A Therapeutic Arts Preview Workshop: Founding Circle

A Room Safe to Let It Go

For the woman who is tired of holding it all together.

The Garden Strathcona studio, a plant filled room with soft seating and natural light.

The Room — Studio @ The Garden Strathcona

The Experience: Therapeutic Arts

An intimate, guided experience for reconnecting with yourself and your body through creating art in community with other women. Two hours, just for you, to express something honest rather than make something pretty.

The Host: Apeksha Darbari

After years of burning out in tech and a late ADHD diagnosis, I found creating art as my compass back home. Now, I work as an artist and a certified Therapeutic Arts Practitioner, building the room I needed when I was running on fumes.

What Happens in the Room

You'll make something with your hands in the company of other women who are also, finally, putting something down they've been carrying too long. I'll be there as your guide and companion, holding the space while you explore what your body wants to say and put it on the page.

Nothing is required except your presence. No skills needed. Nothing to get right.

All supplies included — watercolours, markers, oil pastels, charcoal, crayons. You get to work with whatever calls to you.

Bottomless tea (caffeinated & non-caffeinated options) and light snacks included and available throughout.

The Arc

5–10 minSettling In
8–10 minGetting to Know Each Other
~10 minA (short) Meditation to land in the space
10–15 minThe Unwind, a little ease before we begin
~30 minThe Making & Storytelling, round one
~30 minThe Making & Storytelling, round two
10–15 minSoft Close & support transitioning out
Storytelling — say as much or as little as you want about what came up.

Everything is always an invitation, never an expectation.

When Saturday, August 15, 2026, 10:00am to 12:00 noon
Where The Garden Strathcona, Studio, 868 East Hastings St, Vancouver (pictured above)

The studio is on the second floor. If mobility access is something you need to plan around, reach out to me directly beforehand and I'll help figure out what works.

Investment $95 CAD (tax, supplies, and refreshments included), credited in full toward a fall or winter cohort, should you choose to continue.

Capped at 8 women. Intimate, not exclusive.

Reserve Your Spot

You'll complete your booking securely via Stan Store. It opens in a new tab.

Before this session: I'll reach out with a few questions so I know how to make this room comfortable for you (e.g. sensory needs). You're encouraged to share as much or as little as feels right.

After this session: I'll follow up with an invitation to the six week cohorts running this fall. Should you choose to continue, your investment here credits in full towards it.

Not ready to book yet? Take your time, check your schedule. Drop your email here and I'll check in before we close registrations.

What women say

From the room

Apeksha is a very skilled, calm and empathetic therapeutic arts practitioner. Her workshops provide a safe space for exploring art and looking deeper inside ourselves. In just a short time I felt connected to the other women in the workshop. The art making was fun and insightful and the sharing was authentic. Thank you Apeksha!

Talya M.

"Apeksha has a gift. She can make you think deeply and relax at the same time."

Kim A.

Apeksha's workshop was an absolute gift in an otherwise very difficult week for me. I came into the workshop feeling emotionally, mentally and physically drained. Apeksha has a very calm and grounding energy which immediately made me feel safe, and supported me in remaining fully present throughout our session (not an easy task after an intense day of work). It was a moment of peace and healing that I am very grateful for!

Natalie P.

"This workshop was incredible. Apeksha has a way with words that really reels you into what the true essence of what the workshop is meant to achieve. I would recommend this to all women that want to explore their creative side in a safe and thought-provoking environment."

Anonymous

"This was a lovely offering and just the type of thing I think many people would find comfort in right now."

Aurelia K.

Tell Me More

This is for any woman who is looking to bring more connection and creativity into her life. A lot of us are living at different stages of burnout with varying stress levels and thirteen thousand reasons for them. And often with no time or space to recharge, to do what we want to do, to prioritize our wants and needs over everyone else's expectations.

Even more of us are missing a community - our tribe of women, the essential female friendships we were never taught to prioritize, the village we forgot we had, and need.

This is my humble attempt to create the space and build that village, starting with this room. You belong here if this speaks to you.

This is neither therapy nor a replacement for it. I see therapy as important, hard work. It is examining, making sense of, and changing long standing behaviour and belief systems.

Here, we play. We create a safe, supportive space to allow that tiny voice to speak without trying to correct it. There's no way to fail at this. We follow our body and spirit and let the mind rest or wander, without performance, without the goal to accomplish anything, with the single intention to be as you are now, not become something better. This present version of you deserves to exist as she is too.

As a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner, I trained to facilitate these sessions ethically and in an informed way, but my biggest qualification as this space holder is having walked this path myself. I'm still on it, and would be honoured to be your companion and guide, as you get started.

This is a guided experience where I hold the space for you so you don't have to hold anything for some time. You're seen, you're heard, you're paid attention to. You deserve some time where you're being cared for too.

I built this room like the rooms I want to be in — with no pressure to perform, no expectation to mask, no box to fit in; a room where I can be whimsical, funny, tired, angry, sad, and I don't have to pretend to be anything else; a room where I don't have to negotiate how much of me is allowed to be there; a room I don't have to contort myself to fit in. I built this room for the wonderful, unique, beautiful you, in all your glory. I built this room for us.

Full refund within 48 hours of booking, as long as it's more than 72 hours before the session. After that, spots are final. Cancellations due to a genuine emergency may be considered case by case.

Leave your email and I'll keep you in the loop about future sessions.

This fall, a six-week in-person cohort is opening to explore more specific themes over six weeks, two hours each week. More info coming soon.

Format In-Person, capped at 8 women
Commitment 12 hours over 6 weeks (2 hours weekly)
Investment $540, or $455 with your preview credit.
Payment plans available.
Dates October/November 2026
Exact dates and times coming soon.

As part of the Founding Circle and being amongst the first women to go through this work with me, I'd like to reinvest your investment back in to you, as a token of my appreciation for your trust in me. If you choose to join the fall cohort, your investment from the preview is credited in full towards the fall cohort.

Express your interest below and you'll be the first to know when dates are confirmed.

Express Your Interest

Email me or find me on Instagram @apekshadarbari.

If you'd like to learn more about me — short version or long version. Or drop a message.

One to one

Not a group? Just us.

A private session, where you make something with your hands and I hold the space. You set the pace.

Book a single session

Via Stan Store, opens in a new tab.

6 Week Series

2026 Fall Cohorts

Six-week cohorts starting this fall to go deeper into exploring something specific together, in the community of women with shared experiences. More info coming soon.

Express Your Interest

$540, or $455 with your preview credit