Presentation given by Amy Oestreicher at the 2019 Mental Health America Conference: "Dueling Diagnoses" Want to learn how you can use your creativity, whether it be sewing, cooking, comedy, problem-solving or striking up conversations, to express the intersection between chronic illness and mental health? In this workshop, attendees will learn how a range of expression can heal the gap between chronic illness and symptoms of mental health. They will gain understanding of how creative arts therapies can promote resilience emotionally, relieve stress, anxiety and depression, encourage self-expression and enhance independence after physical illness, and inspire connection with both themselves and the outside world through hands-on exercises. Participants will be able to identify maladaptive coping mechanisms that may follow a medical intervention or illness, and be empowered to discover which creative modality is right for them, developing their own therapeutic model which reduces anxiety and reactivates self-esteem. Link: https://amzn.to/2Kopffh Title: My Beautiful Detour: An Unthinkable Journey from Gutless to Grateful ISBN: 9781733138802 www.amyoes.com/book

1. Storytelling, Empowerment, and Finding Beauty in the
Detours
(because who hasn’t had a detour in life?)
Amy Oestreicher
www.amyoes.com
PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for The Huffington Post, health
advocate, Speaker for RAINN and TEDx, actress, playwright.

2. Bridging the Gap of PTSD, Emotional Health and
Medical Trauma Through Creative Therapies
Amy Oestreicher – www.amyoes.com

3. Make 3 lists:
I am…
Home is…
I believe the world is..

4. What is chronic illness?
What does it feel like when our physical body is impaired?
Is “Patient” an identity?
Have you ever felt like your identity has “shattered?”
What do we do then?

5. My energy is…
I use my energy to…
What are thinking forms of energy?
What are physical forms of energy?
sto

6. Four Secrets to Resilience
• Gratitude
• Creativity
• Hope
• Stories
• No quick fixes, but long-term mindsets

7. Tell Me a Story
• “Tell me your life story in three sentences.” Who are
you?
• Write (in three sentences) the life story of someone
(real or imagined) that has inspired you.
• Write down a story that had the greatest impact on
you growing up. Where were you? Who told it to
you? What do you remember about it now? Did it’s
message change for you over time?
• What’s the title of your memoir – as it is now?

8. Telling Our Story
• How do we make meaning of events in our lives?
• Reframing our narrative
• Storytelling brings secrets to light
• Helps us alleviate shame by realizing things for ourselves
• Creates compassion through shared “detours…”
• But sometimes, we don’t have the words…

9. A limerick is a humorous poem consisting of five lines. The first, second,
and fifth lines must have seven to ten syllables while rhyming and having
the same verbal rhythm. The third and fourth lines only have to have five
to seven syllables, and have to rhyme with each other and have the same
rhythm.
There was an Old Man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
His daughter, called Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
Art can transformour energy andmove us forward!
Sometimes we just need the right frame to get us
started…or any frame at all!

10. PIXAR Story Structure
Once upon a time...
And every day...
Until one day...
And because of that...
And because of that...
And because of that...
Until finally...
And since that day...
The moral of the story is...
Once there was a ________________” (person or animal or animate thing)
And every day he/she/it ____________________” (did something)
One day ___________________________” (something happened to interrupt or change that
doing)
“Because of that ___________________.” (One result of what happened.)
“Because of that ________________________.” (The result of the result of what happened.)
“Until finally _________________________”

11. Setting creative limits can open boundless possibilities…
"Haiku" is a traditional form of Japanese
poetry. Haiku poems consist of 3 lines. The first and last
lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7
syllables. The lines rarely rhyme.
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.

12. I found
stories!
Stories
gave me a
MAP.A WAY THROUGH…

13. Check here if:
___ I’ve had something unexpected happen in my life
___I’ve had to go a different route because life had other plans for my
plans
___I’m not sure where my path is going
If life didn’t go as you expected, that’s a detour.
WHAT GOOD
STORY DOESN’T
HAVE A DETOUR?!

