"You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.”
"You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.”
You wanna get the scoop on me? Here are the highlights!
I'm Crystal (she/her) and I'm a Community Builder, Artist, and Listener.
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Community BuilderWhen I was little, I was that kid that was always creating a club. It often seemed to me that people needed to be brought together and I did just that! If there were shared interests or connections to be made, I'd typically figure out how to do that. When I was 9, I created a cheerleading club for my apartment neighborhood friends. I founded a club in high school to connect kids with disabilities to the activities that mainstream students had access to. As an adult, I've had community building roles in my neighborhood, in the birth community, and beyond. Our family likes to open our home, we volunteer at a local foodbank, and we try to go to our neighborhood meetings. I think building community in personal ways and collective ways are so important. Community is definitely one of my core values.
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ArtistI've always been a maker of some sort, dabbling in lots of things, taking deep dives in things that really interest me. I have used art journaling for personal growth and introspection for some time. I love poetry, too, for its ability to distill deep truths into just the essence of what they are, or to give us a fresh way to see something. I bring art and poetry into my groups and one on one work often. I think that all of us are born inherently creative. So many of us have been told the opposite, or our inner critic is strong and we don't know how to change the story and get back to that part of us that's just a child clutching a crayon with joy. Art for me is a way to PLAY, to step into the unknown, to take risks, and to tell my story in a brave new way. What I can do with art, I can do in my life. This was an identity that was challenging for me to own. I am an artist because I create, and because I am agent of change and creation in my own life.
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ListenerSee me over there in that group of awesome people? That's a pic of one of the fabulous cohorts of folks I've had the privilege of teaching as a GPS Master Trainer. Group Peer Support (GPS), and my experience facilitating 500+ groups, are a huge part of my journey toward being a better listener. More recently, I've taken on studying the Hakomi method and have found even more skills and tools for deep listening. I've long been the kind of person who craves vulnerability and authenticity and more than just chit-chat. But cultivating that means knowing how to listen. Foundational to all the groups I facilitate are things like non-judgment and compassion as we listen to each other's stories. We offer each other the gift of deep listening. We all need places where we can be fully ourselves and be accepted. We need places where we can share our stories and have them be held gently. We need people who can listen deeply without fixing or rescuing, where we can see and be seen. This is what I try to bring to the work I do.
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Other Interesting Bits and Influences
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The Fun Stuff (and other stuff)
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