prior experiences and with their guidance and help, we outperformed even our imaginable dreams.  We danced on our feet or in wheelchairs.  We played musical instruments with and without help.  We composed a song together, a very wonderful song.  We created imaginative clay creatures that are beautiful.  We made up our own board game and the children played the game on a giant floor board, on their feet or in the wheelchairs. 

The activities are therapeutic and fun.  They foster creativity for adults and children, with or without disabilities.  But, most of all, these workshops create an atmosphere where we do not have to be on guard.

 — Orapat Sivatanpisit

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Following the birth of my very premature twins I could have filled a bathtub with my tears.  My son's struggle for life, to survive his chronic illness, went on for seven years at which point he requested a time-out.  No more hospitals, no more doctors, no more nurses, no more school.  He was very ill and too tired to fight.  He wanted time to be. 

We began palliative care at home and developed a creative stimulating program he could appreciate.  Slowly his health began to improve.  This change helped me to recognize my own need for change.  I started "being."  I painted my house instead of looking at its need for paint.  I brought new people into our daily lives and began to go out to different places.  One of these places was the Family Institute for Creative Well-Being.  It is a magnificent venue designed to comfort.  It helps us to acknowledge our struggles with disability and chronic illness.  It also helps us to feed our need to "be" instead of merely existing and living through the tough stuff. 

We encourage you to join in these wonderful activities where we "dance" (or create in a wide variety of ways) for who we are.  We dance in celebration.  We share laughs, write a poem, sing a song, and share our stories.  We create joy and develop well-being through artistic expression.  It works! And when you leave, you take home with you something priceless – the art of being. 

 — Susan Grandell

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Let's be honest.  All of us with special needs kids or adults to care for know it is much easier to just stay home, rather than to venture out for a few hours in the evening or weekend.  Down time is precious.  Our lives are busy enough just with working and keeping up with daily routines and cares.  It takes a great deal of effort to get my daughter & self organized, ready, and physically out to the car just to go anywhere.  Since that is not likely to change for us, the incentive has to be pretty good for me to muster up that kind of energy! 

Each of the workshops that Carrie & I have attended through FICWB, truly are worth that effort.  The classes have inspired us to explore our thoughts & feelings, while bringing new perspectives to our own personal situations.  The creative juices that lie dormant in us all are brought to the surface!   Meeting other families & hearing their stories help us to realize that we are not alone in our struggles, or our pain.   All these things together bring us a step closer in the healing process.   We always seem to take away with us a renewed, positive outlook on life and lots of nutritious food for thought. 

So make the effort ~ try a class that peaks your interest.  You will have fun & be healthier for it!  Hope to meet you there!

  — Carol Carlson

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I want to let you know about the role of the Family Institute in our journey through cancer but first it might help for you to understand the circumstances that brought us together.

In 1999, when our son was 11 years old and experiencing bone pain, spiking fevers and night sweats, our local physicians sent us to the University for answers they could not provide.  After undergoing further testing, Adam was diagnosed with ALL, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.  We immediately began a 3-1/2 year protocol of chemotherapy to conquer this disease.  On May 6, 2002, Adam finished his treatments in a remissive state.  We were thrilled to finally be at this stage in our lives.  After all the prayers of support from family and friends and the team support of our University family (which is what they had become to us) we were heading home to begin our life.  I say ‘begin,’ because we will never ‘return’ to who we were before this disease took hold of us.  We were truly starting another phase of life as successful survivors.  Just short of 2 years of this success, the rug was pulled out from under us.  In March 2004, the night sweats had returned and the tests confirmed what we hoped against.  Adam’s cancer was back.

Once again we have a plan mapped out for treatment.  3 36-day cycles of intense chemotherapy followed with a stem cell transplant.  Our family has once again rallied around us as I head south with Adam and dad stays north with his job and our younger son.  During this time our privacy is lost, our fears are too real to bear and we agonize watching our son battle his way through treatments and isolation again.  All of this is happening his 17th year of life.  How can a young man of 17 handle this set back?  How do we support him?

This is where the Family Institute comes into play.  Diane is an amazing woman with amazing gifts.  She steps into our hospital room and through conversation and creativity brings insight into our chaos.  Diane’s visits allow me to view my son’s creativity, sense of humor, fear and his sensitivity.  All of which I treasure.

I am not able to calculate the value of receiving laughter when my spirit so desperately needs it.  I struggle measuring the glimpse I am allowed into realize in the son my man is becoming.  How can I total up the wisdom granted me when my son reads from his poetry that he feels like “glass” and he’s facing his mortality?  These words allow me to know what he feels and then as a parent I can actually help him.  This is immeasurable order in chaos!

Prayers are said everyday that others not be faced with these life changing illnesses and yet there are new patients on the hospital floor each week.  We are trying to make sense out of our circumstances and we cannot manage this on our own.  I am forever grateful to Diane and her organization for bringing some order, peace and insight into our lives as we navigate these uncharted journeys.

 ~ Andrea Bedard, 7/21/2004

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In the summer of 2002, I was both glad and sad that my brother and his family had left Minnesota to visit my parents in Malaysia. I did not join them on the trip, as my son has autism with behaviors that are inimical to sitting long hours in an airplane. I was not comfortable about taking my son on the twenty-hour flight nor was I comfortable about leaving him behind in Minnesota. I was so conflicted I felt depressed.  This led me to enroll in a writing group at the Family Institute for Creative Well-being.

At the first workshop, I saw myself as the "cracked pot" in one of the pieces of writing. I laughed to think that it was through those cracks that water leaked and nurtured the flowers on the ground. Through more writing and the insights of fellow participants at the workshops, I was able to accept the cracks in life. Though the pot is cracked, its filling should not be neglected for how else will the flowers be watered along the way.  Hence, I commit to attending the workshops with Diane to fill my pot with inspiration and wisdom on raising children with complex needs, and where I can relax and enjoy the company of other participants at-various-stages-of-healing whose founts of creativity bubble over on to me, and whose presence infuse the atmosphere with empathy, friendly wit, and philosophical humor. As a result, I am both calm and optimistic about a family reunion with my son and my parents.  

–Christa Laird