Download Rayne’s Speaker Brochure HERE!
Dream Maker, award-winning author, arts advocate and non-profit leader, Rayne Lacko helps children and adults struggling with difficult emotions to change the way they see their world using their natural creativity. Rayne is an in-demand facilitator leading arts-based workshops to transform emotions from darkness into light. A former magazine editor for over 15 years, she also helps aspiring professional writers elevate their craft. Rayne is a passionate mentor for self-expression, earning degrees in Liberal Arts, Creative Writing & Leadership, and Graphic Design in Canada and the United States. She inspires others to dream up the life they wish to live, building the confidence to achieve their goals.
“Every segment you addressed was crystal clear and well-organized. You packed so much storytelling wisdom into a short space! I especially liked the fact that you included seemingly “obvious” things that we’d expect most writers to know, but then you hung other critical considerations on those branches. So for me, the whys of all the things you mentioned were answered–just by the way you presented them.
Once you started, your own passion for story took over. What I noticed was the strong, lively energy pouring out of you, and how you directed that energy to each person around the table. Your teaching presence reminded me of the velocity in your writing in Radio Head–nothing superfluous or unfocused, everything needed and carrying its message. You are a good teacher!” – Jennifer Hager, acclaimed book editor
Creative Ways to Help Students Manage Their Emotions
This online, synchronous edWebinar* will be of interest to educators of students in grades 6 through 12, school and district leaders, librarians, counselors and coaches, and curriculum directors. *edWeb is approved for PD in many schools, districts, and states and will provide a CE certificate. Length: 50 minutes.
Integrating art and creative projects into your classroom curriculum is a great way to help students gain self-awareness of their emotions, discover safe ways to express difficult feelings, and make proactive choices toward setting and meeting goals. Art comes in many forms, and all persons are inherently creative. In this presentation, we’ll remove the roadblocks to establishing a flourishing creative environment in your classroom.
Using hands-on, personalized projects with tools every student already has, you’ll discover how to direct students to independently shift from a dark, challenging emotion to a light, empowering emotion. You’ll find a variety of creative approaches to self-expression that encourage students to find their talents, build stronger peer connections, and set and achieve personal goals.
During this edWebinar, attendees will:
- Review what creativity is and what art looks like to students
- Explore creative and art activities that acknowledge and honor all emotions
- Discover the importance of implementing an arts-based peer group for students
- Learn about tools that are accessible to classroom teachers to develop creative activities
Wednesday, June 23 — 3PM Eastern, 12 PM Pacific.
Certified Leader Training
Online training to lead arts-based SEL workshops. Asynchronous.
Six Easy Steps to Leading the Transformational Workshop Teens Want to Attend is a highly organized, proven, budget-friendly approach. Six Steps will help you determine your ideal participants and establish your own arts-based, social-emotional workshop faster, rather than figuring out what to do, what to include, or how to present. By establishing small peer group workshops utilizing the emotions-centered creative activities featured in the acclaimed Dream Up Now™ journal you will:
—Change your teen community’s mindset for the better.
—Drive consistency in social-emotional programming
—Lead with ease.
Quickly establish a successful program that meets the needs of a wide spectrum of young people. Enroll now
Dream Up Now
Fun, arts-based, social-emotional journeys from darkness into light for students aged 12–18. Workshops are custom designed by theme, desired outcome, or the specific needs of teen groups. The Dream Up Now workshop is a cost-effective solution to managing fluctuating teen emotions while supporting positive mental health and helping teens set and accomplish personal goals.
Dream Up Now offers a safe space for creative self-expression of all emotions, both positive and negative. Every emotion is valid in this journal, and teens are encouraged to move from dark (negative) to light (positive) emotions. Learn more at workshops.dreamupnow.com
Online, synchronous 6-week transformational workshop for teens ages 12-18.
Explore the wild space of your personal feelings, likes and dislikes through activities from Dream Up Now, a creative journal that supports you as you navigate emotions and learn to turn them into opportunities to reach your goals. You may discover a creative talent you didn’t know you had while curating a playlist, writing (maybe a story, poem, letter, postcard, or even a song), meditating–or cutting and pasting if that’s more your speed. This safe space will help you figure out who you are, and what really matters to you. Every student receives a copy of the Dream Up Now journal. Learn more and enroll here
Creative Ways to Help Students Manage Their Emotions
This edWebinar will be of interest to educators of students in grades 6 through 12, school and district leaders, librarians, counselors and coaches, and curriculum directors. Synchronous. Wednesday, June 23 at 3 PM eastern time / 12 PM pacific time
Integrating art and creative projects into your classroom curriculum is a great way to help students gain self-awareness of their emotions, discover safe ways to express difficult feelings, and make proactive choices toward setting and meeting goals. Art comes in many forms, and all persons are inherently creative. In this presentation, we’ll remove the roadblocks to establishing a flourishing creative environment in your classroom.
