the greenhouse
creative recovery coaching package
Plant your seeds of inspiration where they will be safe as tender sprouts.
For people who used to make things and can't find their way back to the part of them that knew how.
When did being creative become so difficult?
We all start out creative. It’s a basic human trait. But along the way we get hurt. Rejected. Stiffled. We learn to fit in to survive, and our creative injuries heal crookedly. Like a broken bone that hasn’t been set properly.
But you’re still creative deep down. The desire is there, but the follow-through feels like pushing through wet sand. You feel like an imposter, like everyone else knows a trick you don’t. Or maybe you start inspired, but the inner critic and flying monkeys of perfectionism swoop in like a flock of black birds and snatch your creative seeds out of the ground before they can sprout.
Your creativity needs protection. You need a greenhouse.
The Greenhouse is a 6-month coaching program designed to recover your connection to your creative flow. The goal is rebuilding the relationship between you and the part of you that makes things. The part that got hurt and went quiet, buried under layers of protection (aka perfectionism and its cronies).
We grieve and reclaim your lost creative parts, get into the sandbox to build strength and self-trust for creative decision making, and learn to tame and befriend the inner critic. That's right. Tame and befriend. No more hiding or fighting.
I'm a certified coach and a practising artist and life long creative professional. I know what it is to make things for fun, or for a living. I’ve navigated the extractive industries that pit creatives against each other. But I also know what it’s like to heal creatively, to build supportive communities with solidarity, and to centre creativity in all things. I'll be your witness in this, someone who knows the lay of the land and holds the process without judgment while you find your way back to you.
12 sessions over 6 months with a certified trauma-informed coach who is also a practising multidisciplinary artist and creative professional
A creative sandbox: one or more low-stakes practices to experiment with between sessions, chosen by you
Inner critic work grounded in IFS: we don’t avoid or outrun the critic. We integrate them.
No output targets, no optimization, no productivity goals. This is about the relationship with creativity, not production
A witness: someone who holds the complexity of the creative and healing process
A framework and world view that understands culture (and the creativity that makes culture possible) as essential to survival and well being, not as a luxury
What you’ll find in the greenhouse:
What you intentionally won’t find:
12 step format and reliance on a higher power
Suffering framed as virutous or necessary to the creative process
A focus on only “traditional/western/classical” forms of creativity
Used to make things — art, writing, music, design, food, code, baskets…anything — and somewhere along the way it stopped feeling like yours
Turned your creative gift into work and found it slowly killing what you loved about it
Have long believed you weren’t talented or creative. Maybe someone told you this when you were young and impressionable.
Feel panic, or numbness when you settle down to create. Or a crushing sense that it won't be good enough before you've even started
Compare your current output to your best work, or other people’s best work, and feel like a fraud
Your inner critic is so loud that making anything feels pointless before you begin
Have tried schedules, routines, and productivity methods and they've all made it feel more like a job
Want to find your voice — in your work, in your brand, in your visual style, or your flavour palette — but you don't know what it sounds or feels like anymore
Aren’t sure if you were ever really creative, or if you lost it, or if it's coming back. And that uncertainty is its own kind of grief
The Greenhouse is for you if you:
How it works:
12 sessions, 60 minutes each, across 6 months
Biweekly rhythm: space between sessions to actually try things
A creative sandbox: you'll choose one or more low-stakes practices to experiment with between sessions. This is isn’t homework or output focused, it’s the space where inspiration can take root and resitence can come up and be transformed.
Between-session prompts or invitations (lightweight, never obligatory)
Inner critic integration work: understanding where the critic came from and what it's protecting, not avoiding it
No optimization, no output targets. We are reclaiming the relationship with creativity from the cult of productivity.
Pure coaching — no consulting content
Investment
1800 CAD
for the full package
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2 payments of $600
Available at checkout
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2 sliding scale spots at $85-100/session available across all packages (retainer excluded) — genuinely subsidized, apply here
Bonuses
Curated list of vetted reading material and resources
Downloadable sand box starter kit
Journalling/reflection prompts for between each session
Bonus printable colouring sheets (from a Moment of colour)
Option to be paired with a peer partner (if available)
Picture this…
Settling into your creative practice feels like coming home. Even if you don’t feel inspired that day it feels good to prep materials, run drills or tidy your space. You don’t fear your inner critic. That relationship feels respectful now. You feel calm and peaceful when inspiration ebbs, excited to hit the surf when it flows and swells. Dry spells don’t scare you anymore. You know your creative nature.
You've made things — imperfect, unfinished, whatever — and survived the vulnerability of that
You know what your voice sounds like, at least some of the time
The standards you hold yourself to have thawed enough to let new growth through
Creativity feels like a resource again, not a test
The greenhouse worked — something is growing
““Annalee has an ability to create a safe, empathetic space that fosters genuine self-reflection and growth. She is not just a coach but a skilled facilitator of change, helping you to unlock and develop your true self.”
-Gigi. G
CREATIVITY IS THE BEATING HEART OF EVERYTHING I DO.
