Unmask Your Creativity: 3-Month Group Program For Creative Souls
In-depth class description is below!
*Payment plans are available. Two scholarships slots are also open for applications. More details are below under the Financial Transparency section. No refunds will be offered after June 3rd.
Unmask Your Creativity: a 3-month group program experience
Reclaim your terms. Revitalize your inspiration. Free your creative self.
Begins June 4th, and runs every other Tuesday at 4:30pm PST / 7:30pm EST (2 hours).
Led by Sarah Cook (Autistic writer & creative mentor) and Mal Hasty (writer & professional Astrologer)
$555 or $700 for program + two 1-hour one-on-one coaching sessions (one with Mal, one with Sarah)
No-fee monthly payment plans available for both options
In this 3-month virtual classroom, we’ll gather in intentional community around a shared goal: To unmask our creative selves.
Through a mix of formal bi-weekly classes, curated reading, writing prompts, and informal study halls, you’ll be guided to:
Grow clearer on your unique creative terms and definitions
Hone in on your impulses, goals, and what motivates you
Honor the intersections of your creativity, (neuro)divergence, & sensitivity
Tend your relationship with your inner child
Invite more curiosity and playfulness into your practices
Amplify your (writerly) voice
And more
For this cohort in particular, we’ll be paying extra attention to the vital intersections between creativity and divergence. Those who identify with terms like ADHD, Autism, or HSP, or with neurodivergent experiences in general, are especially encouraged to join. If you know your creativity is in dialogue with how you move through the world, how you process information, or how you experience sensitivity (or if you want your creativity to be in greater dialogue with these things), then this cohort is especially for you!
Whether you identify as an experienced writer or artist, or you haven’t been creative in what feels like a very long time, this program welcomes your full self and requires no previous experience or skills. Bring your curiosity and devotion! In return, expect inspiration, learning, community, & re-enchantment.
Who this program is for:
Humans with a deep sense of loyalty to creativity and creative expression, and who are likely sensitive, “neuro-spicy,” or have a felt sense of diverging from the norm. This includes but is not limited to: writers, social workers, nurses, visual artists, weirdos, advocates, witches, parents, creative folx still figuring out what their primary medium is, humans with private journaling practices & creative hobbies, and those still seeking the language to describe who they are and what they do.
Why “unmask”?
Often associated with Autism, “masking” is a term used to describe the way neurodivergent folks limit or hide certain facets of their true selves in order to blend in and maintain safety within the neurotypical world. Masking is especially common among those who are already marginalized, including trans people, women, queer humans, and people of color, as it intersects with the conditioning and oppression that such groups already face.
We recognize “masking” as something that also occurs in traditional classroom spaces and writing workshops, where divergent brains & bodies are conditioned to engage with creativity in limited ways:
We’re conditioned to seek limited, culturally acceptable versions of “success”
We’re taught that joy and pleasure are in competition with craft and skill
We’re pressured to carry neurotypical definitions of worth and value
We’re forced to care about rules that keep us at odds with ourselves
The results? Everything from decreased pleasure in the creative process and increased self-doubt to a loss of creative self-worth and a lack of inspiration altogether. Prolonged masking of our true creative selves leads many of us to falsely associate our creativity with the worries, fears, and limitations that co-opt it from us in the first place.
As a program designed and facilitated collaboratively, you’ll be held by two instructors / guides / allies / and cheerleaders, both HSPs with backgrounds in trauma-informed facilitation. That means you’ll benefit from everything we each bring to the table: astrology, poetry, tarot, creative writing, intuition, coaching, weirdness, and magic.
Meet your Guides
Sarah Cook
Sarah is an autistic writer, poet, and creativity coach. A past social worker, she believes in turning to the page for self-determination, ritual, and play. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in places like Hobart Pulp, Write or Die, Sad Girls Club, Oregon Humanities magazine, and in her Substack newsletter,
She publishes For the Birds, a Substack newsletter, and loves bugs, zines, Leonora Carrington, eating, & asking big questions.
Mal Hasty
Mal is a Professional Astrologer, Tarot reader, and world traveler. They love working with fellow queers, mystics, writers, and highly-sensitive people. As a space-holder, they’re passionate about building an expansive classroom experience for creatives, HSPs, and neurodiverse weirdos to find breakthroughs in conversation and community.
Required Reading
While we’ll be providing most of the resources you’ll need throughout the semester, we’re asking students to pick up the following two books, which we’ll be reading lengthy excerpts from:
Women Who Run With the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estés - Chapter 3: Nosing out the Facts (Vasalisa the Wise)
Writing Down The Bones, by Natalie Goldberg - various chapters
Class dates
Formal 2-hour classes will occur on the following Tuesdays, always at 4:30pm PST / 6:30pm CST:
June 4th
June 18th
July 2nd
July 16th
July 30th
August 13th
Attendance & recordings
Recordings of all six formal classes will be made available throughout the semester. While we understand that life happens, we strongly encourage you to plan on attending all (or most) sessions live. A vital part of the magic, witnessing, and growth that will transpire will be fed by our real-time engagement with each other, which makes your presence in this community space vital.
Accessibility
We aim to create an inclusive and trauma-informed learning space. Participants are encouraged to show up fully–according to your own terms of fullness, and never at the expense of your immediate needs. Taking breaks, utilizing the camera on/off feature, and communicating via chat and/or audio are always welcome. If you have any questions or concerns about accommodation, please reach out directly!
Financial transparency, Payment plans, Scholarship Info
We’re holding at least two seats for sliding scale attendance. Through a brief scholarship application process, you may request a 50% / 75% / or 100% discount on tuition. (Note: we will not ask for financial documentation of any kind; if you need the discount and we have one available, you’ll qualify.) Please email Mal & Sarah directly to inquire.
Payment plan options are 3 payments of $185 (for the course) or 3 payments of $233 (for the course and coaching). If you choose the monthly payment plan at checkout, your first payment is due upon checkout, and you are commiting to follow through on all additional payments. Second and third payments will be due by the end of June and July respectively, payable via QuickBooks invoice sent directly to you. As we strive to make this course as accessible as we can, thank you for making sure you can honestly align with these agreements before signing up.
No refunds will be offered after June 3rd.
Everything included, in a nutshell
Six 2-hour group meetups via Zoom (12 hours of total class time)
Deep, meaningful discussion within a safe learning environment
Study Hall Meetups on most off-classroom weeks
Forever access to our group’s Discord forum for further discussion throughout the week (and beyond!)
Temporary access to all class recordings
Optional: Two one-on-one coaching sessions–one with Mal, one with Sarah
Our semester, at a glance:
WEEK ONE: Introductions, Guided Writing & Meditation
WEEK TWO: The Baba Yaga Initiation
WEEK THREE: Learning To Lose Control
WEEK FOUR: Divergent Knowing
WEEK FIVE: Unmask your Inner Child
WEEK SIX: Unmasked Artists