Dr. Sheila K. Collins believes that in facing life’s toughest challenges (grief, loss, illness, disabilities, death
of a loved one), we mature into who we truly are. Her writing, teaching, speaking, and improvisational artist
performances offer thought-provoking insights, embodied practices, and art based tools to help people deal with what
life presents to them. Her award-winning book Warrior Mother: Fierce Love, Unbearable Loss, and the
Rituals That Heal describes her journeys with two of her three adult children and her best friend through their life-threatening illnesses and deaths, and the rituals that helped her family to heal.

Using her background as a dancer, social work professor,
therapist, and improvisational performance artist, Dr. Collins demonstrates in her online and in-person presentations how art-based tools have helped her and can help others live joyful embodied lives. Her engaging, often humorous 2016 TEDx talk, When Death ThreatensSomeone We Love, demonstrates the challenge of being a caregiver to a loved one dealing with a death-defying illness and the gifts present in such circumstances.

Her book for professional and family caregivers, revised with co-author Christine Gautreaux in 2018, is Stillpoint: A Self-Care Playbook for Caregivers to Find Ease, Time to Breathe, and Reclaim Joy. It contains art-based tools, skills, poems, stories, and embodied practices that provide encouragement and support for caregivers to take care of themselves while taking care of others. Since the pandemic began, the two authors have taught a weekly class online based on Stillpoint, attended by caregivers from around the world. Dr. Collins’ upcoming book is titled TheArt of Grieving. Her blog Dancing with Everything is available
on her website, http:/www.sheilakcollins.com, and the audio version of Warrior Mother, narrated by the author, is available wherever you get your podcasts.

You can connect with Sheila at www.sheilakcollins.com.