Theme 2 of 5, Fear and Anxiety | Art-Based evenings with Prof. Hildrun Rolff

Theme 2: Fear and Anxiety

“When the ground shifts.”

Two evenings to learn what settles your body when your mind says danger, and to reach the frightened child: the one in your care, and the one you once were.

Wednesdays 16 and 23 December 2026
6.00pm to 8.30pm Malaysia time, live on Zoom
RM298 for both evenings, early bird until 9 December 2026 (then RM380)

Reserve your place
A young woman in profile surrounded by soft clouds of colour, carrying a small cage with a child's face inside it.
Where
Live on Zoom, from your own table
You need
Paper, colours, a lump of clay. No art experience.

Your heart races.

Your breathing turns shallow.

Nothing is happening, and you’re already afraid of the next wave.

Reassurance doesn’t reach it.

At some point your body learned to read certain signals as an alarm, and back then that made sense. Today the alarm goes off when there’s no need. Telling yourself to calm down rarely helps, because anxiety lives in your breath and in the tension of your shoulders. So that’s where these evenings begin: with colour, form and movement, where the alarm is.

It often starts early.

Children often show fear through their bodies or their behaviour. Young children lack the words for it, and teenagers sometimes lack the courage.

You may recognise the child you were: the one whose body first learned to sound this alarm.

What’s different for you afterwards

You know how to turn the alarm down.

As your attention moves from inner warning signals to colour and form, your body settles. You’ll feel your breath and heartbeat find their own rhythm, and you’ll understand why.

Your body has new evidence.

Your inner system keeps predicting what happens next. Fresh sensory experience gives it a reason to check its fearful predictions.

You take something steady home.

You find the experiences of safety you already carry and make them solid enough to reach for later.

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 woman standing in profile, her upper body fading into a soft pink and blue haze.

Wednesday 16 December, 6.00pm to 8.30pm

“When the ground shifts”

For you, as an adult

You meet your own anxiety with image, colour and movement, at your own pace.

What this evening sets in motion

  • The alarm grows quieter. As your attention moves from inner warning signals to colour and form, your body settles. Breath and heartbeat find their own rhythm again.
  • The inner system learns anew. Our inner system is constantly predicting what happens next. Fresh sensory experiences give it reason to check its fearful predictions.
  • Support becomes tangible. You discover experiences of safety already within you and make them tangible enough to take home.

You leave with

  • At least two exercises for the moment anxiety rises
  • Your own anchor image for calm and support
  • An understanding of how anxiety organises itself in the body
  • Clarity about when these methods fit, and when more help is needed
A young person sitting with knees drawn up, one hand over their face, in soft blue and peach light.

Wednesday 23 December, 6.00pm to 8.30pm

“The monster under the bed”

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

A tummy ache before school, a light left on all night. In a picture the fear gets an edge, and a child can take hold of something that has an edge.

What art-based approaches set in motion in children

  • The fear gets an edge. Out on the paper, the fear has a boundary. Children experience that they are bigger than what frightens them.
  • Safety becomes real. Children need protection as a physical experience. Through making, security becomes visible and can be repeated.
  • Self-efficacy grows. A child who can do something about the fear feels less at its mercy.

You leave with

  • An earlier eye for the signs of anxiety in children
  • Exercises that suit kindergarten, school and home
  • Ways to talk with a child about their picture while leaving the meaning to them
  • A sense of when a child needs professional help

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

Anxiety or panic is part of your life, and you want something to do in the moment, not only something to understand.

For someone you love

Someone you love is frightened, a child, a partner, an ageing parent, and you’ve run out of things to say. You want to be steady beside them.

For the people you work with

You’re a coach, therapist, nurse, teacher, early years educator or school counsellor who supports anxious people and wants practical exercises.

An honest noteThese evenings can sit alongside treatment and can never replace it for a severe anxiety disorder or in an acute crisis. If you’re under psychiatric care, please talk to your practitioner before you register. A child with persistent or severe fears needs professional support too.

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 2026
3Bullying20 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.

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.

How does the team price work?

When three or more of you register together, each person pays the lower price.

Theme 2: Fear and Anxiety

“When the ground shifts.”

Two evenings to learn what settles your body when your mind says danger, and to reach the frightened child: the one in your care, and the one you once were.

Reserve your 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 1: Procrastination and Avoidance“I’ll start tomorrow.”Putting things off is rarely laziness. It usually protects you from something.Wed 18 and 25 November 2026, freeTheme 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

RM298 a theme early bird (RM380 normal), or all four paid themes for RM988 until 9 December 2026 (then RM1,288). Theme 1 is free.

See all five themesReserve your place