I've been a visual artist, dancer, actor, and musician professionally. I still am, in varying capacities. I know what it is to love making things, to build a life around it, and to watch the creative industries do what they do: keep us divided, competitive, and willing to work for exposure.
I also know what creative community with real solidarity looks like. Graphic recording gave me that. It changed how I understood what creative work is worth and what it costs to do it without support.
Thirteen years of working alongside Indigenous Nations has shown me a deeper truth about human creativity. Cultural destruction — the systematic dismantling of language, story, craft, ceremony — was instrumental to the decimation of those communities. And cultural revitalization is now at the heart of almost every initiative rebuilding them. From child and family services to housing to the toxic drug crisis, community after community is placing their creativity and culture at the centre of healing. Not as decoration. As survival.
Your creative self isn't a luxury. It never was. And recovering it isn't self-indulgent. It's essential. Your creative work, your hobbies, your traditions, your wild schemes: all essential.
I don't believe in talent as a fixed thing. Talent is a story that erases the effort, practice and support underneath — and provides a convenient cover for not compensating creative work properly. Your creative struggles aren't evidence that you don't have talent. They're evidence that you haven’t been given the opportunities and conditions to develop your creative skills.
The Greenhouse is my way of paying it forward and providing those opportunities and conditions.
FAQ:
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That is 100 % ok, and it’s totally normal to feel that way. I will say that it’s rare for nothing at all to come to you in 6 months…Usually, when we say nothing comes to us we mean: nothign “good” comes to us. No insipration materializes that immediately meets our standards. This is part of what we unpack in the program, and there are solutions.
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There is no wrong answer to this question. Any medium will do!I’ve worked on adapting the prompts and exercises to apply to everything from drawing, to basket weaving, to dance, to coding.
It’s often best to pick more than one medium so you can switch if you feel stuck. My advice is to make at least one of them the one that feels the least like work to you right now.
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Then you’d be the first non-creative human I’ve ever met! Congratulations!
In all seriousness I get why you might feel that way. The dominant cultural definition of creativity is so narrow it would make sense if your particular creative spark went un-noticed, especially if it showed up in a way that doesn’t fit the limited description of western “fine art”.
The assumption that you’re not creative is exactly what we’re here to work through. -
It is not therapy. Coaching and therapy have some overlap. So while we do acknowledge the injuries of the past our focus is on creative flourishing in the present.
If I see that therapeutic support is needed I’ll offer you a referral and steer us back to safe waters. -
It’s intentionally long. Our creative parts get rushed and shushed constantly. The need space and time to unfold an stretch out. Taking time is an important part of the process.
he commitment is 60 minutes every two weeks for a total of 8 sessions. We can meet every week instead if you like. There is an initial intake form and completely optionla journal prompts. To get the most out of this work together it is recommended to spend time in the sand box (creative play) as much as you can. Once a week if possible and everyday ideally.
Take your time to decide if this is right for you right now. How much do you have on your plate? Does taking time for creative play feel like a burden, or a relief? -
I’ve worked on adapting the prompts and exercises to apply to everything from drawing, to basket weaving, to dance, to coding. The commitment is 60 minutes every two weeks for a total of 8 sessions. We can meet every week instead if you like. Other than the initial intake form there is no homework.
What we “get done” in that time will vary because no two people’s burnout experiences are exactly the same. We might cover a lot of ground or go into one aspect very deeply.
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Coaching and therapy work well together and serve different functions. I often do both at once myself. It’s worth being realistic about how much energy you have for introspection right now, and checking in with your therapist about starting coaching. But in general it can be an effective combination that support each other.
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Yes to both!
Payment plan: 4 payments of 350.00 CAD. This plan is a commitment for the full package. Access the payment plan here.Sliding scale: 2 spots are available at $85-100/session. Genuinely subsidized by full-rate clients. Apply for sliding scale here.
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If you decide this isn’t the right fit for you, or if your circumstances change making it impossible to complete our time together, you may either defer your remaining sessions to a later time, or request a cancellation of our agreement and the remaining unused sessions will be refunded.
Please take your time when deciding to work together. If you’re not sure if we’re a good fit I’m happy to meet for a vibe check call. You can book a free 20 min Q and A call here -
You’re welcome to purchase another package, or to book more coaching sessions individually as a returning client. We can discuss it as we see how things evolve.
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Access: I always ask my clients about their access needs and wants. Adaptation is the rule not the exception. We meet over zoom or over the phone and we can adapt that format in any way that feels best and that technology allows. Some adaptations include: camera off, fidgeting, doodling, shared whiteboard for brainstorming, pacing and moving about, laying down, automated subtitles and more. My goal is to make this a place to unmask.
Inclusion: I understand how important it is that the folks to whom we entrust our care honour and embrace our full humanity. That’s basic human decency. And so is being LGBTQ2S+ affirming, and respectful of the global majority (aka BIPOC folks). I am a white, disabled hetero, cis woman so naturally my default POV reflects that. But I’m always working to expand and challenge that POV and to learn. I can’t promise you perfect safety (no one can) but I can promise you a relational approach, humility and self-reflection.