The Workshops
Three workshops. Delivered on repeat. Built to be measured.
Every JB Empire Arts workshop is built on the SELM™ method, a structured framework that gives youth a new language for what they carry. Consistent delivery. Reliable outcomes. Everything included.
The Method Behind the Workshops
SELM™: Symbolic Emotional Literacy Mapping
SELM™ is Jay Boyer’s original assessment and facilitation framework. It reads a person’s emotional terrain through color, shape, and symbol, rather than words alone, and produces a structured, personalized map of what someone is carrying and where the healing work should focus.
This is what makes JB Empire Arts workshops different from general art activities. SELM™ gives every session a clinical foundation, repeatable structure, and measurable outcomes that your organization can document and report.
S
Symbolic
Meaning is accessed through color, shape, and object, not words alone. This opens the door for youth who struggle to articulate their experience verbally.
E
Emotional
The material being mapped is the youth’s actual felt, internal experience, not a performance, not a response to a prompt. Real emotion, expressed safely.
L
Literacy
The framework builds lasting fluency in reading one’s own emotional language, a skill youth carry far beyond the workshop room.
M
Mapping
The process produces a structured, visual map, not just open conversation. This is what makes outcomes observable, documentable, and repeatable.
The Three Core Workshops
Each workshop stands alone. Together, they build something lasting.
01
SELM™ Method
Mapping What I Feel
Youth have feelings they can’t put into words. This workshop gives them a different way in. Using color, shape, and symbol, participants work through the SELM™ framework to identify and map what they’re carrying, producing something visible, personal, and theirs.
For many youth, especially those who’ve experienced trauma, disruption, or systemic involvement, this is the first time they’ve had a structured, safe way to name what’s inside them without being asked to explain it in words.
What youth walk away with
- A visual emotional map they created and can return to
- A new vocabulary for their inner experience, in color and shape, not just words
- A felt sense of being seen without having to perform or explain
- Foundation for the work in workshops two and three
02
Art Pharmacopeia™
The Vibration Menu™
What do you reach for when feelings get big? Most youth don’t know, or they reach for things that hurt them. This workshop changes that. Participants build their own personal Vibration Menu™: a curated collection of art-based tools they design, practice, and take with them.
The menu is physical, portable, and personal. Youth leave with something they made, that belongs to them, that gives them a concrete next step when emotions escalate, in your program and long after they’ve left it.
What youth walk away with
- A personal Vibration Menu™ of art-based coping strategies
- Practiced experience using each tool, not just a list
- A sense of agency: I have something I can do when things get hard
- A physical artifact they keep and can reference independently
03
Identity & Reflection
A Closer Look Within
Who are you underneath what you’ve been through? This workshop uses the image of wiping fog off a mirror, clearing away what’s been placed on young people by circumstance, system, and survival, to help youth see themselves with fresh eyes.
Part reflection, part identity work, part creative expression, this session gives youth permission to define themselves on their own terms. For foster and system-impacted youth whose identity has often been shaped by labels and records, that permission is powerful.
What youth walk away with
- A self-portrait, not of how they look, but of who they are
- Language for their strengths, values, and the story they're still writing
- A shift from "what happened to me" toward "who I am"
- A completed piece of art that belongs entirely to them
Transform Your Space
A healing environment before a single word is spoken.
Group rooms, classrooms, and residential common areas can feel clinical, institutional, and unsafe for youth who’ve spent too much time in spaces that didn’t belong to them. Jay transforms every workshop space before youth arrive: soft music, art materials arranged with intention, color and calm built into the room itself.
Youth walk into an environment that already says: you are safe here, and what you feel matters. That shift happens before the workshop begins.
- Builds trust and connection before youth are asked to share anything
- Reduces anxiety and resistance, especially for youth with trauma histories
- Signals to staff and funders your commitment to trauma-informed, whole-person care
- Creates a sense of belonging in spaces that often feel transactional
Sound and Stillness: Optional Session Opener
Each workshop can open with a few minutes of sound, breath, and stillness using singing bowls and simple breathing techniques, helping youth settle their bodies and arrive ready to create. Available as an add-on for any partnership tier.
What's Included in Every Workshop
Your team just brings the youth.
Workshop Workbook
A custom workbook for every participant, built for that specific workshop. Included in every session at every tier.
All Art Supplies
Every material needed for the workshop: paints, brushes, papers, tools. Jay arrives with everything. Nothing to source, purchase, or set up.
Space Transformation
The room is set and prepared before youth arrive: soft music, intentional arrangement, a healing environment built from the moment they walk in.
Outcome Snapshots
Roots and Canopy partners receive mid-year and year-end outcome documentation built to share with funders, boards, and program evaluators.
Not Ready to Commit to a Full Year?
Start with a single session.
See the work in action inside your program before committing to an annual partnership. A single workshop gives your team and your youth a real experience to evaluate.
$500
per session, all supplies and workbooks included
Single session fee applies toward a Seed partnership if you decide to continue within 30 days.
Ready to Partner
Bring these workshops into your program.
Schedule a 15-minute discovery call and we’ll show you exactly how the workshops fit inside what you’re already running.