Expressive art Therapy

Throughout my life I have had many passions. Triathlon. Art. Unique individuals with different needs. Giving back to the community. Family. 

These areas have led me to work with individuals with different needs and their caregivers to provide art therapy, counseling, deep conversation, and a partner to help achieve one's goals. 

I find so much joy in working with children, teens and adults so that they are able to express their feelings in a safe, creative, messy and completely organic way. 

To see those I work with to find their "true artist" as they explore art materials as a means to communicate their inner most feelings inspires me every. single. day. 

My Experience with Art Therapy…

…better known as how I know art therapy makes a lasting impact.

Let’s be real. We lie to ourselves ALL. THE. TIME. These lies can be helpful to us when we use them as a way to cope with our the trauma and stressors in our life. They can also be harmful; keeping us from seeing our reality. I am not sure which mine were. When I entered college I knew EVERYTHING… you know, because I was now an adult. Well, everything except why I felt broken. By chance, I had enrolled in a class called “Intro to Art Therapy”. I arrived excited to be doing art again (I liked to think I was artistic in high school). Little did I know what was going to happen next…

The first day, I entered the classroom. Light music was playing. Flutes. Art materials were out. The instructor, in a calm voice said “Draw a memory of your favorite place.” I struggled to think of what to draw. For some reason recalling memories, good and bad, was a struggle for me. I drew a picture of a barn in crayon. After the drawing, came the processing. “Oh no! I have to share why I drew this?! I have no clue”. Classmates began to tell their stories, this made me less nervous to share mine. So when it was my turn I opened up about great times in the barn and the hay and the animals. Things I have never shared and seemed like an entire lifetime ago. Like that, I was hooked. After class I went back to my room and proudly displayed my stick figure, crayon scribbled barn on my dorm wall like it was a masterpiece. Through art I was able to make connections to times in my past I had forgotten. I could express anger, happiness, sadness, excitement and not be judged for being “too emotional”. Art gave me a voice I was confident in.

My passion for helping others started when I was young. Being a child or teen is hard enough, but to feel unaccepted for who you are is even harder. Courage, family, a few strong high school friendships and my love of art-making helped me rise above. It was a long journey but I eventually learned to embrace who I was and chose self-love — now I try to pay that forward by helping others embrace who they are. Everyone deserves love and acceptance, and that is my drive for working with children and teens.

Compassion for others and creativity have been two constant forces in my life. It wasn’t until I pursued a career in art therapy that I realized my passions could combine to make a difference in the lives of others.

I’ve worked with a variety of people through art therapy – children with disabilities and mental health needs as well as some work with veterans and the elderly. As an art therapist, I embrace the art process and person-centered therapy approach, embracing the whole person and their strengths, and creating a safe space for them to shine.

There have been two aspects of myself which I have always known: the need creative, and the desire to care for others. The two traits led me to art therapy, even before I knew what it was. While studying studio arts, I became interested in psychology and an advisor informed my that his mother was an art therapist. My path was forever changed from that moment on.

To me, art making is self-expression, it is comfort, connection, and a way to make meaning of the world around us. I have used art throughout my life to explore, address, and express various experiences, positive and negative. Life is not always kind or easy, and when my thinking brain becomes too loud, sometimes I need to focus more on my feeling brain, feeding that need to be creative.

While I am working with clients, I like to move between these two “brains’ to connect with and explore whatever enters the space, always trying to nurture what comes up, what pushes back, and what feels right to them. I love meeting new people and working with them to better themselves and feel confident to take on whatever life brings. I feel grateful to work with kids, adolescents and adults alike and help guide them along their journeys using art, play and narration. I utilize existential, attachment and person-centered approaches to therapy, but truly creating safe spaces for individuals to feel heard and seen is what is most important to me. Along with art making, I love being outside in nature, growing, cooking and eating good food, and practicing somatic movement, always trying to introduce and incorporate these practices with my clients as well.