Sheila K Collins

Sheila K. Collins, PhD, believes that in facing life’s most difficult passages, including grief, loss, illness, disability, and death, we grow into a deeper and more authentic version of ourselves.Through her writing, teaching, speaking, and improvisational performance, she offers thoughtful insights, embodied practices, and art-based tools that help people meet life’s hardest moments with courage and creativity.Her award-winning book Warrior Mother: Fierce Love, Unbearable Loss, and the Rituals that Heal chronicles her journey alongside two of her three adult children and her best friend through life-threatening illnesses and death, and explores the healing rituals that sustained her family.Drawing on her background as a dancer, social work professor, therapist, and improvisational artist, Dr. Collins demonstrates in both online and in-person presentations how creative practices can support resilience and embodied joy.Her 2016 TEDx talk, When Death Threatens Someone We Love, speaks with honesty and warmth about the challenges and unexpected gifts of caregiving during serious illness.In collaboration with Christine Gautreaux, she co-authored Stillpoint: A Self-Care Playbook for Caregivers to Find Ease, Time to Breathe, and Reclaim Joy, a resource filled with art-based practices, stories, poems, and practical tools to sustain caregivers.Since the pandemic, they have offered an ongoing online class inspired by Stillpoint, welcoming caregivers from around the world into a shared space of support and renewal.Her most recent book, The Art of Grieving: How the Arts and Art Making Help Us Grieve and Live Our Best Lives, continues her lifelong exploration of how creative expression can transform sorrow into meaning.