20 years: milestones
It’s already been twenty years since I set up my training centre! I’m really happy with the journey I’ve been on and, as I was writing this article, I realised even more just how many milestones have been reached along the way. It has been a real adventure! I’ve also been able to appreciate the importance of all the people who have contributed to the school’s development, and the many small and large projects that have come to fruition over the last twenty years. I thought I’d give you an overview of the last two decades, year by year, from 2004 to 2024. However, I need to first give you a little information about what has come before. Let me start here.
I’ve always loved writing and drawing and, when I was a teenager, I felt a calling to work with marginalised people, particularly people living with disabilities. Because of this calling, I studied Social Work and then worked for ten years in different organisations and non-profits for people with disabilities and with immigrants and refugees. During that time, I wrote in my diary (as I have been doing since 1976) and drew a little, but very timidly. I found myself starved for creativity in my social work and so often chose projects that allowed me to create and write. It was in 1991 that I made the switch to art therapy and trained in that field until 1994. I felt like a fish in water, discovering the power of art to express myself and keep me relatively balanced in the flow of life. I continued to write in my diary and did art therapy for myself on the side. It was in 1998 that I finally realised that I preferred to mix different languages in a sketchbook, keeping the process more private, portable and autonomous. I had found my tool and my framework.
1998 – I give my first creative journal workshops.
A period of effervescent research followed, with the method taking shape, inspired by several authors, particularly from the United States. I moved forward one step at a time, without a precise plan, following my desires and listening to the requests of the people I gave my first workshops to. I gave many workshops in Granby (Quebec), where I’ve had an art studio, located in the former Imperial Tobacco factory, since 1995 – as well as in various organisations (women’s centres, hospitals, mental health day centres, etc.). I also rented out rooms in Montreal and explored different themes, all of which fascinated me and made me feel in my element. At first, I didn’t think I’d just be doing creative journaling, as I had two other areas of work in art therapy and creativity. But over the years, creative journaling has taken over. As I often say, ‘I was sowing seeds and this is the one that grew’. I also felt, from the very first workshops, that I needed to articulate all the content I was developing in a book that would enable people who were interested in this method to go further. I gave occasional workshops in English, but most of my work happened in French.
2002 – Publication of my first book
The first version of my book ‘ Le Journal Créatif: à la rencontre de soi par l’art et l’écriture ’ was published by Editions du Roseau. This publication made more people aware of me and I started receiving requests for training from professionals who were interested in the method and wanted to bring more creativity into their work. The idea made some headway, and I got down to work while continuing to offer workshops for the general public.
2004 – Official launch of the Centre for the New Creative Journal
On 21 September 2004, I officially launched the school by registering the École le Jet d’Ancre. Jet d’Ancre literally means “anchor’s throw/cast”, as in dropping the anchor, but is also a play on words because, in French, the words for anchor (ancre) and ink (encre) sound identical. I had a hard time coming up with the name, but the metaphor of the anchor that we throw into our inner lives with the ink from our pen resonated with me – since my vision was above all to pass on tools that help people to connect with themselves. In the first year of operation, I had two groups taking the training, one in Montreal and one in Rimouski. The course, Accompagner et animer avec le Journal Créatif , was 150 hours long. I continued developing my content for all audiences, while putting a lot of energy into this professional level training.
2005 – First certifications
From the first two groups, 23 people were certified in my method of Creative Journaling. As I left at the end of each of these training sessions, I cried in my car, realising that the scope of my undertaking was completely beyond what I had imagined.
2006 – The training program evolves
The first few years, building the professional training program as I moved forward while listening carefully to the feedback from the students, were intense. The presence of Julie Jobin, who was certified in 2006 and had previously owned a massage school, helped with improving the program. She followed me on this adventure for 10 years. My 2nd book, which was about the creative process, was released during this year.
2007 – The program continues to improve
A 7th weekend was added to the course, to enhance the practical aspects of transmitting the tool. I continued to set up groups in Montreal and Granby while also diversifying my workshops.
2008 – First group in Europe!
A first training group took place in Belgium, thanks to an invitation from Nathalie Hanot, a psychologist who has become an important collaborator and leader in the field of creative journaling in the context of psychological support. My 3rd book was released.
2009 – Moving to larger premises and going to Colorado
The school moved to larger premises (1400 square feet) in the same building and, from then on, all the training groups for Quebec took place in this inspiring and much-appreciated locale! I spent many years there, working and sharing, my heart full of gratitude for being able to do what I loved. That year I went to a conference on the Power of Writing, organized by Kathleen Adams, in Denver Colorado. I felt I was developing the French branch of a huge tree that had been growing a long time before me!
2010 – New edition of my first book
A new synthesis: all the research carried out to articulate the ideas I passed on in my professional training forced me to completely revise my first book, which was published under the title ’Le nouveau journal créatif ’ (éditions le Jour). I added NEW to the title as I felt I was gradually creating a new synthesis and blend of techniques. From then on, when I talked about creative journaling in other languages than French, I added the word New to the name. It was also the year of my first training group in France.
2011 – Incorporation of the school
The school’s influence grew, and it had to take on a “body” separate from my own… For administrative reasons, it was incorporated that year and became École le jet d’Ancre inc.
2012 – Help at last!
I could no longer manage everything at once, so I started hiring more administrative help, but still only for a few hours a week. I always had a book project on the go and this year my 4th book sees the light of day.
2013 – My first online course
I continued to set up various public workshops, mainly in Granby but also when I was travelling in Europe. Professional training was attracting more and more people, and the groups were growing slowly but surely. My partner, Jean-François Labelle, had been helping me on a regular basis with the company since I started out. As he was a videographer, we decided to record our first course. It was a game changer! I suddenly saw him at his most creative and I wanted to do more.
2014 – Administrative support team
I finally got a regular part-time administrative assistant, but she left after a few months, and I decided to hire someone full-time. Geneviève Ledoux started with us in the autumn of 2014, and she teamed up with Jean-François, who was also increasingly committed to the project.
2015 – Release of my 5th book
This year saw the release of my 5th book, aimed at young people aged 10 to 18.
2016 – New horizons in English
Following the positive experience of the first shoots and wanting to reach more people in the general public, we started online classes in French with Introduction au Journal Créatif. In the spring I decided to drive down to North Carolina to do a presentation in English at another conference organized by Kathleen Adams. I carpooled with Hélène Brunet who became a friend and partner for all our English projects. This motivated me to start putting together a website and a Facebook page in English.
2017 – First online course in English
I continued to develop new workshops and to regularly go to Europe to share all my content. English projects started to take shape. We now had an English page on our website, a Facebook page and a YouTube channel. I taught my first online classes in English: Introduction to New Creative Journaling and The Handmade Life. The method continued to evolve, and the professional level training increased in length to 200 hours. My 6th book was released.
2018 – New expansions
I gave a first class through the Center for Journal Therapy (Kathleen Adams): Expand your Writing with Art. We set up a separate website in English to be able to host our different classes.
Yvon Roy, certified in creative journaling and retired from teaching, had been telling me about his workshops in Mexico for the past few years. Thanks to Martha de la Cruz Romero’s translation work, I joined him in starting a Spanish professional training group, in Mexico.
2019 – Now well surrounded by a team
Things were continuing to grow slowly, and I was delighted to be able to travel around sharing my work. I now had a solid team behind me and could devote myself to developing the school. There was no shortage of ideas!
2020 – Adapting
Things were following their course when suddenly, due to the turmoil caused by the pandemic, we had to cancel, postpone or move activities. I got to grips with videoconferencing, and we managed to carry on with our operations. When things calmed down a bit, I continued to give workshops in Granby, and I held my last in-person training session there. I found that I was managing to get my content across despite everything, and I developed other workshops while we waited for things to settle down.
2021 – And we’re still adapting (necessity is the mother of invention)
I realised that things weren’t going to settle down quickly and I had to completely shift our professional training, planned for Europe, to a virtual mode. I decided to completely reformat the program so that all the following editions could be given entirely online. We converted all the theory into videos, I was changing the formula, updating the documents… it was a lot of work! My 7th book came out and, thanks to Hélène Brunet, my 1st one in English was also released. It was the English translation The New Creative Journal: Connecting with Yourself through Art and Writing.
2022 – Change of studio and new website
Since almost everything now took place online, I realised that my studio in Granby no longer suited my needs. I moved out, after 27 years at the factory, and I moved into a studio where I wouldn’t be hosting groups. This year also saw the launch of our brand-new website (the French one). It was a transactional site that incorporated a teaching platform, with forums, and automated some of the work involved in course registrations and invoicing. A great improvement!
2023 – New additions to the permanent team
The team was growing again: Maxime Bélisle, who had been an external collaborator for years on the web and video production sides, joined our team full-time to care for the website, and to help with communications, marketing and various other projects. I went back to Mexico to start up a new group.
2024 – 20 years on
Here we are in 2024, 20 years later, and I’m moved, looking back, to see how far we’ve come. The professional training is now offered internationally. Our latest group, the 40th, included people from 10 different countries. From a single person doing everything, we are now a permanent team of 4, assisted by a dozen training assistants. Without this team, it wouldn’t be possible for me to be so active and share creative journaling with so many people. As for the English projects, they continue. Hélène Brunet translated my book Mon cahier mieux-être (English title still to come), which will be released soon, and I am preparing to translate the professional training program into English as well, hoping to start a first English group in a year or two.
I’d like to thank the people listed below, all of whom have worked or continue to work with me. The current team: Geneviève Ledoux, Jean-François Labelle, Maxime Bélisle; the current training assistants: Amandine Waxin, Claudia Laurin, Danièle Kessareff, Emily Hawkes, Florence Bertrand, Josée Longchamps, Martha de la Cruz, Valérie Barrois, Yvon Roy; the special collaborators and occasional supervisors: Claire Hérino, Chantal Lord, Christine de Longue Épée, Hélène Brunet, Johanne Hamel, Marie-Maude Fleury-Labelle, Nathalie Hanot ; the assistants over the years: Josée Tremblay, Julie Jobin, Louise Laliberté, Nathalie Leplae, Sophie Montreuil, Véronique Gemme; administrative assistants over the years: Brigitte Pinard, Caroline St-Arnault, Jessica Brière, Lolita Bellisle, Marie-Pier Maio, Mylène Cossette, Suzanne Lemay. Thanks also to Annie Gingras, Annie Viel-Rioux and Bryan Furlong.
