Teegan Mannion

writer, facilitator, custodian of sacred space

Who I am:

I’m a published and multiple-award-winning poet and memoirist, and a writing workshop facilitator certified in the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method.  I’m a therapeutic clown, a yoga student and teacher, a flower farmer, and a chocolatier.  I’m a mother, a friend, a mental health advocate, and a human.

Really, mostly I’m just the last part, a human, a student of life, who moves through the days (like you do, probably) carrying the weight of what it means to be a human.  I catch glimpses of grace and wholeness and depth and majesty, perfection, creativity and peace nestled inside ordinary moments, hidden behind resistance and stress, underneath piles of things I think I should be doing.  I lose sight of them, these precious and luminous opportunities to live, these everyday invitations to life, and then I try to claw my way back.  And then when I stop clawing, tired, I see that they never left; I was just covering my eyes. I am someone who is committed to uncovering my eyes, and to sitting with others who want to do the same.

 

What I love:

I have training and professional experience engaging with a wide range of therapeutic arts modalities, and I enjoy exploring new ways to strengthen the creative practice and connect with healing, wholeness, presence and peace through multidisciplinary collaboration.

The heart of my offering, what I’m passionate about, is supporting people’s personal empowerment, resilience, sense of belonging, and the deepening of the creative experience by cultivating safe spaces and healthy relationships and inviting authentic, intimate connection and communication into these spaces and relationships.

 

What I do:

Currently, I facilitate writing workshops, to which I bring my whole heart.  These workshops rest on the bedrock that is the AWA method, and are infused with, informed and inspired by my experience as a therapeutic clown at SickKids Hospital building and sustaining joyful, therapeutic relationships, alongside my fierce commitment to and deep love for creating community.

I invite you, the participant, into a circle of heartspace in which the group mirrors back to you how good, strong, wise, courageous and beautiful you already are.  We affirm what is powerful, moving and effective in your writing, and offer you the opportunity to stretch, grow, take risks, engage safely with your vulnerability and explore the rich depths of your experience as a creative, and human, being.

I also grow flowers and make bouquets.