Carolina Herbert

17/08/2026

I would like to share a collection of four songs by Swara, a new musical duo with Bowinneth Phem. The collection is called Love’s in Every Single Note, the title of a song I wrote for Heli.

Dearest Heli - it would have been your 16th birthday today. You leaving us has forever changed my life. This is my love song to you, to searching for you, to finding you in the stars, to finding love in every single note.

Sometimes nothing can help you navigate tragic loss. Sometimes everything needs to be broken open in order to somehow, miraculously, begin to reform in a completely new way.

Special thanks to Martin Riley for the beautiful musical collaboration bringing in the stars. Euan Gray for your genius in helping me translate my vision. Andrey Meshcheryakov for your presence, love, and solid anchor. David Moss for your courage to sing every note for Heli that inspired this. Bowinneth Phem for your enduring friendship and love that made this all possible.

Thank you to everyone who supported us and donated to our crowdfunder to help these songs come into the world.

Love's in Every Single Note

Lyrics by Carolina Herbert
Music by Carolina Herbert & Martin Riley
Vocals - Carolina Herbert
Overtone vocals - David Moss
Piano - Martin Riley
Guitar - Carolina Herbert
Bass - Andrey Meshcheryakov
Produced, recorded, and mixed by Euan Gray, Siem Reap, Cambodia

https://swara.hearnow.com/
https://open.spotify.com/album/4DU3T5l0P9YLBOTxf4Oq58

Swara — the original note, or inner resonance — names our musical duo, Bowinneth Phem and Carolina Herbert: musicians, songwriters, enduring friends. This collection of songs and mantras is testament to the music of friendship that carries us through life's challenges, with gratitude and love. F...

04/08/2026

If you've been curious about nature-inspired expressive arts or wondering what The Blue Pearl Institute EXA UK/SEA is all about, this free webinar is the perfect place to begin.

You'll discover our approach, explore the possibilities of nature-inspired expressive arts, and learn more about our accredited CPD courses and upcoming Level 7 Professional Training Programme launching in 2027.

Choose the session that suits you best:

Option 1
Saturday, 8 August 2026

UK (BST): 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
Europe (CET): 11:00 AM–1:00 PM
Cambodia (ICT): 4:00 PM–6:00 PM
Australia (AEST): 7:00 PM–9:00 PM

Option 2
Wednesday, 12 August 2026

Pacific (PDT): 11:00 AM–1:00 PM
Eastern (EDT): 2:00 PM–4:00 PM
UK (BST): 7:00 PM–9:00 PM
Europe (CET): 8:00 PM–10:00 PM

Register here: https://www.bluepearl-institute.com/free-webinar-discover-the-blue-pearl-institute-exa-uk/sea

We'd love to welcome you.

25/07/2026

You're warmly invited.

Join Dr. Carolina Herbert for a live online webinar introducing The Blue Pearl Institute: EXA UK/SEA—a space where nature, creativity, and learning come together.

Discover our approach to expressive arts, explore our professional learning opportunities, and experience the values that shape everything we do.

Choose the session that suits you best:

Option 1
Saturday, 8 August 2026

United Kingdom: 10:00 AM–12:00 PM (BST)
Europe (CET): 11:00 AM–1:00 PM
Cambodia: 4:00 PM–6:00 PM (ICT)
Australia (AEST): 7:00 PM–9:00 PM

Option 2
Wednesday, 12 August 2026

Pacific Time (USA): 11:00 AM–1:00 PM (PDT)
Eastern Time (USA): 2:00 PM–4:00 PM (EDT)
Europe (CET): 8:00 PM–10:00 PM

Live via Zoom

Everyone is welcome.

Register today:
https://www.bluepearl-institute.com/free-webinar-discover-the-blue-pearl-institute-exa-uk/sea

24/07/2026

What is Collective Healing?

This poem arose directly in response to the Lab process, and I am so glad it did. What the Lab created was a quality of collective presence and witnessing that I have rarely encountered, and it became the conditions in which something that had been forming for a long time could finally find its shape.

The deeper roots of the poem go back several years. I have been on a long exploration of ancestral work, collective memory, and forgiveness—asking what it means to truly reckon with what we have inherited, both the wounding and the wisdom, and what responsibility we carry to those who came before and those who will come after.

This inquiry took a very specific form through Sori—a travelling podcast I created exploring apology and forgiveness in communities and cultures around the world through creative arts, therapy, music, and songwriting. We have recorded fourteen episodes across several countries, holding conversations about what forgiveness means across different cultural and ancestral traditions.

When I returned to the UK after twenty years of living and working in Cambodia, I found it deeply confronting—the sense of collective sleeping around the level of harm that colonialisation has caused, and continues to cause, around the world.

Coming home, in that sense, was not a homecoming but an awakening to something I had perhaps been circling for years without being able to name it so directly. The Lab has helped me begin to focus and explore my own deeper response to this—to find a form for what I was carrying—and for that I am profoundly grateful.

The Lab gave me the opportunity to consolidate and channel all of this into this poem. I arrived with all that accumulated inquiry sitting in me somewhere, and the quality of witnessing in the group gave it permission to emerge in this form.

With heartfelt thanks to The Pocket Project, Matthew, and J’aime for the beautiful soundtrack.

🎧 Listen to the podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4zxD243wT46FXS9BoajhsO?si=-o_lKfVYQVGM1Ybgjt_GSA&nd=1&dlsi=bde28209ef054114

What is Collective Healing? · Episode

22/07/2026

Become a First Responder for Emotional Wellbeing.

