Think of Hats as a metaphor for the different roles we play in our lives. As you make a hat, you can express your aesthetic and personal values and strengths. The creative act connects us to others, to share and witness their strengths, challenges and personal expression.
Sometimes we can identify so strongly with one role or Hat in life that we become unbalanced, and lose sight of where we are going. During her workshops, Waltraud draws in on skills gained in her Gestalt psychotherapy training, and on the science of positive psychology. She freely shares stories of her own personal hardships and how she overcame them.
The Feel Good Sundays workshops explore the connections between ourselves, our roles and our relationships with others with the help of weaving, paint, collage, and of course hats. The science of positive psychology has shown that engaging our particular top five strengths motivates our productivity and creativity. The hats you make in our workshops can express your best strengths, your source of resilience and mental well-being.
The science of positive psychology has shown that when we engage our top five strengths, we are more motivated, productive and creative. In our workshops we make hats that express our best strengths, our source of resilience and mental wellbeing.
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND THE ART OF THE HAT
Waltraud has a passion for connecting people through creative work. She has discovered that the principles of positive psychology are embedded in the way she approaches her workshops.
Positive psychology, the study of human well-being and happiness, uses the PERMA model, which identifies five areas crucial to a holistic sense of psychological well-being.
Waltraud’s workshops are designed to engage all of these areas. Learning the creative skill of hat-making encourages students to connect with one another and engage fully in the project they have chosen.
THE 24 CHARACTER STRENGTHS AND VIRTUES
Before our corporate workshops, we ask students to complete the VIA Survey of Strengths to get an idea of their best personal strengths and identify areas they would like to work on.