Creative Healing Connections
Our Mission: To enhance the well-being of underprivileged women living with chronic illnesses by providing accessible art and wellness programs that build community and promote sustainable self-care through retreats, virtual sessions, and creative, goal-driven support.
Our Vision: Women living in the greater Adirondack region will find healing and community through creative expression and wellness self-care practices.
We serve women living in the greater Adirondack region. Please see the map below to determine whether you are eligible for our programs.
Our History
In 1998, a not-for-profit organization by the name of Creative Healing Connections was established in Saranac Lake. Founders Naj Wikoff, Fran Yardley and Peggy Lynn came together in response to several women friends who were diagnosed with aggressive forms of cancer. They were struck by the lack of support programs to help them navigate the mental, emotional and physical challenges of a cancer journey. In response, they founded Creative Healing Connections.
At the heart of the organization is an understanding of the impact that nature, art, and self-care can have on quality of life and healing. They also understood the power of community, where women on similar journeys can come to share with each other every success, no matter how small, as a source of inspiration and strength. Creative Healing Connections offered nature, art and healing weekend retreats for women experiencing cancer.
Over time, it became clear that women veterans living with the physical, mental and emotional trauma of serving our country were another under-served group. Retreats dedicated to serving and supporting women veterans were added.
The retreats and programs offered through Creative Healing Connections are designed to foster a network of support and a sense of community among women attendees, women who share a first-hand understanding of each other’s challenges and experiences. Learning new self-care skills, expressing themselves through creating art, and being in nature provides a context that encourages women to share their stories, to develop bonds with each other. All retreats are led by wellness professionals and artists — visual artists, musicians, writers and storytellers — from the greater Adirondack region.
Today, the retreats have been expanded into a year-long program where monthly support calls, personal wellness plans and resources are added to foster personal growth and lasting improvements in personal wellbeing. The bonds created during the retreat are nurtured between participating women in a more lasting way.
In recent years, given that more support is available for women experiencing cancer and the impact of the COVID pandemic, Creative Healing Connections expanded its audience for the Arts and Healing program to include women with chronic physical and mental health conditions, as well as women experiencing cancer. In 2025, recognizing that more wellness and creative programs are available for women in the Adirondacks, the board of Creative Healing Connections made the decision to offer our programs to underprivileged women in the Adirondacks who would not be able to benefit from learning new self-care and creative skills without financial support.
Women Veteran Retreat 2026
