Christine Bissonnette
Founder & Lead Facilitator @9 Creative Lives - A Poetry Studio
Signup · Get unlimited contacts
WORK HISTORY
Founder & Lead Facilitator @9 Creative Lives - A Poetry Studio
Vancouver, BC, CA
I founded 9 Creative Lives Studio to offer poetry as a tool for reflection, connection, and personal insight. Through workshops, editorial work, and private coaching, I help individuals and groups explore their inner worlds through writing and metaphor.As a poetry writing facilitator, I design and lead multi-week workshops both privately through this studio and in partnership with organizations such as Creative Mornings, Downtown Van, and RRC Polytech. My workshops centre embodied metaphor, breath, and voice, creating inclusive and imaginative spaces for creative exploration.As a Speech Arts teacher, I work with kids and youth one-on-one, helping them develop as expressive and confident speakers. My students have consistently earned top awards at regional festivals, including VAYA and CDMF.As a developmental editor, I’ve had the joy of supporting several authors including: Gloria Eid (Waves: Poems on Grief), Lea Chambers (\'My Inside Voice: Poems), Kieron Sweeney (Thoughts), Valerie Galvin (book in progress).Focus areas:• Poetry workshop facilitation (in-person and online)• Youth coaching in speech arts and public speaking• Developmental editing for poetry manuscripts, fiction, and nonfiction.• Event partnerships and custom workshop design
EDUCATION
Conestoga College
Course: Group Training and Facilitation
University of New Brunswick
Bachelor of Arts - BA, English with a concentration in Creative Writing, minor in Theatre
ABOUT CHRISTINE BISSONNETTE
I am a poetry writing facilitator and Speech Arts teacher passionate about unleashing the creativity of my students through student-centred and mindfulness-focused instruction. I founded my company 9 Creative Lives Studio in 2020 with the goal of turning on its head the idea that there’s a ‘proper’ way to write or public speak, and to support my students to allow their imagination, life experience, and insight to shine through in a genuine way — whether they’re approaching a blank page, or stepping onto a stage to speak.For all of my classes and programs, I design captivating lesson plans that feature the delights of writing, speaking, and reading poetry at their centre. With that said, you should know that poetry can expand out to include all sorts of mediums including: scripts, monologues, stories, and essays. I love metaphors, so here are a few to describe my classroom. My classroom is… a playground, an enchanted forest, a budding tree, a skydiver sailing through the clouds (with a parachute).Through my studio, I offer- Group poetry writing classes (max. 6 participants per class)- Private Speech Arts classes for school-aged students (4-18). You can also: Invite me into your workplace to facilitate a writing workshop with your team. My writing workshops support team-bonding and will help create a warmer/ more compassionate work environment. Topics include, relationship to: work, purpose, belonging, community, play-“A mind that is lively and inquiring, compassionate, curious, angry, full of music, full of feeling, is a mind full of possible poetry.” - Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
This profile is compiled from publicly available professional sources. Unifers is not affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn. Request removal of this profile.