Using hands-on, personalized projects with tools every student already has, you’ll discover how to direct students to independently shift from a dark, challenging emotion to a light, empowering emotion. You’ll find a variety of creative approaches to self-expression that encourage students to find their talents, build stronger peer connections, and set and achieve personal goals.
During this edWebinar, attendees will:
- Review what creativity is and what art looks like to students
- Explore creative and art activities that acknowledge and honor all emotions
- Discover the importance of implementing an arts-based peer group for students
- Learn about tools that are accessible to classroom teachers to develop creative activities
Author and Dream Maker Programs
In person or online. Customized to your group’s needs. Synchronous.
Creating the life you want to live requires more than a step-by-step game plan. You have to feel like doing the work. If there is a disconnect between what you wish you could do and what you feel like doing, feelings always win. Rayne supports people of all ages to direct their emotions to design their life to go the way they want, as worthy creatives. Rayne believes everyone has a vision of their dream self inside, and can help you positively align your feelings with your self-image. Through group discussion, one-to-one feedback, and thought-provoking creative projects, participants will ignite enthusiasm and reinvigorate a “stuck” or “too big” idea—or take steps toward a new goal.
Are you ready to change the way you see your world? Most popular programs:
- Passion Analysis: Discover your talents, and the secret to joy.
- Transform your Emotions: Move from darkness into light.
- Build your Confidence: Cultivate self-love by taking action.
- Create a Clear Vision of Achieving your Goals: Leverage success psychology with emotional reconfiguration.
For Writers Only:
- Mapping your protagonist’s emotional journey
- Crafting dynamic, multidimensional, sympathetic characters
- Brainstorming story conflicts with satisfying endings
- Revision techniques: Digging deeper, then polishing your work
- Ask the writer: Learn what it’s like to create full-time
Email raynelacko (at) gmail (dot) com for more information.
How Engaging in the Arts Improves Self-Esteem and Decreases Anxiety in Teens
In person or online. Customized to your group’s needs. Synchronous.
Imagine a brain that is constantly seeking pleasure, being bombarded with sensory information and igniting impulses, all while having adolescent fears of the unknown, a lack of self-understanding, and fears of inadequacy crowd in. Join Rayne for a fascinating discussion about how creativity can improve positive self-regard and alleviate anxiety, founded in cognitive research and Rayne’s first-hand experiences and observations working with teens.
Email raynelacko (at) gmail (dot) com for more information.
Book Clubs
In person or online. Customized to your group’s needs. Synchronous.
Rayne’s debut novel, Radio Head, features Shelby Rey, a young woman who believes she can hear music inside others, just by touching them. She offers open-ended discussion topics for Book Clubs, ranging from music appreciation to the consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and addiction. RADIO HEAD Book Club Questions
Author and magazine editor, Rayne Lacko, has published short stories and interviews in Gravel, Skyline, Wordhaus, and Mixtape Methodology. Her story, “Like Father, Like Son was recently named Best of Wordhaus 2015. Rayne co-facilitates a teen writing program, and filled-to-capacity summer intensive camps. She’s interested in learning about what your students are working on, and how she can help. Rayne creates custom, grade-specific activities for students in 1st through 12th grade.
Email raynelacko (at) gmail (dot) com for more information.
Writing Topics for 8th – 12th Grade
In person or online. Customized to your group’s needs. Synchronous.
Rayne enjoys engaging young writers in positive, idea-sparking exchanges on the challenges and rewards of creating short stories and longer prose. Her topics result in fresh words on the page and renewed energy around the creative process. She can lead discussions about:
- Types of novel structure
- Crafting dynamic, multi-dimensional, sympathetic characters
- Brainstorming story conflicts and how to resolve them
- Using story-writing and memoir for self-healing and problem-solving
- Revision techniques: Polishing your work
- Ask the writer: Discuss the process of writing, and learn what it’s like to turn daydreams into stories.
Free downloadable materials!
Grief, Loss and Letting Go (a 3-part creative writing journey)
Menu of 5 Types of 1:1 Consultation
Fun activities for younger students:
- Write a short story or scene using a found object as a prompt. Rayne will prepare a personalized collection of treasures to share with the group. You’ll learn how to use them to create a story or a character outline.
- How to write and illustrate a story using only three sheets of paper.
- Play with music! The participants select a favorite song, and the group re-writes it: Choose a new setting, replace the “hero,” or turn a tragic, dark song into a happy one–whatever works! Students will swap out nouns, use antonyms to change the tone, and find synonyms to make the song their own.
To invite Rayne Lacko to read, speak, or lead a workshop or retreat, please contact her:
