I’m glad you’re here. 

Welcome to Healing Handcrafting. Handcrafting can include, but is not limited to, knitting, crochet, needle felting, wet felting, weaving, spinning fibers into yarn, sewing, rug hooking, quilting… People can do all of these to create functional items for every day use, or can make works of art using shape, pattern, texture and story as their guide. There is no limit to what one can do with fibers and textiles! Here, I will explore as much as I can why it is that these practices can lead to healing in many people. Some report a sense of calm as they knit, hook or spin wool. I myself have found spinning wool to be one of the most meditative practices in my life to date. Whether following patterns or making up designs, handcrafting ties us to our ancestors, our personal and collective histories and to deep archetypal waters that have been working though people from the first time someone made a piece of cloth.

I am a psychologist, a student, a writer, a teacher, a fiber lover and a person who wants to explore as deeply as I can the healing world of handcrafts. I hope to talk with other crafters and fiber artists to learn what they experience when they are working on a project and I will share my own process as I learn new things and work on projects. With attention to the inner world while working on a project, we can learn so much about ourselves and the developmental and archetypal stage we are in.

You do not need to be a psychologist to enjoy this page.

You do not need to be an expert in any particular craft to enjoy this page.

I think simply being curious and human are the main ingredients needed to find something meaningful here, because we are all bound together in this textured life.

Bradie Hansen, M.A., licensed clinical psychologist, archetypal pattern analyst, teacher, and Weaving a Life leader and co-author of The Long Grief Journey: How Long-Term Unresolved Grief Can Affect Your Mental Health and What to Do About It. 

p.s. For a little more information on how I got to the place of wanting to make a blog, you can check out my first entry here.