The Healing Doll Way 2025 CLASS
Blessing Way
This class is designed to accommodate a range of skill levels, from beginners to advanced artists. However, if you have no prior experience in art doll making, you’ll need to complete the online course, "How to Make Your Own Healing Dolls," before enrolling in the year-long Healing Doll Way experience.
Each artist brings a unique style to their work, and these personal expressions can be integrated into your healing dolls. Unlike traditional dollmaking, healing doll makers use a distinctive creative language centered around healing, which will be introduced and explored in the "How to Make" class.
To participate in this class, come with curiosity, a willingness to take creative risks, enthusiasm for learning, and an openness to healing a part of yourself. Additionally, please bring the materials needed to craft your dolls.
Each artist brings a unique style to their work, and these personal expressions can be integrated into your healing dolls. Unlike traditional dollmaking, healing doll makers use a distinctive creative language centered around healing, which will be introduced and explored in the "How to Make" class.
To participate in this class, come with curiosity, a willingness to take creative risks, enthusiasm for learning, and an openness to healing a part of yourself. Additionally, please bring the materials needed to craft your dolls.
In this class, you will:
- Learn to use your doll making skills to make healing dolls for yourself and your healing intentions
(Must know how to make art dolls to sign up for this class. And have an art journaling practice. - Explore healing art practices and techniques.
- Use "The Healing Doll Way" book as a guide and reference.
- Engage with a community of healing doll artists through an online Open Studio
- Commit to doing creative work and making dolls outside of class, a process I refer to as "activating the process."
Red Thread Journey Doll
The Healing Doll Way (Main Course)
Additional Requirement: Have at least some basic, beginner-level dollmaking skills—though more advanced makers are welcome too. Beginners without ANY dollmaking skills are first required to complete the How to Make Your Own Healing Dolls foundational course (see above).
The main course is divided into three parts: Discovery, Self Awareness and Transformation
All online classes take place two Sundays a month from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Central Standard Time
1. Discovery
This section focuses on identifying your beliefs about healing, building resources, and moving through and completing process assignments. You will learn about and practice making feeling and healing dolls, as well as be introduced to the visual journaling techniques that will aid in making your personal healing doll.
At the end of Discovery, you can decide whether you want to continue to continue on.
January 12 and 26; February 9 and 23
Focus: Introduction, Inner Selfie (Heroine Doll), and the Guardian/Gatekeeper
Additional Requirement: Have at least some basic, beginner-level dollmaking skills—though more advanced makers are welcome too. Beginners without ANY dollmaking skills are first required to complete the How to Make Your Own Healing Dolls foundational course (see above).
The main course is divided into three parts: Discovery, Self Awareness and Transformation
All online classes take place two Sundays a month from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Central Standard Time
1. Discovery
This section focuses on identifying your beliefs about healing, building resources, and moving through and completing process assignments. You will learn about and practice making feeling and healing dolls, as well as be introduced to the visual journaling techniques that will aid in making your personal healing doll.
At the end of Discovery, you can decide whether you want to continue to continue on.
January 12 and 26; February 9 and 23
Focus: Introduction, Inner Selfie (Heroine Doll), and the Guardian/Gatekeeper
- Build resources and move through process assignments.
- Learn visual journaling techniques and create your personal healing doll.
- Respond to prompts to define healing, set intentions, and explore metaphors, archetypes, and body awareness.
- Dolls Made: Inner Selfie (Heroine), Guardian/Gatekeeper
- Book Reference: Pages 9–114
The Discovery Process invites you to play with your imagination, take creative risks, do research on dolls and self-images, and play with concepts of healing dolls. The process will also prepare you for the deeper work that happens during the Self-Awareness and Transformation Process. I interact with students regularly, sending files with things to read and offering artmaking activities not in the curriculum—or even in the book. I also include dollmaking videos. We refer to pages 9-114 in The Healing Doll Way book:
- How You Can Become a Healing Artist
Learn, experiment, and play. Lots of journal prompts and invitations to "play with dolls". Create your definition of healing, set a healing intention, and play with and explore your healing self through your journaling assignments. You will also be exploring, researching, and playing with dollmaking styles and ways of making dolls in general. Subjects included: healing terms, symbols, metaphors, archetypes, feelings, inner and outer body, and body parts. - Make Your Self (Heroine) Doll; the doll that represents you who is moving through the healing dolls process. Uses the Inner Selfie e-book.
- Make Your Guardian/Gatekeeper Doll
The next doll in the process, the Guardian, represents protection, safety, compassion, hope, possibility, and encouragement. This doll stands witness and is always present while you are making the other dolls.
