An experiential interactive Zoom workshop packed full of homemade pickles, pots of preservation and plenty of play!
With: Darren Cheek and Rosanna Cooper
Date: Saturday 13 March 2021
Time: 10.30am to 12.30pm
Venue: Online, using Zoom video conferencing
About the workshop
Rosanna and Darren share a passionate love for pickling, and an equally child-like enthusiasm for free play!
So… mixing and mashing up these 2 ideas, they invite you to join them in their playful pickling workshop, where you can catch a well-needed break from adulting.
No culinary experience needed! Just bring a few basic ingredients, a few simple kitchen tools (full ingredients and tool list provided in advance) and ensure your inner child is ready too…
Darren and Rosanna write:
“We aim for you to come out feeling lighter, refreshed and resourced by a jar of delicious pickled treats to fuel and feed you through these long, heavy, winter lockdown days.
“We recognise that entering play states and spaces can feel vulnerable and exposing for adults. Invitations to play can bring up awkwardness and trigger familiar shame. Playing can bring up all those fears about getting it ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’ How safe does it feel to relax and be spontaneously silly? It may feel far more comfortable being ‘grown-up’ and only ‘colouring between the lines’.
“We are here to host and support, to lead you gently, with no pressure to force anything. We are committed to creating a safe, curious environment where we can explore our relationship with play (and with pickling)! Everything we do is an invitation, with no pressure to do any more than you would like to. You can opt out… go make a cuppa… or simply watch any parts of the workshop you prefer not to join in with.”
How it will look:
- Once you sign up, you will receive a full list of ingredients, kitchen equipment and jar size specifications for 2 pickling recipes so you can source these ahead of the workshop. Both pickles are mega-tasty but very simple introductory recipes, and as such they are also pickles which will preserve quickly… in case, like us, your ‘inner child’ finds delayed gratification a little tricky! You can choose to make one or both of the recipes – it’s entirely up to you!
- Welcome and playful warm-up: checking in with how we are – all moods and flavours welcome.
- Walking through pickle-making in our kitchens, or in our alternative appropriate spaces. By ‘alternative appropriate spaces’ we simply mean a clean, decent-sized desk or work surface where you can keep your device in view for instructions and play.
- Between the various pickling stages (chopping/boiling etc), there will be invitations into individual and group games that we hope may spark joy, laughter, silliness, tenderness, spontaneity, creativity and whatever else comes!
- Once we’ve persevered appropriately enough with our pickling and preserving processes, there will be a final gathering, doodling and checking out together – all experiences welcome.
About Darren Cheek
With an often Tigger-like energy, Darren is an experienced improvisor and improvisation facilitator, and a passionate advocate of ‘Freeing the Inner Child’, ‘Play for Play’s Sake’, ‘Creativity for Creativity’s Sake’ and ‘Art for Heartsake’. He is also an actor, writer and Artistic Director of Damn Cheek Productions, with a busy private practice as an integrative humanistic psychotherapist – working with adults, children, young people and families. Darren’s favourite pickling recipes include (very) spicy pickled onions, and sweet pickled garlic. In other pickle-related news, much to his co-presenter’s confusion, Darren recently dedicated a whole podcast episode to pickled baby lemons!
About Rosanna Cooper
As an integrative arts psychotherapist, Rosanna holds a passion for championing spontaneous creative expression without attachment to the outcome. Play is a quality she feels should never be underrated as it opens up new possibilities and reminds us to stay in touch with the wonder of living. She has delivered one-to-one and group art therapy to a wide range of adults across the NHS and the charity and corporate sectors. Rosanna currently runs her own private practice and co-facilitates regular ‘Creative Discoveries’ art therapy workshops for adults and a weekly free-writing and meditation space called ‘Write From the Guts.’ Rosanna is besotted with pickled ginger and could happily live on just this, if it were nutritionally possible! Discovering how easy it actually is to make during the pandemic has been a huge silver lining and life changer!
About the Pluralogue
For those new to this event, the Pluralogue is a space where we get together to both learn and socialise, meet some new colleagues and find out what others are up to.
The term ‘Pluralogue’ was coined by Doron many years ago, to depict moving beyond monologue to dialogue: to pluralogue (the conversation of many). We hope to learn together and from each other in the form of a learning community in a friendly atmosphere.
The added bonus is that we structure it as a CPD event so you will be able to count it as CPD hours (a CPD certificate will be provided as well).
Booking information
Please note – places are limited to just 14 to ensure everyone gets a maximum equal amount of time in our pickled ball-pool!
Places cost:
- £25 for Relational Spaces members
- £35 for non-members
To confirm your booking please email us at therapyroomsuk@gmail.com and we will reply with details of how to pay.
We will also send you a link to join the Zoom meeting nearer the time. You will not need to download any software to take part.
Please use your name + PL32 as reference.
Cancellation policy
Please note we do not offer refunds for our Pluralogue events. However, if you ask to cancel your booking more than 7 days before the event, you’ll receive a one-time use (no-cancellation) credit for a future event.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Warm regards,
Dianne and Doron.
07426 336 322
