Have a creative conversation

Annelies engages an Integrative Approach bringing creative engagement to life, learning and leadership. Embodied, experiential experiences that make a huge difference in developing trust, empathy, insight and wellbeing. 

This multi-modal interdisciplinary process brings together many areas of arts and science including but not limited to fields of integrative medicine, mindfulness, creative process, somatics, positive psychology, chaos theory, ontological design, ecology and transformative leadership. 

Whether Annelies works with you one-on-one for coaching, facilitates your retreat,  works with your team or presents from the stage at your next conference-- her approach is creative for a very good reason.

The CEO in all of us begins with the senses. The intellectual pre-frontal cortex part of our brain tries to "know everything" before taking action, so it takes none or loops searching again and again for the "right answer". This looping gets in the way of innovation and stresses you out. Annelies helps you bio-hack the system by tapping the senses with creativity. Here's why this works. 

Eventually, we all come to an intersection when we are inefficient, our overthinking analytical brain seeks proof in "right" answers. We can't rest without the "right" answer. So the brain loops seeking day and night, stressing us out and the systems around us; co-workers, family, board, etc.

Uncertainty has no direct plan to bridge anew, no "right" answers. Sometimes there's too many changes at once. Our Neanderthal ancestor brain wants safety. No amount of looping for right answers will calm, so Annelies helps you bio-hack the system through sense, somatic awareness, observation, breath, integrative expressive arts, mindfulness, creative inquiry and play. This is the Creative Integrative Approach. 

Our Neanderthal ancestor brain seeks safety in patterns and trust through play. Whether that's visioning a metaphorical story, drawing out a story-line or observing color-- our innate humanity feels safe in creative engagement.

Way before buildings and the written word our language was communicated in imagery, sound and patterns. Our eyes scanned the plains for safe ways out and collaborated within tribes for trust. Play taps this place in our brain; the amygdala which its primary role is safety. 

So while we might THINK we know what we want and what we are doing is "right", our true CEO is behind the scenes directing it all without your knowledge or buy in. Creativity puts all board members of our brain at the same table.

Creativity is a proven scientific modality to access new ways of seeing. Through an integrative approach, Annelies helps you and those you lead reveal previously inaccessible insight and life-changing solutions. In art therapy an Integrative Approach is also known as decentering. Annelies calls this a "sneaky vegetable" like spinach in brownies. It's not magic. Creativity is science. 

It's a real challenge when we are feeling stuck, steeped in resistance. Are you disconnected from what’s important? Distracted, stressed, overwhelmed, a bit lost… maybe even grieving the way things were, the people we love or the systems we base our whole identity upon.

An Integrative Approach makes it easy to explore new ideas and design unconventional strategy with renewed perspective. 

On occasion, Annelies will enroll her husband Greg Whitt of Drum for Change. Whereas Annelies brings the science and practice of positive psychology, creative process, and mindfulness, Greg brings liveliness and joy to sometimes difficult conversations. Together they remind us to be human in a joy-filled way.