Life Expressions

We are forming partnerships within the community to sponsor Arts & Recreation opportunities for children & adolescents.

Throughout 2011, we have developed a great partnership with CAPS (Children & Adolescent Psychiatric Services) which is a branch of ASH, thanks to the help of Michael Dart, Community Relations. We have done some art classes, and sponsored some parties. We are schedule to do a Halloween Party which we are calling "Refuse to Wear the Mask" this Sunday October 30th. We have received so much support for this event. The party will include Face Painting by ART FOR YOUR HEAD, costuming, goodie bags, arts & crafts table, snacks, live music by Leeann Atheton, juggling by Zach Waggoner, and a home-cooked BBQ dinner complete with a Halloween Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cake!

We've spoken to other individuals in the community to find spaces around town that we would be able to use to set up art classes for the community. We will focus on empowering children with trauma-related illnesses, psychiatric illness, developmental illness, and brain illnesses through fun & arts classes.

We also are looking for opportunities in the community for creating community art projects that would transform public spaces that need a brighter disposition.

We welcome your involvement, and any suggestions you might have. 

MindLink

A community networking "think tank" group for individuals in the mental health, health, and wellness fields, as well as advocates and caregivers focused on innovation, dialogue, and whole health empowerment.

We will aim to meet regularly, starting with once every other month. Some of these groups will be "healthy happy hours", or "hill country getaways", or "self-massage techniques", and we may invite speakers to join us that are of interest to our community. We aim to build bridges, create powerful partnerships, and fill in the gaps that create a divide in the pursuit of wellness. We may partner with local practitioners and companies that offer wellness options at affordable rates, and sponsor workshops for easy access to much needed information. Please join us in January for our first meeting of 2012. And if you have ideas for these meetings, please let us know! We want your input.

Healing Sponsorships

We are pursuing a multi-faceted partnership with Soma Vida in East Austin, including helping build a pool on the property for a program we are calling Floating Lotus with Judy Kegg who is a licensed massage therapist and watsu practitioner. We are meeting with Threads of Hope to create a powerful collaboration so that individuals can become members of La Via Sana and receive the services that they need to achieve wellness and optimum vitality. We will create this community membership network which will focus on what is available in austin for bodywork, healing foods, movement, and health education...and we will work to create a community that helps individuals have access to these options when they are in financial need. 

We will be seeking grants, sponsors, donations, and members to help create this community that supports the mission of mental wellness advocacy. We will focus our outreach benefits on individuals who are experiencing psychiatric, emotional, trauma, brain, and developmental illnesses because many times this population is marginalized and immobilized in a level of poverty that does not allow for optimum well-being. We want to put power back into the hands of those who need it the most. 

As part of this program, we aim to develop a virtual resource library for our community membership network.

We welcome your input and collaboration.  

We thank our core group that has worked so hard since 2008 to create the momentum for where we are today. Our group has different experiences with mental health either as a person with an illness, or as a family member, or as a health professional. 

Our group includes: Shelly Russell, Brigitte Starkey, Kathleen Knoll, Ronald Knoll, Blanca Knoll, David Knoll, Suzette Lipford, Kitty Long, Jane Cabilda, Harvey Harman, Judy Kegg, & Elvia Knoll (Executive Director)

Thank You to those who have contributed to our awareness as mentors, friends, and supporters: Catherine Werth, Meg Coons, Nancy Speck, Jean & Bill Avera, Nancy & Jim Marroquin, Nancy Harman, Jen Padron, John Knoll, & Joan Harman.

Thoughts, Philosophies, & Passion ... 

Our inspiration for this work is based on the concept that we all have pieces of God inside, brilliant gems of possibility, and that in that perfect God all things are possible ...

and that as creations of that perfect goodness - there is perfection inside our depths which given the right support & encouragement can find a way to express itself in our world as a force which we call LIFE.

Illness is an expression of physical & emotional mysteries which baffle, confuse, and hinder growth...but in an environment of Love, Acceptance, and Unconditional Support- there is healing.

We know we don't have all the answers, no-one does, and we know that each individual has to choose wellness for themselves, but we aim to help alleviate the isolation, the fear, and the concept that defeat is the only option.  Full Recovery from mental illness and emotional crisis is POSSIBLE. We want the stories about success and freedom to have more presence in our world to counter the many stories about chronicity and despair.

As humans, we experience turmoil, and why should that be bad? What kinds of interpretations do we have about illnesses? Is the illness as bad as the stories we tell ourselves? Or are the stories actually the authors of these illnesses? La Via Sana aims to explore these questions through events that encourage honesty and that offers support through this journey...and we also aim to just enjoy and celebrate who we really are and to create the life we want ...

We welcome your input and involvement!