MakeShift

Hi! It's Caitlin and Lizzie 👋 We're the co-founders of MakeShift, working together for over a ten years. Can't believe it! Between us, we bring a few decades of experience in social work, mental health crisis support, community development, sustainability education, group facilitation, adult education, arts programming, plus a continuous personal practice of creativity in many forms. We created MakeShift to explore how it's possible to 'jam in the joy' in the midst of focus on trauma recovery, mental health and collective resilience. Well, we do our darn best anyway. We call it Creative First Aid. We've done some amazing projects: taken 44 first responders with acute PTSD through an 8 week program, teaching them ukulele, watercolour and how their nervous system works. Taken musicians and artists into juvenile justice to work with young people, recording raps and making stories. Brought our program to residents reeling from bushfires and floods. We've hosted apocalypse trivia nights, weekend art forest camps, lockdown sessions in the pandemic, trained health staff on creative first aid. In all these settings, we speak about the role of joy, and play - these being essential human experiences. Often times, as well as right now in the world today, those things feel far away, and for many, are a fantastical privilege. We know. Our approach draws on the wisdom of every indigenous culture around the world. It draws on what millions of people say helps to make them feel safer and better about themselves. We draw from all the research that backs this up. Human creativity is a vastly untapped resource, mainly because a tremendous amount of people receive think they are not creative. Creative First Aid heals that idea. We live and breathe our approach that "you don't have to be good at creativity, for creativity to be good for you" as we navigate middle age, health niggles, parenting and LIFE. You can read our book > Creative First Aid - The Science + Joy of Creativity for Mental Health > out now Check out our Courses >> website in bio 📸 @alicemcconnellphotography

Creative First Aid - The Science + Joy of Creativity for Mental Health is out now in Aus/ NZ. "A beautiful, comforting book about the life-changing magic of creativity " - @briony_benjamin Based on scientific evidence and our program shown to improve wellbeing for first responders and traumatised communities, this book empowers you with awareness and simple creative tools that can open a door to experiencing delight, awe and joy each and every day. it includes stories from those who have found their way through trauma, anxiety, grief and illness, as well as 50 prescriptions you can try. Creative First Aid is a roadmap for how to look after yourself on tough days, amazing days, and all the days in between. Find it in your local bookshop or online NOW! #creativefirstaid #creativefirstaidthebook image is of the boom cover, against a pink background

have you heard of the term GLIMMERS ? ✨ 💎 Coined by social worker, researcher and trauma recovery clinician Deb Dana, glimmers sit at the opposite end of the spectrum to Triggers. Glimmers are small, micro, often fleeting moments of delight, wonder, joy and awe that provide a zap and a charge of all the good stuff to you nervous system. They cue our over-activated nervous system into a moment of safety, groundedness and connection. So these little glimmers - maybe patting a dog, the feel of clean sheets, the bass drop in a song, the smell of jasmine - whatever they are for YOU - they are vital little anchors that build up to making a big difference to your psychological state! You can look out for glimmers, take a moment to notice them, the thing is, the more you look, the more you'll find. Happy Glimmer Hunting! Building the habit of noticing glimmers is part of our work in #creativefirstaid. Our programs and courses help people to make this a practice each day, as a tool for our mental well-being that makes a big difference to how we feel inside and about the world around us. It's a trauma informed approach that recognises life is full of glimmers, and pointy, hard moments too. #creativefirstaid #creativefirstaidcreativeprescribing #glimmers Image is of a pair of plastic googly eyes on a white card that says,"Apply to a random object to receive a molecule of joy".

Hey friends, it's been quiet over here! How are you? We just shared a little Substack note (link in bio) about our plans for a rest. Sending all the ingredients of a moment of rest for you too, whatever that looks like. ⚡️🌀💙

YOUR WINDOW OF TOLERANCE 🪟 Our amazing body sends us signals all day long- thirst when we need water, hunger when we need to eat. Shivers to tell us we need to warm up. Our nervous system also sends us signals asking for things. We can overthink these signals sometimes, and give ourselves a hard time about them. These can be things like rising dread, ruminating thoughts, a sense of hypervigilance, numbness, disaster thinking, anger and irritation- they can be signs we are moving out of our "window of tolerance" and into experiences like fight/flight/freeze/collapse/fawn - our little boat of wellbeing tossed around in chaos. ⛵️ Being in your "window of regulation" is where you feel grounded, present, connected, like a boat sailing on calm, predictable seas 🌊 To be outside your window of tolerance isn't "bad". It doesn't mean something is "wrong" with you. It's a normal physiological response. We can though, learn to respond to signs we are shifting outside our window as messages from our nervous system, telling us we need something - rest, play, connection, a sensory experience like movement, making something, keeping our hands busy, releasing energy through writing or dancing or singing. We can cue our nervous system to recognise signs of safety - a way to seize a little control in being able to stay in our window of tolerance It's a practice, and can take a little time. Give yourself permission to rest, restore, to cry, laugh, listen to music, bake, walk, make things, read, sleep, play and move. It's all medicine. Want to learn practical, playful and meaningful ways to listen to your nervous system and build habits of regulation? 📕 READ our book: Creative First Aid - The Science + Joy of Creativity for Mental Health >> out now in Aus / NZ in all bookshops 🎧 MAKING SENSE AUDIO COURSE - a 9 part podcast resource that takes you on a personal journey to apply creative first aid and nervous system support to your days. Next session is March 18, 10am AEST online > link in bio for details #windowoftolerance #nervoussystemregulation #creativefirstaid #creativeprescribing

