What Do I Actually Need From People?
An Art Therapy Workshop for Chronic Illness
Someone asks what they can do for you, and you go blank. Not because nothing is wrong, but because you've never had the words for what would actually help.
About This Workshop
Let's be honest about something: You've gotten really good at not needing anything.
You tell your sister about the good week and leave out the bad one. A friend offers to bring dinner and you tell her you're covered. Your partner asks what you need and you say nothing, because the honest answer is long and complicated and you are already so tired. Someone at work says let me know if you need anything, and you both know how that ends.
These are more so survival strategies than inherent character strengths. And they're exhausting.
Not asking isn't just about being independent. It's about the person who learned that a specific request invites a debate. The one who has been offered the wrong help so many times that asking feels like more work than going without. The one who doesn't want to be the friend who always needs something. The one who said the true thing out loud once and watched someone step back. The one who honestly doesn't know what she needs anymore, because she stopped checking a long time ago.
You learned all of this for good reasons. It protected you from invalidation, from disappointment, from having to manage someone else's feelings about your body on top of your own. But somewhere along the way, the people closest to you stopped knowing how to show up, and you stopped being able to tell them.
Here's what makes this so hard: needs are specific. "Support" isn't a need. "I need you to stop sending me articles" is. "I need you to text before you come over" is. "I need you to believe me the first time I say it" is. A general ache can't be met by anyone, including you.
And there's a second half to this that rarely gets said out loud, which is what the people close to you need from you. Not a performance of wellness. Not more than you have. Just the honest other direction of the same line.
In this workshop, you won't talk your way to it. You'll draw it. Karen Lill will guide you through a five step art exercise where you place yourself at the center of the page, place the people who matter around the edges, and draw a line to each one. On one side of that line you'll write what you need from them. On the other side, what they need from you.
You do not need to be able to draw. Art speaks when words cannot, and a stick figure, a word, or an image you found online all count.
What if you could see the whole map in front of you before you ever had to say any of it out loud?
Workshop Details
Join art therapist Karen Lill, MA, LPC, ATR, ACS and Destiny Davis, LPC, CRC for a live, hands on conversation about the relationships chronic illness reshapes, and a practical way to name what you need inside them. Karen has lived with chronic illness for over ten years, and many of her clients and colleagues do too. She's not explaining this from the outside.
📌 Cost: $27
📌Location: Live Zoom Webinar
What We'll Cover:
✨ Why Art Instead of Talking Explore what art therapy actually is and why creativity reaches things that talking around them doesn't. No ability or disability required, and no artistic skill needed.
✨ Building Your Relationship Map Follow Karen through a five step exercise, live and on screen. Place yourself at the center, choose three to five of the people who matter most, and map the lines between you.
✨ What Do I Need From This Person? Answer it one relationship at a time, in specific language instead of general language. This is usually where the thing you've been circling for months finally lands.
✨ What Does This Person Need From Me? Look at the other side of every line. Not to take on more, but to see the full picture of what's moving between you and the people close to you.
✨ Taking It With You Walk away with a page you made and can make again. Bodies change, relationships change, and this is a twenty minute exercise you can return to any time something feels off and you can't name it.
This Workshop Is For You If:
You're the person who says "I'm fine" before you've even checked
You're tired of the distance between "let me know if you need anything" and anyone actually knowing
You're wondering why a relationship feels thinner lately and can't point to when it happened
You want to figure out what you need before you have to say it to someone's face
You need permission to want specific things from the people who love you
You're curious what your relationships look like on paper instead of in your head
You're convinced you're not creative and are willing to be proven wrong
What's Included:
About the Presenter
Karen Lill, MA, LPC, ATR, ACS (she/her/hers) is an art therapist, counselor, and the Clinical Director at Modern Path, as well as a mental health consultant at Ally Primary Care. She has worked with individuals, families, and groups for ten years, and she has lived with chronic illness for over ten of her own. Many of her clients and colleagues are chronically ill as well.
Karen's work centers people living with chronic illness, gender and sexual minorities, trauma survivors, and the gaming, cosplay, drag, and burlesque communities.
Her therapy style is eclectic, which means she pulls from whichever theories and interventions fit the person in front of her rather than the other way around. As she puts it: come as you are and leave as you want to be.
Learn more about Karen's work at Modern Path.
Live interactive workshop with Karen Lill, MA, LPC, ATR, ACS, & Destiny Davis, LPC, CRC, and host of The Chronic Illness Therapists Podcast
Lifetime access to the replay
Community discussion during the workshop, with space to share your piece if you'd like to
Cost: $27 USD
Email destiny@destinywinters.com if you have any issues!
Accessibility Notes:
Live captions provided
Workshop recordings include transcripts
The exercise can be done on paper or entirely on a computer, whichever works for your body that day
FAQs
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Karen Lill, MA, LPC, ATR, ACS is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Registered Art Therapist, and Approved Clinical Supervisor specializing in art therapy for people living with chronic illness, gender and sexual minorities, and trauma survivors. She is the Clinical Director at Modern Path.
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No, this workshop is not therapy or a prescription of any kind. While Karen and Destiny are both licensed and certified professionals, this educational webinar is designed to give you a reflective art exercise for thinking about your close relationships and what you need from them. It offers general information to support your wellbeing, but it is not a substitute for personalized mental health treatment or medical care. If you're seeking therapy or individual support, we're happy to connect you with referral resources.
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Nothing you need to go buy :) A piece of paper and anything you can write or draw with, so pens, pencils, markers, or crayons. Magazines you're willing to cut up are a bonus, not a requirement. If paper isn't going to work for you that day, a blank document and images you find online will do the same job. Canva is great for this.
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The workshop runs for 90 minutes. We encourage you to take as many breaks as you need or to listen while doing another task. We honor your need to step away when needed.
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While this workshop was designed with chronic illness in mind, the exercise applies to anyone who struggles to name what they need from the people closest to them, who wants to look at their relationships from an angle other than talking about them, or who is seeking more honest connection with the people in their life.
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Yes. Your registration includes lifetime access to the recording.
Questions?
We're here to help make this experience accessible and valuable for you. Contact us at admin@thechronicillnesstherapist.com with any questions or accommodation requests.
Your sustainable path to managing your health is one step at a time.
A note about recordings: While the live session offers the best opportunity for interaction and community support, we understand that health can be unpredictable. Your registration includes lifetime access to the recording.