What If This Next Chapter Could Be Your Most Creative One Yet?
It's Never Too Late to Begin Again - An 8-Week Expressive Arts Group Based on Julia Cameron's follow-up to The Artist's Way
For women 50+ who've spent decades caring for others and are finally ready to reclaim their creative spark, rediscover purpose, and build genuine connection in the years ahead.
(Applications close January 30th, 2025)
You've Done Everything Right. So Why Does It Feel Like Something's Missing?
You raised the kids. You built the career. You showed up for everyone who needed you. And now? The house is quieter. The calendar is emptier. The role you inhabited for twenty years doesn't fit anymore.
You have time—maybe for the first time in decades—but you're not sure what to do with it. Retirement looms (or has arrived), and instead of feeling excited, you feel... adrift. A little lost. Maybe even a little scared of all that open space.
You thought this chapter would feel like freedom. Instead, it feels like freefall.​
What if you didn't have to figure it out alone?
What if this transition—this uncomfortable, uncertain space between who you were and who you're becoming—could actually be the beginning of your most creative, connected, and purposeful years yet?​
This workshop exists because navigating midlife transitions shouldn't feel isolating. Because women 50+ deserve a space to explore what's next without pressure or judgment, to reconnect with themselves creatively, and to approach reinvention with intention rather than fear.
And doing it in community with other women who get it means you don’t have to carry it alone.
Where creative practice becomes transformation
In this 8-week workshop, through expressive arts, guided reflection, and the supportive structure of a small group, you'll:
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Identify what you've been carrying that no longer serves you—and practice letting it go
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Reconnect with desires and interests that got shelved when life got busy
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Develop a daily creative practice that becomes your anchor
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Build relationships with women who understand this threshold
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Learn to quiet your inner critic long enough to hear what you actually want
What You'll Experience:
Daily Rituals
Drawing from Julia Cameron's It's Never Too Late to Begin Again, we'll use proven creative practices—morning pages, artist dates, memoir writing—to help you reconnect with what inspires you.
Intimate Community
A small, intentional group of women navigating the same threshold you are
Expert Guidance
Professional facilitation by a licensed therapist who specializes in life transitions and healing through creative practice
Embodied Work
Embodied exercises that get you out of your head and into your body
Themed Exploration
Themed sessions addressing topics such as your inner critic, letting go of what no longer serves you, finding your authentic voice in this new chapter and more
Safe Space
A safe container for both the messy and the magical
This workshop series is for learning and personal development. While it's facilitated by a licensed therapist and uses therapeutic approaches, it's structured as a creative workshop, not therapy.
What We’ll Be Doing Together
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Showing up in comfortable clothes ready to express different parts of yourself
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Writing things we've maybe never said out loud
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Laughing inappropriately at the absurdity of midlife expectations
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Sitting in silence sometimes
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Building trust slowly so that by Week 5, you're sharing things you didn't know you’d ever share with another human
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Practicing bad art on purpose to remember that perfection is the enemy of creativity
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What this is not:
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A place where you need to be healed or fixed
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An obligation to produce "good" art
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A performance for anyone but yourself
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Another thing on your to-do list that feels like pressure
This is: A regular appointment with the part of you who's been waiting patiently for you to remember she exists.
Who This is For
You're our people if:
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You're 50+ and navigating a major life transition (empty nest, approaching retirement, career change, or just a general sense of "what now?")
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You live in the San Francisco Bay Area (or can travel to SF or Oakland weekly)
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You're tired of putting everyone else first and ready to focus on yourself
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You crave structure and routine but want it to feel nourishing
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You're drawn to creative expression but don't consider yourself an "artist"
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You're seeking community with other women who understand this particular threshold
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You're willing to try things that feel awkward at first
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You're open to homework: morning pages, memoir writing, solo “artist dates” (no art required!)
You're especially our people if:
You've spent the last 20+ years being a parent, a professional, a caretaker - and now that those roles have shifted, you're wondering who you are underneath all of that.
Hi, I'm Hannah Rudsten
I found my way to expressive arts therapy through theater—specifically, an improv class in San Francisco that showed me you could combine creativity with healing work. In high school, I had a mentor named Larkin who created space for me to practice being brave, find my voice, and discover I was more capable than I believed. That experience shaped everything about how I work with people now.
For the past 20 years, I've worked across private practices, youth development centers, schools, and mental health clinics. More recently, I've been working with empty nesters and folks approaching retirement—women navigating major life transitions who are asking themselves "what's next?" I kept hearing the same thing: the desire for community, creative exploration, and a space to figure out this new chapter without pressure or judgment.
That's why I created this group.
My hope is to walk alongside you during this time of change and uncertainty; to help create the conditions for you to reconnect with your authentic self and remember what lights you up.
I'd be honored to have you join us.
"This is a group of high functioning women who want to maximize their life experience and relationships. I would add we do this by examining our responses to big life questions, past and present, and through feedback and creative or somatic exercises, we discover actionable solutions. This enables us to come closer to living in alignment with our values."
Group participant
"The group provides a safe and non-judgmental space to reflect on your life and examine what is and isn't working. Group support, shared experiences, creative therapy modalities, and the effective leadership of a licensed therapist enable exploration to uncover new understandings."
Group participant
"A space where you can encounter parts of yourself along with the things and people that matter to you. And it allows you to really look at a challenge from a different perspective. Helps you see what is happening inside yourself in any given situation, especially the hard ones."
Former client
The Details
When:
Two separate groups running simultaneously—choose the one that fits your schedule. Both follow the same curriculum.
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San Francisco Group (Every Other Sunday):
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Sundays, 5:00–7:00 PM
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February 8, 22 | March 8, 22 | April 5, 19 |
May 3, 17
Oakland Group (Every Wednesday):
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Wednesdays, 11:00 AM–1:00 PM
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February 4, 11, 18, 25 | March 4, 11, 18, 25
Where:
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San Francisco: 4831 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118 (Up a flight of stairs, no elevator–maximum 4 participants)
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Oakland (Piedmont Area): 3873 Piedmont Ave, Suite 1, Oakland, CA 94611 (Up a flight of stairs, no elevator—maximum 6 participants)
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Investment:
$680 total for 8 weeks
Your Next Steps
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Fill out the application
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Schedule a brief phone call
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If it's a fit, complete payment & waiver
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Receive your welcome email
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Show up ready to begin again
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Questions? Email me here.