THIS THURSDAY we are going to be at the beautiful @waxlyrical_bookstoreberry in conversation with Louise Walsh to chat about creativity, our psychological wellbeing, connection, community and all things creative first aid. Join us! Wax Lyrical Bookstore on Thursday 31st October > head to their website to book or hit the link in our stories #creativefirstaid Doors open @ 6pm In-conversation from 615-645pm Q&A 645-7pm Tickets $20 per person. Includes refreshments.

What a beautiful slow morning we had yesterday in our special workshop led by artist @unnaturaljeweller as part of @sydneycraftweek and in partnership with @australiandesigncentre 🌀 Slow doodles, botanical drawing, blind portraits, watercolour and great company ☺️ #creativefirstaid

It's true! The science is in! If this fact helps you to make time for creativity a priority, then let's go. We can chuck out the idea that making time for that thing we love to do, for fun and play- is indulgent, a 'waste' of time, or selfish. It's actual medicine that helps to regulate us, connect us to ourselves, others and the planet 🌎 #creativefirstaid

ITS MENTAL HEALTH MONTH 🌀 We are hosting our one hour introduction to CREATIVE FIRST AID - BrainCraft on Thurs 24th Oct 6-7pm for anyone and everyone wherever you are - online. There are so many reasons to feel depleted, worn out, anxious, flat, overwhelmed, exhausted and in despair right now. Tending to your nervous system and intentionally finding tiny ways to bring glimmers of joy, awe and delight to you days is not as hard as it sounds. Welcome to BrainCraft. Just like knowing how nutrition and exercise helps us feel physically well, knowing and understanding our nervous system is essential for good mental health. This is the HQ of our emotional, sensory and psychological experiences and needs. Let’s get to know it! Head to the link in our bio to sign up 🌀 No experience or prior skill required 🌀 You won't be asked to share if you don't want to! 🌀 Tickets $40 and includes downloadable template to plan your own bespoke Creative First Aid care plan 🩹 #creativefirstaid #creativeprescribing #menralhealthmonth #mentalhealthworkshop #wellbeingworkshop

Every week we get messages from someone, somewhere in the world , telling us that our book is dog-eared, specked with ink and dirty from clay and being tossed from one person to another, helping people young and old connect with their creativity, and each other. This is just the best! It's a book and resource to be used, shared, passed on. If you haven't yet - check it out! It's for everyone, because we are all human, and we all have creativity. And you don't have to be good at it for it to be good for you! Creative First Aid : The Science + Joy of Creativity for Mental Health by Caitlin Marshall and Lizzie Rose. Head to the link in our profile to order online, or find in major book retailers in Aus, NZ, USA and UK #creativefirstaid #creativefirstaidthebook #creativity #mentalhealth #psychologybook #arttherapy #creativityeveryday

A SLOW DOSE OF CREATIVE FIRST AID WORKSHOP 🌀 Join @makeshift_creative.first.aid , along with artist @unnaturaljeweller Mel Young for a morning of slow, mindful craft as a form of self care. Starting with an invitation for curiosity, join Mel as she leads an immersive process of mindless and mindful mark-making, journalling and mapping. We will undertake a range of exercises together exploring meditative mark making, playful and observational drawing as well as collaging exercises that can become part of daily creativity and self-care. *Materials provided This workshop is in partnership with @sydneycraftweek and @australiandesigncentre #sydneycraftweek2024 All the details at our link in bio! #creativefirstaid #creativeworkshop #creativeselfcareworkshop

Creativity isn't just making art. It's a way of thinking, of connecting things, ideas and opportunities that weren't there before. The Five Elements of Creative First Aid are an eco-system of ways to transform everyday creativity into creative first aid - a tool that supports our connection to ourselves, each other and the planet. Safekeeping + Curiosity + Inch-by-inch Thinking + Self Compassion + Playfulness 🌀 Together using these elements can gently repair our connection to our own creativity and build inner wisdom to support mental health! Learn more about the Five Element in our BOOK and/or AUDIO COURSE. Learn more at our links in bio #creativefirstaid #creativeprescribing