Theme 1 of 5, Procrastination and Avoidance | Art-Based evenings with Prof. Hildrun Rolff

Theme 1: Procrastination and Avoidance

“I’ll start tomorrow.”

Two free evenings to see what your putting-off protects you from, and to help the child who finds it all too hard: the one in your care, and the one you once were.

Wednesdays 18 and 25 November 2026
6.00pm to 8.30pm Malaysia time, live on Zoom
Free, both evenings

Reserve your free place
A cupped hand holding a glowing sphere, and beside it a second sphere held by a chain.
Where
Live on Zoom, from your own table
You need
Paper, colours, a lump of clay. No art experience.

Your tax return has sat on the desk for weeks.

The email to your colleague is half written.

You know exactly what needs doing, and you tidy the drawer instead.

It isn’t laziness.

Putting things off usually protects you from something: being judged, perhaps, or an old voice that says you’ll never manage it anyway. You learned that long ago, which is why good intentions and a new planner don’t reach it. Paper, colour and clay do. They let you put the obstacle in front of you, where you can look at it.

It often starts early.

Children and teenagers avoid tasks that feel too big. Telling them off raises the pressure, and often the avoidance with it. Pictures and materials give them another language for what holds them back. A child who is allowed to show their overwhelm can begin to negotiate with it.

You may recognise a younger you at that desk: the child who learned that not starting was safer than getting it wrong.

What’s different for you afterwards

You can see what’s in the way.

The thing that stops you gets a shape on paper. Looked at from outside, it’s smaller than it felt from inside.

Starting stops being a fight.

Working with your hands eases the inner pressure. Taking the first step feels lighter.

You’ve already begun once.

You’ll have felt what beginning is like in your own body. That feeling is still there the next morning.

Two evenings, a week apart. The first meets you as you are now. The second goes back to where it began.

Most of these patterns were planted early. So the second evening is about children: the ones in your life, and the one you once were. You learn how to help a child with this, and along the way you meet the child who first learned it.

A glowing ball on a chain floating away from an open hand, against a blue sky.

Wednesday 18 November, 6.00pm to 8.30pm

“I’ll start tomorrow”

For you, as an adult

You work on something you’ve been avoiding. You don’t have to say what it is.

What this evening sets in motion

  • Gaining distance. Whatever holds you back takes shape outside you. Your inner system can look at it from the outside and reassess it.
  • Releasing pressure. When your hands work with materials, inner tension eases. Taking action feels lighter again.
  • Feeling the start. Through doing, you experience what beginning feels like. Your body stores that experience, and it’s still there the next morning.

You leave with

  • An exercise you can use on your own the very next morning
  • An image of your obstacle, as an anchor to come back to
  • An understanding of why pressure so often strengthens avoidance
  • Ideas for your work with clients
A child kneeling beside a large ball, studying it closely.

Wednesday 25 November, 6.00pm to 8.30pm

“This is too hard”

For the children in your life, and the child you were

The exercise book stays shut. A twelve-year-old says “Boring!” and may mean “I’m scared of getting it wrong.”

What art-based approaches set in motion in children

  • Putting size in proportion. A picture shows how big a task really feels to a child. The child experiences that they can grow too.
  • Confidence in the body. When hands create something that works, the nervous system stores that experience. Courage for the next step grows from there.
  • Adults as an anchor. You recognise which attitude helps children keep going.

You leave with

  • Two exercises you can use with a child the next day
  • Versions for primary-school children and for teenagers
  • A new way to read “lazy”: as a signal that the task feels too big
  • Sentences that give a child courage, to replace the ones that add pressure

The exercises stay a surprise until the evening itself. The surprise is part of how they work.

What an evening is like

Who is it for?

What you learn here is a skill and an understanding, and it doesn’t stay with you alone. Once you’ve felt how it works, you can sit beside someone you love, a child, a partner, a parent, a friend, and keep them company through the same thing. You’re there as a companion, with paper and colour between you. Nobody is asking you to fix them or to be their therapist.

For yourself

You keep putting off something that matters, and willpower hasn’t shifted it.

For someone you love

Someone close to you is stuck: a child at their homework, a partner with a decision, a parent with something they won’t face. You want to stay beside them without nagging.

For the people you work with

You coach, counsel, teach, manage or do school social work with people who get stuck, and you want a tool that goes beyond talking.

An honest noteThese are coaching evenings for everyday life. They aren’t therapy and don’t replace professional support where that’s needed.

