Lindsay Ashmore

It's about the creative process, the imagination and curiosity.

Meet Lindsay...

Lindsay Ashmore, Art and Expressive Arts Therapies Director, Indigenous Community Outreach, Supervisor RCAT, CCC, REAT, RSMT.

“For me, it's about the creative process, the imagination and curiosity because there’s really only one word for movement, poetry, cooking, drawing, and photography, and that is art. And it is the arts and the aesthetic experience that enliven our senses and bring all of us fully alive and into the present and presence"

- Lindsay Ashmore

WHO IS LINDSAY ASHMORE?

Lindsay (she/her/they) is a Métis woman residing in Amiskwaciwâskahikan, Treaty 6 Territory, Metis Nation Region 4. Her roots include Indigenous and settler origins, holding Metis and Cree ancestry as well as Celtic, Scottish, French and Ukrainian; as such, walking in two worlds has been part of her life path.

Lindsay is a body-centred, expressive-arts psychotherapist, coach, and guide. Her professional practice lies at the intersection of transformational learning, embodiment, creativity, and personal development.

She holds a master’s degree in Psychotherapy and Art Therapy from St. Stephen’s College and is a Canadian Certified Counsellor and Psychotherapist, Registered Art Therapist, Expressive Arts, and Somatic Therapist.

She supports folx from diverse backgrounds and experiences and in a variety of contexts, from working in communities, urban indigenous agencies, healthcare, the school system (including post-secondary institutions), and private practice. She offers trauma-informed, creative, and resource-based guidance for all seasons of life—to bloom where planted. Using a body-centred approach that integrates expressive arts modalities and the creative process, accesses lived experience to explore challenges and opportunities and generate resources supporting change, transition, and growth.

“I think to be open to discovery is synonymous with being curious. We only have access to that when we are in balance or regulation. Many of us experience difficulty in accessing those capacities because of the impacts of colonization.”

LINDSAY'S EXPERIENCE WITH WHEAT...

“As a new member of the WHEAT Institute team, I was immediately aware of a genuine welcome from my colleagues and a sincere willingness to include and collaborate with me. WHEAT’s leadership offers a diversity of ages, cultural backgrounds, and different orientations that I appreciate because sharing differences opens us to new ways of understanding, seeing and imagining. It takes us outside our limited understanding of the world and opens us to new possibilities.”

“WHEAT offers a unique stand-alone grassroots program integrating professional skills with creative gifts. It creates what I describe as a liminal space, the place a person is in during a transitional period, be it physical, emotional or metaphorical. It is a place of neither here nor there, a fertile space for curiosity, imagination and creativity.”

WHAT DOES EXPRESSIVE ARTS MEANT TO YOU?

“I am a somatic expressive arts therapist, so my approach is very much about the body, the physiological, yet also the psyche or soul”. I hold spaces where others can come into balance of head, heart, hand, and hearth”. It is about opening a space for something more to emerge, for embodiment, and for change. People inherently resist change, yet it is the only constant in life. This approach allows for change to be embraced where people are supported through the transformation. It is about curiosity and the imagination as animating life, being open to discover resources inside and out, and be guided to recover, and reclaim ones birthright, gifts, and life lessons”.

The Expressive Arts awakens our senses to sound, sight, touch, smell, and movement. It engages all our faculties and brings us alive, and opens new possibilities. As a Somatic Expressive Arts therapist, I create a safe container for the creative process, the liminal transitional space where change and self-awareness can flourish, and be embodied.”

"WHEAT offers students an opportunity to integrate their personal gifts with their professional roles, and this particular way of orienting to curiosity and imagination honours the creative process, which is essential."

LINDSAY'S ANCESTRAL STORY

Lindsay is a Métis woman residing in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta), Treaty 6 Territory, Metis Nation Region 4. Her roots include Indigenous and settler origins, holding Metis and Cree ancestry and Celtic, Scottish, French and Ukrainian.

Walking in two worlds has been an instrumental part of her life. Her culturally interwoven heritage allows her to exist between the conscious and the unconscious and commune with nature, especially trees. She is uniquely gifted to understand their language and spirits. “I move between spaces and exist in the in-between, which is informed in part by my own ancestry.”

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