Teaching
Ross Laird, PhD RCC
Clinical Consultant
Mental Health, Trauma,
and Addictions
The resources on this part of the site are open educational materials developed by Ross Laird for the workshops and courses he teaches in well-being, creativity, trauma healing, storytelling, and related fields. These materials include readings and videos on the cultivation of well-being through the use of creative practices, activities for deepening creativity, tutorials on many aspects of the creative process, and several complete courses in post-secondary creative writing.
Feel free to explore these materials. They are freely available to anyone. If you would like to join a course or workshop with Ross, please review the current offerings. You are also welcome to get in touch with Ross directly or via email.
The Inner Life of Stories
Lessons for health and healing
We're all telling ourselves stories about who we are. How can we understand these stories and use them as tools for growth?
Creative Skill
Authentic Creative Development
Developing our creativity is more complex than we might expect — richer, more meaningful, deeper.
Practice & Process
Resources to Carry Us Forward
Creativity is a process of connection: to ourselves, to others, to the wider world. What does this entail?
Taking Learning Outside
Our Heritage in the Natural World
We meander up the gravel path, through the evergreens, between the stands of alder.
Big Problems: Small Wonder
Wandering, Wonder, and Creative Pathways
We need authentic wonder: that feeling of deep mystery, connection, and meaning.
Object Lessons
Touch, Culture, and Healing
The oil lamp is small and fragile, worn down by almost two thousand years of accumulated grit, corrosion, darkness, and time.
Courses
The Practice and Process of Creativity
A selection of online materials for post-secondary courses in creativity and creative writing taught by Ross Laird. These materials are open educational resources and are freely available.
Creativity and the True Teacher
On Teaching, Learning, and Leading
I stand in the dark, watching the lighted lamps pass. Lantern-bearers follow one another upon the spiraling path. They glide through the darkness, almost silent, their faces dimly lit by the glow of the lamps.