Today’s guest is Julie Fearns-Pheasant, an artist and educator with decades of experience teaching art to kids and adults.

Julie shares how her experience as a person with a disability, and a breast cancer survivor, have shaped her own creative journey and artistic narrative.

Join us as Julie explores how art can help when language is a barrier, how it can help us process trauma, and how clay isn’t just about moulding shapes – it’s about moulding minds.

TW: This episode contains discussion of body image issues, ableism, and breast cancer.

Embrace is supported by its principal partner, Rio Tinto, and Channel 7 Telethon Trust.

Recognised as one of just 100 National Living Treasures, celebrated Australian television identity and doyen ofcinema Ernie Dingo is our gest today.

But Ernie’s influence extends well beyond the great outdoors and rests in the heartland. Ernie shares his spiritual and familial connection to his Yamatji homeland and tells usabout his camps that aim to reconnect young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men back to country and improve wellbeing.

TW: Today’s episode contains themes that may be triggering or upsetting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Embrace is supported by its principal partner, Rio Tinto, and Channel 7 Telethon Trust.

Who better to provide evidence for the connection between creativity and mental health than Professor Katherine Boydell, director of the arts-based knowledge translation lab at the Black Dog Institute. She explores the research behind creativity as a tool for keeping us mentally healthy, her time on ABC documentary Space22, and the therapeutic process behind creative tasks.

TW: This episode contains discussion of mental health issues

Embrace is supported by its principal partner, Rio Tinto, and Channel 7 Telethon Trust.

To read more about Katherine’s work at Black Dog Institute: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/researcher/katherine-boydell/

The Conversation article about the COVID-19 art project ‘Topsy Turvy’: https://theconversation.com/what-this-collaboration-between-artists-and-health-care-leaders-teaches-us-about-living-through-covid-19-167637

Embracing the Mind is recorded on the land of the Nyoongar Wadjuk people. Embrace at The Kids acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians in Australia, and we pay respect to Elders past and present.