Erika Cleveland - Washington, D.C. 

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​http://www.transformativehealingdolls.com
https://www.facebook.com/Transformativehealingdolls

Artist, writer and healer, Erika Cleveland was trained as an art therapist at NYU. After working clinically for many years with children and adults, in settings such as International Center for the Disabled in NYC and Boston Children’s Hospital, she studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Here is a link to an article that was in the Washington Post in 2019 called In the galleries: Erika Cleveland's 'Healing Dolls' are playful in their duality
Erika has completed Barb Kobe's Medicine Doll online class and has taken several classes from Pamela Hastings.
Picture​Linda's Nature goddess side

What students say about
Befriending Our Shadow
"My expectations were more than met. The transformational aspect seemed appropriate for both the transitions happening in my own life, as well as for these uncertain times we’re in. It seemed that it would open some new directions, and I wasn’t wrong.
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I was surprised at the deeper level of inner exploration. What I didn’t realize was that it would become such a personal journey, and how my compassion for myself would grow in so many directions. The process is ongoing. And, you get a really cool doll at the end. I really enjoyed seeing and hearing about everyone else’s dolls. I so appreciated being allowed into their process…I felt we became a supportive and safe community. Amazing women, so heart-opening, creative. Very good facilitating Linda

​Testimonial from a Befriending Our Shadow alumna, Angela Roberts: 
I was drawn to the class because the exploration promised spoke keenly to my soul. I wanted to learn more about embracing the shadow side and expressing the journey in a doll. I found the experience to be exhilarating, terrifying, gratifying, and fun. 

This workshop series delivered on the stated goals, and more. Erika nurtured an environment of support, wisdom sharing, safe space, and creativity. We grew to trust one another with our fears, our ideas, and our deep thoughts. I never made a doll before. I never imagined making a doll before this class…Making my doll…forced me to think long and hard…In the end, the process helped me to find a modicum of peace and acceptance.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this workshop series. I looked forward to our weekly meetings. Our time together was a combination of practical tips, meditation, sharing, coaching one another, and enjoying the company of talented, strong women. Erika’s facilitation style is supportive, gentle, and inviting.

Erika valued every one of us. She welcomed our creativity and celebrated our outcomes. 

I really wanted to explore my own current state of mind and I had a feeling that the class might encourage the deep dive I needed. These simple expectations were met and the more hidden expectations emerged and were met as well. The classes followed a path that was like a stairway down towards an internal place where the psyche and the soul met somehow…
Barbara Sobol, participant Befriending Our Shadow, Fall 2020
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ERIKA CLEVELAND
Befriending Our Shadow  
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 "​...rather enchanted by the slowness of it, how much time I actually spent on my doll...gave me some deep revelation.  I was exposed to more techniques and possibilities than expected."

I offer a class,  Befriending Our Shadow IV several times a year. Previous participants have said that they felt lasting effects long after the course was over. They have felt challenged and supported, by the iir shadow explorations and flip-doll-making, within the framework of an intimate and supportive group. Below is a testimonial from one of the most recent participants.
"Carl Jung said 'The shadow is where the gold is.' The process of working on a flip doll in a community of doll-makers under the tutelage of Erika Cleveland was a wonderful way of accessing shadow parts of my personality, those parts of myself I have trouble acknowledging and seeing clearly…”
Joanne Delaplaine, participant Befriending Our Shadow Fall 2020

For more details about this eight week on-line intimate course in which shadows are explored through the medium of the flip doll,   https://www.transformativehealingdolls.com/befriending-our-shadow-e-course.html ​
 A doll-making e-course about befriending our shadow, using tenderness and compassion to connect with all parts of ourselves. Flip dolls are two sided dolls connected at the waist. These two-sided dolls have the capacity to capture divergent views of reality, dark vs light, joy vs sorrow, love vs alienation. In this course you will have the chance, through exploring and befriending your shadow, to discover hidden strengths within. And at the end of the course, your doll will represent and unite both shadow and light. And, important note, you do not need to know how to sew beforehand.
MORE DETAILS and SIGN UP HERE  
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Angela Roberts, detail of embroidered faces from “Mary Frances” shadow flip doll, dealing with learning to be comfortable with ambiguity
Joanne Delaplaine “Peacekeeper vs Octopus Woman” shadow flip doll, (Peacekeeper left, Octopus woman right)
Barbara Sobol “Innocent Baby vs Mystic” shadow flip doll
​ “Innocent baby” left, “Mystic” right