Who guides you

Prof. Hildrun Rolff, wearing a yellow scarf, resting her hand against her cheek

Prof. Hildrun Rolff

Leads every evening live

Most people teaching art-based methods learned them from someone. Hildrun is the someone. She designed and led Germany’s first Art Therapy – Social Art degree at Alanus University, the programme a generation of practitioners was then trained inside.

Her method is trauma-sensitive by construction, not by disclaimer: the body leads and the naming follows, never the other way round.

  • Founder, Germany’s first Art Therapy – Social Art degree, Alanus University
  • Forty years in art therapy, art-based coaching and university teaching
  • Developer of Biography-Based Art Coaching
  • Has taught practitioners across Europe and Asia

Hear Hildrun introduce the five themes:

Choose where to start

Theme 1 is free. Each later theme can be booked on its own, or all four together for the best price.

MOST POPULAR · EARLY BIRD UNTIL 9 DEC 2026

All four themes. Eight evenings, one registration.

Fear and anxiety, bullying, couples, family: December to April, live on Zoom with Prof. Hildrun Rolff. Replays and four note packs included.

4 themes at normal priceRM1,520
4 themes at early bird, one by oneRM1,192
All four togetherRM988
= RM247 per theme
Save RM204 on early bird · RM532 off normal price
Reserve all four · RM988

After 9 Dec: RM1,288 for all four

OR BOOK ONE THEME AT A TIME

Coming as a group of three or more?

Each person registers on their own and enters the group code at checkout.

ONE THEME

ENJOYGROUPOF3

RM40 off each · RM258 early bird (RM340 after)

ALL FOUR THEMES

ALLFOUROF3

RM250 off each · RM738 early bird (RM1,038 after)

The five themes

1Procrastination and avoidance (free)18 and 25 November 2026
2Fear and anxiety16 and 23 December 20263Bullying20 and 27 January 20274Couple relationships and conflict24 and 31 March 20275Family relationships and dynamics14 and 21 April 2027

Before you book

Do I need to be good at art?

No. Nothing you make is judged or interpreted, by Hildrun or by anyone else. Paper, colour and clay are simply another way in when words go round in circles.

Why is it free?

So you can find out whether working this way suits you before you pay for anything. Come, see how it feels, then decide about the other themes.

What will we actually do?

You draw, shape clay and sometimes move, guided one step at a time at your own table. Prof. Hildrun Rolff also explains the psychology behind each theme: why it happens and what is going on underneath. So you leave with both the understanding and activities you can use for yourself and with others. The exact exercises aren’t announced beforehand: if you can’t prepare, you can’t perform, and that’s when something honest shows up.

I don’t have children. Is the second evening for me?

Yes. The second evening is about children, and that includes the child you were. Most of these patterns began early, so learning how to help a child with them is also a way of understanding where yours started. You try every exercise yourself first. If there are children in your life, as a parent, grandparent, teacher or counsellor, you also leave with things you can use with them.

Is this therapy?

No. These are art-based coaching evenings for everyday life and for your work with others. They don’t replace professional support when someone needs it.

I’m not in Malaysia. What time is it for me?

Each evening runs from 6.00pm to 8.30pm Malaysia time (UTC+8). Your Zoom invitation shows it in your own time zone.

Theme 1: Procrastination and Avoidance

“I’ll start tomorrow.”

Two free evenings to see what your putting-off protects you from, and to help the child who finds it all too hard: the one in your care, and the one you once were.

Reserve your free place

Ask a question first: info@artbasedcoaching.com or WhatsApp Lee Ling on +60 11-3338 6754.

One of five evenings with Hildrun

This is one of five online mini workshops by Prof. Hildrun Rolff. Each takes an everyday struggle and works on it with paper, colour and clay, over two Wednesday evenings: Part 1 for adults, Part 2 for children and adolescents. Here are the other four. Join all of them, or choose the one your heart is calling you to.

Theme 2: Fear and Anxiety“When the ground shifts.”Anxiety lives in your breath and your shoulders, so that is where these evenings begin.Wed 16 and 23 December 2026, from RM298Theme 3: Bullying“All against one.”Bullying is a group process. It only has to stop being all against one.Wed 20 and 27 January 2027, from RM298Theme 4: Couple Relationships and Conflict“The same argument, again and again.”Most of how we argue, we learned in our own family, before we had words for it.Wed 24 and 31 March 2027, from RM298Theme 5: Family Relationships and Dynamics“What families pass on.”Every family hands out roles. You can see yours, and decide what stays.Wed 14 and 21 April 2027, from RM298

After the free evenings: RM298 a theme early bird (RM380 normal), or all four paid themes for RM988 until 9 December 2026 (then RM1,288).

See all five themesReserve your place