Self Advocacy - Pals Tours, 9/5

ArtStream welcomes over 30 new members to the ArtStream Family! Our very own Co-Founder Nicolette Stearns and her mentors Kourtney Williams and Mike Hovde conducted a wonderful two hour workshop on Self Advocacy Through the Arts on September 5th, 2011

Self Advocacy is the ability to speak up for yourself. It is built on a foundation of communication skills.

With ArtStream's Self-Advocacy Through the Arts Workshops, participants are able to practice their communication skills in an environment that makes these challenging lessons fun. Acting games and improvisation give participants a hands-on experience in a safe environment.

"They wanted to keep doing the exercises," Nicolette Stearns enthused about the participants from Pals Tours. "They didn't want us to go!"

Nicolette is still in the process of fully developing Self-Advocacy Through the Arts Workshops. Her workshop with Pals Tours on September 5th, 2011 was the second of its kind and ArtStream's largest Self-Advocacy Through the Arts workshop yet. 

Nicolette approaches communication in four steps.

1. Intrapersonal Communication: The ability to understand your own feelings.
2. Interpersonal Communication: The ability to recognize and process verbal and non-verbal cues from another person.
3. Group Communication: The ability to recognize your own role within a group. The ability to choose your own role within a group.
4. Public Communication: The ability to speak clearly and confidently for a large audience.

By focusing on Intrapersonal Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Group Communication and Public Communication we provide a tool kit for communication skills to increase self-esteem and build confidence which we believe will ultimately correlate with higher levels of self-esteem.

Ultimately, Self-Advocacy is a job skill and relationship skill that everyone uses. Nicolette believes that the basics of Self-Advocacy could benefit students at a middle school and high school level as well as adults with disabilities.

ArtStream hopes that through Self-Advocacy through the Arts, our participants will be able to achieve the goal of greater independence.

For now, Nicolette is happy that she can make such a vital skill fun to learn and an absolute joy to teach.  "I didn't want to leave either," she said. "I loved every minute of it!"

Learn more about Self-Advocacy Through the Arts.

Learn more about Pals Tours!

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