Speaking about the powerful influence of creativity on the emotional state of a person, Anna Bychkova gives examples from her practical work in Kyiv.

“I remember how in my office, which was filled with various art therapy tools, feelings of a wide range were experienced,” says Anna.

She tells stories of emotional healing with the permission of her clients:

A young woman picks up a paintbrush for the first time in months, her hands trembling, aftereffects of a car accident that left more than just physical scars. Anna Bychkova gently encourages her: “Don’t worry about the result. Just let the paint flow.”

Half an hour later, a stormy image begins to form on the canvas, which slowly calms down. The woman starts to cry, for the first time since the accident. “It’s good that emotions came to the surface,” Anna thinks. The breakthrough came not through words, but through color and motion.

Anna Bychkova is a Ukrainian art coach and creative development specialist who, for the past three years, has been leading workshops, coaching sessions, and writing children’s books in a small American town. Her journey from a successful art facilitator in Kyiv to a recognized expert in personal development through art and emotional expression in the U.S. is a story of how professional intuition and cultural heritage can shape a truly unique approach to personal growth.

 “It is easier for people to express their emotions through art,” says Anna, showing examples of artwork made at her workshops. “We activate our right hemisphere, which is responsible for creativity, intuition, and imaginative thinking. We express what is difficult to express verbally, that is, through language, using non-verbal methods – drawing, modeling, weaving. Creative activities in any country in the world and for people of different mentalities still bring the same result: improved mood, relaxation, and increased confidence. 

During her three years in the United States, her workshops have been attended by dozens of people with very different backgrounds – from experienced retirees and mothers with many children in a period of life change to motivated students and young people looking for their way through the expressive power of creativity. Participants often note that creative activities help them to relax, focus and feel emotionally balanced.

For people who find it difficult to talk about their emotions, creativity gives them a space for self-expression and inner contact with themselves. When a person does something with their hands, they seem to touch something deeper in their heart. These simple movements – brushstrokes, knitting, modeling – are like a dialog with oneself, after which inner integrity and a sense of peace are born. 

And the results of the creative works are impressive. The participants are always proud to show their works and talk about them. No matter how old you are or what gender you are, when you create your own drawing or weave a mandala, you see a bright result in front of you, which always gives you confidence in your abilities and increases your level of self-awareness.

Thus, a woman who is already on a well-deserved vacation and a mother of four children enthusiastically tells us where they will place their mandala in their home as a reminder of harmony and emotional balance.

“Visual images speak directly to the subconscious,” says Anna. “The moment we put our inner images on paper, they become more conscious and often open the door to new insights. When a person expresses their emotions in images, it helps them to pay attention to their inner feelings, better understand them, and find their own resources for inner balance.

The workshop I held at the Terre Haute Public Library on June 18, 2025, was dedicated to weaving yarn mandalas.

“Mandalas are an ancient tool,” explains Anna, “but I adapted them to work with modern emotional states. When a person is faced with strong emotions or internal tension, their inner world seems to fall apart. A mandala helps to put the pieces back together again.”

The creation of mandalas works on multiple levels. Physically, the repetitive motions soothe the nervous system. Emotionally,. Symbolically, they help reframe personal chaos into a sense of wholeness.

“I remember one participant in my workshops from Ukraine –  a woman in her 40s who had lost her husband in a car crash,” Anna shares. “Her early mandalas were jagged, dark, filled with sharp lines. Over time, they softened—rounder shapes, lighter colors. Her final mandala shimmered in gold.”

Another of Anna’s innovations is the adaptation of coaching and fairy tale therapy for adults. “Grown-ups often feel silly writing fairy tales,” she says with a smile. “But it’s actually a safe space for experimentation. In a story, you can be anyone, do anything.”

Over time, Anna has developed her own method – a combination of art coaching, creative exploration, and guided reflection, all within the same session. “I start by explaining how creativity affects our emotional state, which helps break down skepticism,” she says. “Then comes the creative process itself – safe expression of difficult feelings, accessing the subconscious. Finally, I add coaching questions: what now? what next?”

For many participants, the experience was profound and inspiring. Participants leave not only with artwork, but also with insights into their emotions and a plan for moving forward. “It’s more than coaching,” says Anna. “I share creative practices that participants can use to better understand themselves and stabilize their emotional state in everyday life.”

This approach has proven so effective that it has been adopted by schools and community centers in Ukraine. With experience running group sessions in Kyiv for teachers, social workers, and healthcare professionals, Anna is now thinking about integrating this experience into American institutions.

On Anna’s shelf are three colorful books – her own creations, all available on Amazon: Adventures of a Crimson Kitten, The Groundhog and The Sunset, and a coloring book titled Funny Pets.

“These books came out of my work,” she explains. “So many of my adult clients created such touching stories during storytelling sessions, and these stories became their support and enriched the ways they dealt with life’s challenges. So I thought, why not create children’s books that would show examples of overcoming obstacles, encourage them to keep going even after setbacks, and motivate them?”

Adventures of a Crimson Kitten tells the story of a lost kitten who is looking for a way to his own dream. And it gets a wonderful result after accepting its own peculiarity, it finds everything it was looking for when it becomes who it is. “The kitten represents everyone who has lost touch with themselves,” explains Anna. “Its journey is a metaphor for finding your place in the world.”

The book received an unexpectedly warm response from American readers. Parents bought it for their children—then admitted to reading it again themselves.

 The Groundhog and The Sunset is a more philosophical story about a groundhog who, despite many setbacks and lack of support, found the strength to leave his usual place and see an incredible sunset. “It’s a story about the fear of change and the importance of getting up and moving forward after a fall,” says Anna. 

The coloring book Funny Pets has become the most popular among her publications. “Coloring is a form of meditation,” she explains. “When someone focuses on staying within the lines, the mind naturally quiets.”

Anna’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Between 2024 and 2025, the local newspaper Tribune-Star featured her twice. The first article highlighted her unique approach to expressing emotions through storytelling. The second article highlighted a workshop she conducted for university students during final exam week.

“I didn’t expect such a big response,” Anna recalls. “After the articles in the local newspaper, people started reaching out—asking about my methods. I realized that there was a real interest in alternative approaches to personal development.”

The articles led to invitations to speak at local educational centers. Since then, Anna has been conducting workshops for coaches and social workers, teaching mandala and art coaching techniques.

One local organization even invited her to collaborate on a program to support people and develop the integration of creativity into educational and self-developmental processes.

“Creative emotional development is the future of coaching,” Anna says with conviction. “We live in an era of visual thinking – people think in images more than words.”

Her next goal is to develop a training program for American coaches who want to learn art-based methods. She’s also considering opening a creative development center staffed by licensed professionals from multiple disciplines

A major milestone will be obtaining her U.S. coaching license, which will allow her to expand the range of clients she can work with according to American regulations.
An important milestone will be her obtaining an additional coaching certification in the US from a recognized organization such as ICF.

Another ambitious project: researching the effectiveness of Ukrainian art-coaching methods with an American audience. “In Kyiv, we saw the results in practice every day – it would be interesting to prove them scientifically,” she says.

Still, the core mission remains unchanged: helping people grow through creativity. “It doesn’t matter what someone’s cultural background or native language is,” Anna reflects. “The need for self-expression is universal. And the ability to create beauty is universal too. Sometimes people just need a little help remembering that.”

 Anna Bychkova is not a licensed psychologist in the United States. Her work is focused on coaching and creative development and is not a substitute for professional psychological treatment.