November 1st 2026

We know that sometimes the world can be a hard place. Children, young people, and families can experience events that leave lasting psychological impacts.

Our Heart Centred Psychological First Aid CPD course, led by Dr Carolina Herbert, is a 6-hour experiential training designed to equip you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to respond with compassion and care.

You'll learn how to:
Connect with your own inner resources
Understand the core steps of Psychological First Aid (PFA)
Apply PFA in real-life situations through practical scenarios

With over 25 years of experience, Dr Carolina Herbert is an Arts Psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor, and consultant who has worked with children, young people, families, communities, and organisations across the UK, Asia, and international humanitarian settings.

Ready to make a difference?

Explore this brand-new course today: School of PACT – Heart Centred Psychological First Aid

Register here: https://schoolofpact.com/courses/psychological-first-aid/

21/07/2026

Many of you have been following my work for some time, and I'm so grateful you're here.

As Blue Pearl continues to grow, I'd love to invite you to join us on our social media channels, where we'll be sharing podcasts, reflections, workshops, and resources that I hope will inspire and support you.

Please come and follow Blue Pearl Institute on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. It would mean so much to have you as part of this growing community

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570821062558
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluepearl_institute
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/-Podcast

Thank you for being on this journey with us.

17/07/2026

The Art of Holding What Hurts is a day of creative and reflective experiential practice — exploring the landscape of grief through image, story, body, and compassionate enquiry.

As we learn about grief and how to support others through it, we will gently encounter our own experiences too. We will not be fixing or resolving. We will be witnessing, honouring, and learning to carry.

"Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift."
— Mary Oliver

Southstoke House, Packhorse Lane, Bath BA2 7DJ
2nd August 2026 - 10:30am - 5:30pm

Swansea - Venue to be confirmed
15th August 2026 - 10:00am - 5:00pm

Link to register: https://www.bluepearl-institute.com/the-art-of-holding-what-hurts

Grief is not a problem to be solved — it is the shape love takes when someone or something we cherish is no longer here.

Many of us have grown up with the idea that grief is something we should eventually get over. Yet grief can be complex, shattering, and enduring — whether we are mourning the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a significant life transition, or a future we once imagined. It can remain part of us long after the loss itself.

Rather than asking how to move on, a different question begins to emerge: how do we learn to live alongside what hurts? Research and clinical wisdom suggest that healing is not always about letting go — often it is about finding ways to carry loss, honour what mattered, and continue living with meaning and connection.

The Art of Holding What Hurts is a day of creative and reflective experiential practice — exploring the landscape of grief through image, story, body, and compassionate enquiry. As we learn about grief and how to support others through it, we will gently encounter our own experiences too. We will not be fixing or resolving. We will be witnessing, honouring, and learning to carry.

"Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift."

— Mary Oliver

Southstoke House, Packhorse Lane, Bath BA2 7DJ
2nd August 2026 - 10:30am - 5:30pm

Swansea - Venue to be confirmed
15th August 2026 - 10:00am - 5:00pm

Link to register: https://www.bluepearl-institute.com/the-art-of-holding-what-hurts

13/07/2026

Is the term resilience helpful in contexts of conflict and war?

In this conversation, we explore why the idea of resilience may not
fully capture the human experience after hardship.

We're not materials that return to their original shape after being stretched or compressed. Every challenge changes us.

In this episode with Mike Ayvasian, we critique this overused term as Mike proposes that the word Transformation is much more accurate to the capacity of people to respond to suffering.

We consider how Expressive Arts Therapy enables such transformations in the most difficult and enduring contexts.

We'd love to hear your thoughts:
Has a difficult experience transformed the way you see yourself or the world?

This is just a glimpse of the conversation. Watch the full Episode 1 – Whatever You Do… Do It With Love through the link here: https://youtu.be/XbcY90w_xjs?si=fkIjtrSFX27Gj3CT

10/07/2026

"The opposite of darkness is not light… it's love."

What if love isn't just something we feel—but something we become?

In this beautiful moment from The Blue Pearl Podcast | Episode 1, we explore the image of a light that lives within each of us.

A light that grows brighter when we choose compassion, connection, and courage. And when that light meets someone else's, it has the power to illuminate far more than either could alone.

Perhaps that's where real change begins—not in grand gestures, but in the quiet decision to let love lead.

Take a moment to reflect:
How are you letting your light—and your love—shine into the lives of others?

This is just a glimpse of the conversation. Watch the full Episode 1 – Whatever You Do… Do It With Love through the link here: https://youtu.be/XbcY90w_xjs?si=fkIjtrSFX27Gj3CT

08/07/2026

The Blue Pearl Podcast | Episode 1: Whatever You Do… Do It With Love.

"The more I fulfil it, the happier I am… despite the circumstances."

What does it mean to keep showing up with love when life feels uncertain?

In this powerful conversation, Mike Ayvazian reflects on discovering a deep sense of purpose—even while working in the midst of conflict and uncertainty. It's a reminder that sometimes our greatest acts are answering the quiet call of who we're here to be.

When we live in alignment with our purpose, even the hardest circumstances cannot take away the meaning we find in our support of others.

Watch this clip and let it invite you to pause and reflect:
What keeps calling you, no matter what?

This is just a glimpse of the conversation. Watch the full Episode 1 – Whatever You Do… Do It With Love through the link here: https://youtu.be/XbcY90w_xjs?si=fkIjtrSFX27Gj3CT