There is a lot of talk these days about "emotional regulation" in the therapy world. Many people hear this phrase and think it means controlling, repressing or glossing over emotional reactions. The first painted strip shows what happens when an unregulated individual encounters fear and - afraid of fear - they escalate from 0 to 100! responding with straight up panic at the slightest suggestion of anxiety. We get triggered and we "freak out" and are therefore unable to respond in a healthy, … [Read more...] about Emotional Regulation – Fear
art therapy
Alien at a Cocktail Party
Art postcard (top - The Cocktail Party by Charlie White)used as a prompt for client artwork(below - sharpie and stickers)shown here with permission. A client looked at this photograph of a life-sized art installation depicting an alien at a cocktail party. It clicked. A perfect metaphor for their social anxiety; not fitting in. A lifetime, in fact, of feeling different, weird, out of place. This client talked about feeling naked and exposed and lost in a world of “normies” who ostensibly have … [Read more...] about Alien at a Cocktail Party
DAILY PRACTICE SUGGESTIONS
STUDY THE FLOWER OF LIFE This interlocking circle design is an ancient one. Called The Flower of Life it purports to be the blueprint of Creativity Itself. Look up Seed of Life. Look up Tree of Life. And draw it, trace it, color it, organize it, reorganize it, embody it. Allow your eyes to wander over it and around it until it becomes three, even four dimensional. Look at it until you see straight lines and squares and tunnels. Be sure to breathe. ☺ Here's a PDF for you to … [Read more...] about DAILY PRACTICE SUGGESTIONS
NEW YEARS DAY Release and Invocation Ritual in Community
My Gift to you – all former and current clients – to start the year among your tribe bringing clarity and awareness to just what it is that you want to RELEASE this New Year and what you wish to INVOKE in its place. We will use clay to represent first what it is we are surrendering (whether person, belief, way of living…) We will plan to leave the piece outside to be returned slowly to dust. Then we will get conscious about what we invite in to that empty place. This component will also be … [Read more...] about NEW YEARS DAY Release and Invocation Ritual in Community
Inner Child
While it is not necessary to have talent or training to benefit from art therapy it is always a treat to see art therapy in the hands of a gifted artist. The Inner child pastel above is an example of how beautifully powerful such an experience can be. You’ve probably heard of Inner Child work because it is a great therapeutic technique for supporting clients to look at themselves/their beliefs/their pasts and re-frame them. For example, this client had only seen herself through her neglectful … [Read more...] about Inner Child
Quarantine
Introverts are doing ok with the corona virus quarantine. That is unless their family won’t leave them alone; insisting they play Scrabble or spend “quality time.” They’ve been preparing for this their whole lives! Extroverts however, are experiencing a different kind of quarantine…isolated, lonely, depressed and even existential. Most of my extroverted clients have been drawing things like cages, prisons and the ball-n-chain to express their sense of being trapped by quarantine. The introverts … [Read more...] about Quarantine
Virtual Art Therapy Sessions
This expressive drawing was done by a client during a private Zoom art therapy session. The client was clear that she was angry – and said it was “all over” her body. Using art supplies she had on hand (oil pastels and graph paper) she then drew the anger. It was a bit different from an in-person session… I usually watch both the body language and the making of the art itself… but “S” was unselfconscious and quiet as she went about the 10-15 minutes it took to draw this full-page image. I … [Read more...] about Virtual Art Therapy Sessions
Coloring, and Mandala Coloring
Coloring, and mandala coloring, has become quite popular in mainstream culture. No longer relegated to art stores, we can find adult coloring books everywhere from the drugstore to the boutique. As an art therapist, I am delighted to see awareness of the power of art spreading! But I have a few reservations about the proposal that “coloring equals art therapy”. Without an art therapist present, coloring is just therapeutic. It may be stress reduction; it may be pleasurable. It may lower blood … [Read more...] about Coloring, and Mandala Coloring