14. My Beautiful Detour (My Story)

15. Sexual Assault: My Story
Check all that apply:
 I feel dirty, like there’s something wrong with me
 Sometimes I think I’m crazy
 I feel ashamed
 I’m different from other people
 I feel powerless
 If people really knew me, they’d leave
 I have a hard time taking care of myself
 I don’t deserve to be happy
 I feel numb
 I don’t trust my intuition or my feelings
 I’m often confused
 I’m a failure
 I use work to make up for empty feelings inside
 I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore
 I can’t cry anymore
 I can’t express emotions anymore
 I’m rarely angry because anger scares me
 I have nightmares and panic attacks
 I feel as if my body is separate from the rest of me

16. Discovering art

18. WHEN TRAUMA HITS…

19. My Detour is DONE! I CAN EAT!
(RIGHT?)

20. Sea Dreams My World Has Split
ICU

21. “You have to speak the words”
• How do we create a community that supports every individual in their own process of self-
development?
• What is the benefit of sharing our words with others? What is the benefit of hearing the words of
others?
• How do we heal when we start speaking up?
• How do detours affect everyone differently, yet bring us all together?
• How is resiliency is connected to personal power, empowerment and positive change?
• How do we build strength through shared knowledge, life experience, inner and outer resources
to not only survive, but to thrive?
• Through the transformative power of words, we feel heard, gain clarity and can problem-solve. As
others choose to create and interact with these words, they engage in a vital conversation on how
society views obstacles, tackling issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion both within and outside
of of our field, preserving our own personal experiences while creating a vibrant community.

22. Active listening
• You don’t need to fix it
• fully concentrating on
what is being said rather
than just passively
‘hearing’ the message of
the speaker.
• Body Language
• JUST LISTEN.
• “I exist.”

23. How I became an advocate
“We all heal through our stories”

24. Navigating Hospital Detours:
- Denial: Act Normal
- Support: Family
- Creativity, Resourcefulness
- Humor
- HOPE
- Stories (Central Park Jogger)
Navigating Home Detours
- HOPE: Fake Countdowns
- CREATIVITY: Chocolate Business
- Resourcefulness, Humor, Creativity:
Neck Bag
- TWO WORLDS:
- What do you do when you are
forbidden to feel?
- How do you get through a detour?
- (no timeline, no….nothing!)
- YOU DISCOVER
STORIES….

25. Long-term mindsets help us navigate detours
• About one-third of college students across the United States had
problems functioning because of depression in the last 12 months;
• almost half said they had felt overwhelming anxiety in the last year,
• 20 percent said they had seriously considered suicide in their lifetime
• 5.8 percent said they had attempted suicide.
• in a 2011 NAMI study, that 64% of college dropouts were
for mental health-related reasons,
• Of those, 50% never accessed any mental health programs or services.
• 73% of college students report having experienced a mental health crisis
while in college.

26. AAAH! I’m anxious!
• i.e. WHAT THE HECK IS THIS ENERGY?
• Why wouldn’t words come?
• ANXIETY – “bad” energy!
• That energy I felt was scary, overwhelming until I figured out how to
use it.
• When we figure out how to use that energy, it's the fuel that propels
us on a detour

27. Symptoms of PTSD
• Intrusive Memories: Flashbacks, nightmares, scary thoughts
• Avoidance: Staying away from certain places or objects, Voluntary or
involuntary difficulty remembering the traumatic situation
• Dissociation: Out-of-body experiences, Feeling that the world is "not
real" (derealization).
• Hypervigilance: Being startled very easily, feeling tense, trouble
sleeping, outbursts of anger

28. EVERYTHING YOU ARE FEELING IS ENERGY…
REMEMBER THE LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY???
YOU CAN’T GET RID
OF IT!
SO WHAT DO YOU DO
WITH IT?

29. LIFE HAS DETOURS…
What do you feel at first when life
takes a detour? ENERGY.
Detours are frustrating, scary, and
unexpected.
You SHOULD feel those things!
"Just smile" …BUIT where do those
feelings go?
They have to go somewhere!

30. What are felt sensations?
Numbed Out Sensations:
Wooden
Congested
Dull
Dense
Frozen
Icy
Disconnected
Thick
Blocked
Contracted
Pleasant Sensations
Calm
Energized
Smooth
Streaming
Warm
Cool
Relaxed
Open
Light
Nervous Sensations:
Prickly
Electric
Tingling
Nervy
Twitchy
Burning
Radiating
Referring
Buzzy
Itchy
Fidgety Sensations:
Shaky
Trembly
Throbbing
Pounding
Fluttery
Shivery
Queasy
Wobbly
Bubbly
Dizzy
Spacey
Breathless
Not very fun
sensations:
Tense
Tight
Constricted
Clenched
Knotted
Hot
Full
Sweaty

31. Five Superheros Senses!
Quick! At this very second, name the first thing you…
Smell
See
Touch
Taste (it can be air!)
Hear
“I hereby grant you…the power of NOW!”

32. HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT ENERGY WITHOUT
IT SCARING YOU AND RUNNING YOUR LIFE?
Energy that we can't categorize or contain scares us because it feels larger
than us
FIND A CONTAINER
Create a container for that energy so you can transform it!
Humor is Creativity
Creativity is a container!

