All The Feels is a series of therapeutic group programs created and run by Bec Filliponi, Accredited Mental Health Social Worker. Bec has been supporting people living in the Yarra Ranges, and collaborates with Belgravia Foundation. A Therapeutic Art Parenting Program has been running during COVID-19 isolation with a focus on supporting parents to increase their ability to regulate their emotions during times of increased stress, navigate parent/child conflict, understand the neurobiological impacts on their parenting and then learn how to teach these to their own children. Art activities create an important opportunity to support the programs objectives, permitting leisure time activity to contribute to wellbeing.

Each Monday parents connected over Zoom for 60-90 minutes to learn, share their stories and support each other through the increased difficulty of parenting through COVID-19, isolation and remote learning. Each week, along with the group session, parents had a therapeutic art project to complete that helped them explore that week's topics and a mindfulness colouring page, created by local artists from the Yarra Valley, specifically to support deeper learning and processing of the All The Feels content. Parents had a workbook journal with questions to answer that helped them to relate and further explore the content, and to plan for positive change in the future in clear tangible ways that were specifically tailored for them and their families.

Parents reported that this time was like a sanctuary of support and respite from the stress of their daily lives. Parents stated that they found the group extremely helpful and would want to engage in the program again if they had the opportunity.

One parent reported the following: “I found this workshop extremely helpful. The emphasis on small, simple changes made tasks feel achievable. I loved the workbook as it helped me to reflect on my emotions and relate these to my children’s actions and emotions. I hope to attend more sessions in the future to expand my skills. Thank you.”