Meet Miriam...
M.Ed., Psychosocial Oncology Clinician (Counselling and group facilitation) at CancerCare Manitoba and WHEAT Graduate
“It is rooted in the expressive process and the aesthetic response, a movement that comes from a place that is not in the head, it's in the heart. It can even be soul work, so it is about identity, holistic identity.”
- Miram Duff
“I chose Expressive Arts Therapy because it is rooted in the arts itself. It's not rooted in psychoanalysis. Among psychological theorists, Carl Jung, who personally engaged in the arts as part of his own personal explorations, comes the closest. When I look at Indigenous teachings received from elders, and readings by Indigenous authors, I find an alignment with Expressive Arts therapy. Here too, Jung’s theory comes the closest to an Indigenous world view, so there was a resonance in that approach for me.”
- Miram Duff
MIRIAM'S EXPERIENCE WITH WHEAT...
“We were gathering at the St. Norbert Art Center which is my favourite place in Winnipeg. In this beautiful natural setting, surrounded by diverse international instructors, I discovered the power of the intermodal process inherent in expressive arts therapy. Drumming arose as an important way for me to practice and Darci (founder of WHEAT) connected me to a drumming elder in the Winnipeg community who invited me to join an Indigenous women's drumming group.
It opened up so much for me, and I continue to attend that drumming group today. This group meets deep personal and spiritual needs for me, I have the opportunity to learn teachings in community, so a step on the path of reconciliation, and also a place where I can simply go and be with other women and learn from the vibration of the drum itself.
Another favourite memory is attending the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association’s bi-annual conference which was held in Winnipeg during the first year of my WHEAT diploma. The energy in that space was inspiring and reaffirmed my decision to train in Expressive Arts.”
WHAT DOES EXPRESSIVE ARTS MEANT TO YOU?
“Expressive Arts and Art Therapy are relatively new to today’s western healthcare system compared to nursing and medicine, yet are very old in the human story across all cultures.
Expressive Arts is rooted in engaging the imagination to create art in a multimodal way, and experiencing the aesthetic response that arises in the process. By aesthetic response, I am referring to a visceral response/way of knowing — a place not in the head but in the heart. It is soul work.
Expressive Arts as an approach aligns with what I have learned about Indigenous ways of knowing, as well as Carl Jung’s theory of Self, archetypes, and the Collective Unconscious (the common ground between these two perspectives has been acknowledged by others, for example Seeing the World with Aboriginal Eyes, by Rice, B., Oakes, J., & Riewe, R., 2005). This approach resonated with me, and I didn’t have to look beyond my home community to find what I was looking for at WHEAT Institute with Darci Adams. I appreciate that there are many ways of knowing, and certainly in the Expressive Arts process itself, that is something you come to understand.”
MIRIAM'S ANCESTRAL STORY
Miriam was born in Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario to parents who had settler ancestors. Her family lineage on Turtle Island goes back 250 years. Originally her ancestral families came from the British Isles—Scotland, England and Ireland. They landed in what is now known as the provinces of Newfoundland, PEI and Ontario.
“I carry the genetic material, the knowledge and the memory of my descendants, but to know all that means, I need to go back to where they came from. To have a sense of that land. As for where I was born and raised, I have always had an abiding interest and appreciation for Indigenous ways of knowing, and enjoy engaging in activities that take me on the land. As I pay attention to this connection, it continues to grow deeper.”
