Are you feeling creatively blocked?
Has your health altered the way you work in ways you can’t quite pinpoint?
This workshop is for you.
Secure checkout via Stripe.
Questions? Email Kathryn
What’s in the way?
Maybe it is anxiety, moving through you the way a river moves through land. Constant. Present. Reshaping the ground around it even when you are not looking directly at it.
Perhaps it is a physical or mental health condition that feels as immovable as a mountain, something you have been circling for a while now, looking for a way around it, over it, or through it.
Maybe it is a creative block you cannot quite see the edges of, a wall that showed up somewhere along the way and now stands between you and the work you want to make.
Or it could be a season of life that reshuffled your foundations entirely, leaving you unsure of the very ground you are standing on.
Maybe it’s vaguer than all of this.
You do not need to know which of these is true for you, or have language for it yet. You only need to be willing to sit with whatever is actually there.
Who this is for
It’s for:
- The person managing a chronic illness who has quietly rebuilt an entire process and never said so out loud
- The person whose energy, attention, or capacity works differently than it used to, and who is tired of measuring the work against a version of themselves that no longer applies
- The person navigating grief, caregiving, or a life transition that reshaped what time and energy are actually available for the work
- The person who stopped identifying as an artist, even though the pull toward making never left
- The person managing a diagnosis, recovery, or ongoing treatment, feeling the distance between what they used to make and what they can make now
- Anyone who has sensed the shift without having language for it, and who would rather build something with their hands than talk it into shape
If part of this page caught you, trust that pull.
Trust the quiet voice telling you to look closer.
Secure checkout via Stripe.
What to expect
You’ll work with a variety of collage materials, all provided, alongside guided prompts and reflection that move at a pace built for the room. There will be some story sharing woven throughout, always optional, and plenty of spaciousness to follow your own creative terrain rather than anyone else’s timeline.
You’ll be free to go as deep as feels right, and no deeper. To take a break if you need one. To skip anything that doesn’t feel like yours to do that day, or to sit with a blank page if that’s what’s true for you in the moment. You are the only one who knows what you actually need, and we trust that.
Come with whatever is true for you right now. That will be enough.
You’ll leave with a clearer picture of your own creative terrain: a better sense of what the block actually is, real confidence in the strengths and adaptations you’ve already built, and one small idea for how to move forward.
Meet your facilitators
Kathryn Vercillo
Kathryn Vercillo is a writer, artist, and creative health researcher with twenty years of experience studying how health and circumstance shape creative practice. She holds an MA in Psychological Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies and pursued graduate studies in Visual and Critical Studies at California College of the Arts. She is the founder of Create Me Free and developer of the Creative Health Cartography framework, and has facilitated creative workshops in San Francisco community settings for years. Learn more at createmefree.com and kathrynvercillo.com.
Photo: Vero Kherian Photography
Heidi Waterman
Heidi Waterman spent thirty five years in the professional arts world, as a mezzo-soprano, an arts nonprofit communications manager, and a freelance arts marketing copywriter, before burnout led her to a full pivot into coaching. She is now a Certified Wayfinder Life Coach with a gift for holding space, helping people trust their own internal compass toward a life that actually feels like theirs. Learn more at heidiwaterman.com.
The details
When: Saturday, October 17, 2026, 1 to 4pm
Where: An adorable cafe-turned-art-space on Cortland in Bernal Heights. Full address sent after booking.
The size of the group is intentionally kept small, so the room stays a place where real sharing and attention are possible for everyone in it.
Cost: $150 per person
Secure checkout via Stripe.
Questions? Email Kathryn
Questions
Do I need art experience?
No. You can be a full-time working artist, someone who doesn’t identify as an artist at all, or anything in between. This isn’t about skill; it’s about navigating through your own creative terrain, whatever that might look like.
Do I need to bring anything?
No. All materials are provided.
Is this therapy?
No. Neither Kathryn nor Heidi are licensed therapists, though Kathryn brings a background in psychology and Heidi brings training as a coach. Both have experience with resourcing and grounding techniques. What we bring most of all is real care for making the space feel safe enough to be honest in, as well as an understanding that this means something different for each person.
What if I’m anxious about people seeing my work?
Every person’s process belongs to them. Sharing anything about what you make is always optional, never expected. The room is held so each person can stay with their own experience rather than measuring it against anyone else’s.
Will there be food?
Tea and light snacks will be available.