Art as Therapy
We need to make stuff.
Do you notice that you feel better when you’re in an artistic project? Or when you sing in the car? The most important thing I’ve learned in 25 years of therapy practice? When people engage their creativity, they start feeling better.
I use art methods as an adjunct to regular EMDR therapy. Art therapy can be many things, but I usually start with paper and paint. Sometimes my clients already know their medium, so they bring it with them: a sketchbook, or sewing project, a guitar . . . Anything will work.
In fact, one of the first things I find out about my new clients is their art form. What is your art form? We all have one. Even if you’ve never had music lessons, your art form may be music. And even if you’ve been told you’re not creative, you may have a painter inside you. Lots of people tell me they can’t write, but then put pen to paper and create delicious poetry.
Let’s nurture your inner artist. We’ll start slow and watch how it speeds your therapy.
ART AS THERAPY BLOGS
Build a Culture of Creative Inspiration: Your Office Space Matters
Creating a beautiful, comfortable therapy office inspires and energizes therapists and clients.
Therapist Creative Support
Beauty prevents burnout by raising our vibration and focusing our energy. Therapists and all helpers need creative support to engage beauty in their everyday work. Building practice based on beauty creates sustainability and abundance.
The Solution for Therapist Burnout=Beauty
Beauty: The Solution to Therapist Burnout Beauty is everywhere you look. But most therapists have been trained away from it. We got trained to look at problems. Problems=the un-beauty. This formula leads straight to burnout. Looking at problems served us pretty well ....
Religious Trauma into Soul Healing, Part VII: Creating
Creating Soul Healing You probably know how I feel about this one. Art saves lives. But for the rest of this post, I'll stay away from the word, "Art," and replace it with "Creativity" or "Creating." Creating leads us out of spiritual prison or confinement and into...
Note to Self: Write MORE that’s Real in 2018
MORE I need to write, but haven't in a while. I got a little bogged down trying to create neat, unoffensive packages of psychotherapy. I sort of lost myself, and writing became a chore. But I'm writing my way back home, thanks to a little rest and time with writerly...
Calm Receptive Mode: Get calm and find the good stuff inside you.
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How Lies Put Us Into Trance and How to Stay Awake
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Why do I want this? Skip resolutions and Go Deep instead.
My Bodysmith friends and I have been asking ourselves: Do we even want to make resolutions for 2017? Does it make sense to replay the same self-assignments, year after year? The question makes sense if you think about how New Year’s resolutions have evolved over time....
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Transform Holiday Stress into Mindful Rest & Giving
Until recently, I resented the holidays. As in, Already???? We just did this, right? Except the years when my son believed in Santa and we put together tricycles and trains, after his bedtime, under the synthetic Douglas Fir, I got a sinking anxious dread just before...