Copy of Altered States of Consciousness Art Integration Group

Join Dr Lani Roy and Nicola Gracie on December 3rd from 7:00pm - 830pm

Journey within to explore altered states of consciousness by bringing awareness to your felt senses and experiences. 

Spark your imagination and creativity! 

Express and come to know altered states of consciousness through the lens of art and the ever-present, interconnected thread of feeling.

Workshop Outline
We will begin with an acknowledgment of the traditional custodians of the land, grounding ourselves in respect and gratitude. We will also honor our teachers, elders, wisdom traditions, and lineages that have guided us. Participants will then engage in a centering exercise to ground themselves, followed by setting personal and collective intentions for the workshop.
Next, we will introduce the concept of the interconnected thread of feeling and consciousness, with an option for participants to share their personal insights or engage in discussions to explore and define these experiences.

A guided meditation will help participants tune into their internal landscape of felt sensations, exploring how these sensations connect and guide their experiences. Following the meditation, we will move into creative expression through art-making, staying connected to felt senses and focusing on bringing inner experiences outward. This process allows participants to express their feelings and sensations through artistic mediums.

Participants will have the option to share their artistic expressions and insights with the group, if they feel comfortable doing so. We will conclude the workshop with grounding exercises to help integrate the experience, followed by reflections and a collective acknowledgment of the journey we have shared.

Intended Audience
This group is designed for individuals who have experienced altered states of consciousness through psychedelics, plant medicines, spiritual emergence, dark nights of the soul, rites of passage, major life transitions, and those with an ongoing fascination with the mysteries of life and their creative potential. 

Nurturing the group space
This is a group space, and we ask participants to be mindful and nurturing of each other's energies to help create a safe container for us all. Your respectful presence and support will contribute to a nurturing and safe environment where everyone can freely explore and express their inner experiences. We require a minimum of 5 participants for this offering, with sign-ups being capped at 12 participants.

What to bring along
Bring paints, pastels, pencils, charcoal - whatever creative mediums you work with. Prepare a comfy space and setting to support your creative session! 

Nicola Gracie 

Creative Therapist 

Nicola is a high school dropout, on the brink of earning her second Master's Degree. Currently, she is deeply engaged in arts-based research at the MIECAT Institute, finalising her Master's in Therapeutic Arts Practice.

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Nicola moved to Melbourne, Australia at age 12. In her mid-twenties, she relocated to the remote Central Australian community of Mutitjulu. There, she established a therapeutic arts program at the local primary school and co-facilitated art and cultural workshops with Anangu artists. As the manager of the Mutitjulu Arts Centre, she collaborated with local aged care and high school facilities to create and maintain regular art studio sessions. Back in Melbourne, Nicola facilitated group art therapy sessions for disabled teens and worked with First Nations people who had been incarcerated, managing community art projects and professional training programs. Nicola is also trained and experienced in trauma-informed yoga, social justice, meditation, breathwork and trauma-release exercises. Additionally, she has a background in entrepreneurship, having founded a tech start-up and earned a Master's in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Nicola is passionate about the transformative power of emotions. She believes our feelings can elevate our consciousness and guide us to lead more meaningful lives. She has a profound respect for plant medicines and their role in supporting these processes. Inspired by the wisdom of the body, Nicola expresses herself through various creative modalities, often finding solace in words. Her deepest hope is for collective harmony within ourselves and with all life. Nicola believes that connecting with our emotions is crucial for individual and societal transformation. Having experienced post-traumatic growth firsthand, Nicola is passionate about creatively collaborating with others to support their healing journeys from a place of agency, self-empowerment and joy!

Dr. Alana Roy

Founder And Director, Psychologist, Social Worker, Advocate

Dr Alana (Lani) Roy is the Founder of The Signs of Life Psychology. She is a psychologist, social worker, and therapist and has spent the last 15 years working in mental health, suicide prevention, trauma, sexual abuse, family violence, and the disability sector. Lani is an Associate Research Fellow for Swinburne University and Founding Board Member of Australian Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Practitioners www.amapp.org

Lani has worked with borderline personality and dissociative identity disorder in various roles in the community, such as rape crisis centres with victims of ritual abuse; childhood and adult sexual assault; supporting women in the sex industry; and survivors of human trafficking. She specialises in complex trauma, disabilities and dual diagnosis, and working with the Deaf community by providing therapy in Auslan sign language.

Lani specialises in harm reduction in the field of psychedelics, sexual abuse and complex trauma and the Ayahuasca and the vegetelista dieta lineage. Refer to this section for more information https://thesignsoflife.com.au/ayahuasca-dieta-preparation-and-integration/

She is dedicated to evidence-based therapies and increasing public and professional safety by working closely with key advisors and researchers in this rapidly emerging field of psychedelics.

Lani provides a range of educational and group-based psychedelic programs. She is a board-approved psychology supervisor and provides psychology, social work, and biomedical student placements and supervision across Deakin, Monash, Victoria University, Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine (PRISM), Entheogenesis Australia (EGA) and the Mental Health Foundation. Lani coordinates the psychedelic and plant medicine Mental Health Professional Network (MHPN). Lani has taught as an Australian teacher on Psychedelics Today Navigating Psychedelics for Clinicians and other Australian Psychedelic programs.

Lani has begun providing Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) for clients accessing ketamine treatment in Australia with partnering clinical organisations. She is currently working on a range of research trials focusing on psilocybin and Ayahuasca.

Lani has an Advanced Certificate in Nature Based Therapies and is passionate about reconnecting to land, culture and self.

She is passionate about connecting with professionals and community members who have integrity, creativity, and innovation; people who can uphold the sacred nature of these medicines as we bring them safely into the clinical context. Most importantly; she is a mother of two young boys, an owner of two beautiful high needs French bulldogs, and a wife of a sexual abuse detective.