33. CREATIVITY: A GREAT CONTAINER
• Mental illness may make us feel:
oWe’ve lost our voice
o We don’t trust ourselves
oWe can’t make decisions
STORYTELLING
- Reclaim our voice
- Reframe Our Narrative
- Express Ourselves
- Turn negative energy into create good
- efra

34. Creative Solutions: There is no “one” path to healing
But it starts with our story, however we get there.

35. 1. BECOME A BETTER PROBLEM SOLVER
2. CONNECT WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
3.EXPRESS OURSELVES WITHOUT WORDS
4. EXPANDED SENSE OF TIME/flow
5. SELF AWARENESS & EXPRESSION
6. FREEDOM
There is no right or wrong way to be an artist.
7. STRESS RELIEF – TRANSFORMING ENERGY
BENEFITS OF CREATIVITY

36. PTSD and Mental Health Resources
- The National Alliance of Mental Illness
- Active Minds
- The Jed Foundation
- Gutless & Grateful for Mental Health:
https://www.amyoes.com/gutless/for-colleges/

37. Waking the Tiger: The Freeze Response
• "All mammals automatically regulate survival responses from the
primitive, non-verbal brain, mediated by the autonomic nervous
system. Under threat, massive amounts of energy are mobilized in
readiness for self-defense via the fight, flight, and freeze responses.
Once safe, animals spontaneously 'discharge' this excess energy
through involuntary movements including shaking, trembling, and
deep spontaneous breaths. This discharge process resets the
autonomic nervous system, restoring equilibrium."

38. MY DETOUR WAS OVER
UNTIL….
SINGING TREE
WITH A DETOUR
CAME DISCOVERY…

39. My heART

41. THIS WAS MY CONTAINER…

42. TYPES OF HUMOR…
• FINDING HUMOR AT THE TIME OF
IMPACT
• FINDING HUMOR IN RETROSPECT
• FINDING HUMOR WITH ME!
• HUMOR ALLOWS US TO TALK ABOUT
IT, AND BREATHE THROUGH IT!

44. Humor empowers us!
If your detours become a story, it's up to you to
add the humor!!!
WHAT’S YOUR CONTAINER?

45. MY 27TH SURGERY…The Power of Gratitude
• Improved physical, emotional, and social well-being
• Greater optimism and happiness,
• Improved feelings of connection in times of loss or crises
• Increased self-esteem
• Heightened energy levels
• Strengthened heart, immune system, and decreased blood pressure
• Improved emotional and academic intelligence
• Expanded capacity for forgiveness
• Decreased stress, anxiety, depression, and headaches
• Improved self-care and greater likelihood to exercise
• Heightened spirituality -- ability to see something bigger than ourselves

46. The Secret to Finding Your Way on a Detour …
• Sharing your story.
• Are you a Detourist?
The more we share our detours, the more
we realize we’re not alone.

48. ONCE YOU LEARN
YOUR LESSONS FROM
TRAUMA…YOU HELP
YOURSELF…
AND YOU CAN HELP
OTHERS!

50. Gutless & Grateful: Mental Health Advocacy
• Part 1) A 70-minute one-woman autobiographical musical – Gutless & Grateful –
a comedic yet poignant story on how I survived 27 stomach surgeries, organ
failure and sexual abuse. Through interwoven song and dialogue, I share a primal
piece of live-storytelling – a powerful message that it’s possible for students to
overcome physical and mental health obstacles.
• Part 2) An educational session/speech where I discuss an empowered approach
to mental health, how to develop a resiliency toolbox, how to cultivate hope, and
how to thrive in college with a physical or mental health condition.
• Part 3) A Q&A session to introduce students to a panel of counselors/faculty and
wellness resources on campus. The program can also be followed by smaller
breakout sessions among students to continue building confidence and
compassion through creative expression.

51. HOW DO STORIES HELP US?
TURN YOUR OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES.
WHY ME? HOW ‘BOUT WHY NOT?
FIND A WAY TO STAY GROUNDED…
EVEN IF IT MEANS TURNING YOUR WORLD “UPSIDE
DOWN!”
REMEMBER THE FOUR SKILLS TO RESILIENCE
REMEMBER…THEY’RE IN ALL OF US!
AND LOVE YOUR DETOURS.
OR AT LEAST, TRUST THEM.

52. It’s never too late to make a new start.
Just breathe!

53. Starting the Conversation

54. Create your own roadmap where none exists…
www.amyoes.com/book

55. PTSD has not broken
me.
It’s taken me apart,
and I’m reassembling
myself day by day.
In the meantime, I’m
learning to love what I
can build.
Post Traumatic Resilience