Self Awareness and Transformation
March–July (see below for exact dates)
Focus: Dive deeper into the Healing Doll Way process and engage with and get support in Open Studios
Dolls in part of The Healing Doll Way:
1. Scapegoat (March 9 and 23): Symbolizes barriers to healing.
2. Loving Kindness (April 6 and 20): Encourages compassion and positivity.
3. Talisman (May 11 and 25): Balances painful stories with present and future focus.
4. Inner Healer (June 8 and 22) Represents inner resources and wisdom.
5. Gather Your Healing Wisdom (July 13 and 27)
Dive Deep into the Healing Dolls
I continue interacting with students regularly, sending files with information to read, and offering more artmaking activities not in the curriculum—or even in the book. I continue to support students on the group Facebook page and in Zoom calls, and I encourage students to interact with each other within the Facebook group and during online Open Studios. You become a witness to the other students and part of their process as well. The group learns to talk to each other in the language of healing dolls and to ask direct and powerful questions. My students say, "we have become a sacred, safe community." We also have breakout sessions in some of the Zoom calls where students in the calls are put into small groups for part of the call.
In this part of the process, you make the following dolls:
HEALING INTENTION & THE SCAPEGOAT
The Scapegoat symbolizes what is getting in the way of achieving your healing goal. I believe making this doll opens the most potential for healing.
LOVING KINDNESS
This doll allows for more compassionate, positive, and peaceful ways of responding to the creative process and to any feelings the Scapegoat may have brought up.
THE TALISMAN
Because the Scapegoat doll can bring up painful emotions from the past, the Talisman offers an opportunity to create a balance to the story of that pain. This is a strong and powerful doll that pulls you out of the past and into the present and future.
THE INNER HEALER
The Inner Healer reminds you that dollmaking can give voice to your heart and your wisdom. This doll will symbolize and remind you of all your inner resources. She reminds you that you can move through painful experiences with insight and compassion, opening pathways to your imagination.
OPEN STUDIOS - Twice a week
Days and times may change depending on most student preferences
Some Open Studios will be led by Teacher Assistants
on Zoom
Daytime Thursdays Noon - 1:30 pm Central Standard Time US
Evening Tuesdays 7:00 - 8:30 pm
Go here to Healing Doll Way Questions and Answers
March–July (see below for exact dates)
Focus: Dive deeper into the Healing Doll Way process and engage with and get support in Open Studios
Dolls in part of The Healing Doll Way:
1. Scapegoat (March 9 and 23): Symbolizes barriers to healing.
2. Loving Kindness (April 6 and 20): Encourages compassion and positivity.
3. Talisman (May 11 and 25): Balances painful stories with present and future focus.
4. Inner Healer (June 8 and 22) Represents inner resources and wisdom.
5. Gather Your Healing Wisdom (July 13 and 27)
Dive Deep into the Healing Dolls
I continue interacting with students regularly, sending files with information to read, and offering more artmaking activities not in the curriculum—or even in the book. I continue to support students on the group Facebook page and in Zoom calls, and I encourage students to interact with each other within the Facebook group and during online Open Studios. You become a witness to the other students and part of their process as well. The group learns to talk to each other in the language of healing dolls and to ask direct and powerful questions. My students say, "we have become a sacred, safe community." We also have breakout sessions in some of the Zoom calls where students in the calls are put into small groups for part of the call.
In this part of the process, you make the following dolls:
HEALING INTENTION & THE SCAPEGOAT
The Scapegoat symbolizes what is getting in the way of achieving your healing goal. I believe making this doll opens the most potential for healing.
LOVING KINDNESS
This doll allows for more compassionate, positive, and peaceful ways of responding to the creative process and to any feelings the Scapegoat may have brought up.
THE TALISMAN
Because the Scapegoat doll can bring up painful emotions from the past, the Talisman offers an opportunity to create a balance to the story of that pain. This is a strong and powerful doll that pulls you out of the past and into the present and future.
THE INNER HEALER
The Inner Healer reminds you that dollmaking can give voice to your heart and your wisdom. This doll will symbolize and remind you of all your inner resources. She reminds you that you can move through painful experiences with insight and compassion, opening pathways to your imagination.
OPEN STUDIOS - Twice a week
Days and times may change depending on most student preferences
Some Open Studios will be led by Teacher Assistants
on Zoom
Daytime Thursdays Noon - 1:30 pm Central Standard Time US
Evening Tuesdays 7:00 - 8:30 pm
- These are online ZOOM calls
- These are opportunities to ask questions, make and chat, gather support, and build relationships.
- They are recorded.
Go here to Healing Doll Way Questions and Answers