BC-071 Intro To a Coach: Annette Tello Helps Women With Cancer To Reduce Stress and Gain A Sense of Control Through Creative Expression

Annette Tello has 25 years of experience in rehabilitation counseling and specializes in life transitions coaching. In the last five years, she has concentrated her efforts on working with women with cancer. She has developed her Creative Rx Coaching program and written an award winning book called Creative Prescriptions for Women with Cancer-Tools for Tapping into Your Stress-free, Creative, Happy Healing Space.

Art making was an instrumental tool in her own healing from cervical carcinoma in her 30s, and was also key in dealing with stress and anxiety as a child in an abusive household.

Annette wrote Creative Prescriptions for women to explore the process of creating in a way where they could tap into the healing benefits of self-reflection and self-discovery. Creativity is a prescription to reduce stress, raise spirits, and gain a sense of control over one’s own health.

Listen to this podcast to learn about the benefits of creative expression for the healing process and how it can help to release emotions so a new authentic self can emerge. Learn about Annette’s experience with creativity and how her book and her programs can help anyone on their cancer journey.

3:11 For the first time I experienced being mindful and completely centered and grounded. I experienced blissful moments in the creative zone. The finished products gave me things like recognition and positive praise. Art making saved my life.

5:20 In Dr Bernie Siegel’s book, Love, Medicine and Miracles he tells his patients to find something that puts them in the creative zone, because that’s the most healing state the body can be in. That can be gardening, music etc.

6:58 Creating art for product is very different than creating art for process. I wanted art to be a tool for me, not to make a living. So I got a degree in Psychology with a major in art. And then I got a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.

8:23 My whole life had been working with people recovering from accident or illness who need to reinvent themselves.

8:39 In the last six years, I got a job with Jewish family services working with women with breast cancer. During this time I got the idea for my book. I saw women were lost and didn’t have the tools they needed for their life.

10:19 There are 6 prescriptions in the book with activities.

13:34 When you have cancer you have to heal body, mind and spirit because you are an intuitive, creative, spiritual, intellectual and emotional being and all those parts of you need to be part of the healing process.

16:57 The book is user friendly. The supplies are not a lot of money, and you don’t need to be artistic. It’s about the process of creating for healing benefits. You are in the flow, relaxing, and having fun like when we were children.

19:23 You can do the activities and get what you need in the moment, but you can go deeper and journal. This books helps people to be able to move on with their lives after treatment because they’ve dealt with their emotions.

25:55 I have found that the women that I work with and have cancer that have a strong faith, not necessarily religion, do better with treatment. A spiritual practice is a powerful tool to lean on. You can start with positive affirmations.

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