Stressed-Out Moms

Lately, I’ve had many working moms come in to art therapy because they were at wits end with their busy lives.  Though successful in many areas, they have realized that their stress has taken too big a toll on their relationships with their children, husbands, and themselves.  These women are multi-taskers to the max.  Organized problem-solvers and effective planners, they exist in their left brain most of the time.  In their work with me, they’ve learned that the ability to engage relationally, the experience of emotion, and the process of art making all come from the right brain.  This makes art therapy the perfect antidote to multi-tasking and stress.   These moms are learning that reducing and regulating their own anxiety and stress through the use of non-verbal expression allows them more patience with their kids, more intimacy with their husbands, and more energy and joy in their busy lives.
 

If The Shoe Fits…..

New Half-Day Workshop!

Our shoes say so much about us and the roles that we play in society and in our families.  Ever wish you could show someone what it’s like to walk in your shoes?  Come play with this idea by using old shoes and endless collage supplies.

Be sure to call or email for more details about dates and times.
 

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New Studio Location!

It’s with a bit of nostalgia and much gratitude that I’m saying goodbye to my first studio space on Bridge Street.  Three year ago, I took a huge risk and leased it for one year.  I didn’t have any clients.  I scrounged together all of my art supplies, used the couch from our living room and salvaged junked shelves from El Camino High.  Today, with a practice that continues to be full and with plans for expansion, I am in the position to commit to a larger, more sound proof studio—with a waiting room!  The ceilings are high, the deck is great, the chickens are still roaming around outside, and it’s only 4 blocks from the old place!  I’m looking forward to settling in during the month of July.
 

Teens say, “Okay!”

Teens are often trying to make sense out of their internal, non-verbal experience of themselves and the world.  The sense of “I” that they are trying to define is a construct that is housed in the right brain.  While they say, “No Way” to other forms of therapy, they say, “Okay” to participating in art therapy because it seems to be their language of choice.  One teen recently looked up from her painting at me and through tears said, “You must be magic, I haven’t been able to cry about this in a year.”  I told her it wasn’t me that was magic, it was her art.

Trainings and CEU’s

I’ll be starting two new training groups in September. I’ve been so privileged to train over 100 therapists in the Sacramento area.  I love that they have been so enthusiastic about trying art with their clients and sharing these experiences with the training group.  I am also thrilled to provide them with the much needed time for their own creative expression.  Recently, one of my groups had been role playing how to introduce an art directive to a client, more time had passed than we expected, and one of the therapists said in a worried voice, “Aren’t we going to get to make art today?”  I was touched by her question and the realization that she and the others had embraced my philosophy that creative expression is essential in learning and in life.  The groups have not only become seminars for using art in therapy, but serve as a retreat time for the therapists who participate.

Check out TRAINING page for more information on upcoming sessions.

Art as Medicine

Bruce Moon, PhD, ATR-BC tells a story about a woman who told him, “My painting reminds me I’m alive.”  He says, “Art must be prescribed as medicine to be alive—to be real.”  My clients and I agree.  The other day I was sitting with a client who was working with a self portrait.  It looked nothing like a person—in fact, it was far from a person, with its concentric circles and carefully smudged bright colors.  When she was done, I didn’t ask her what it meant or what the different colors stood for.  I knew the answers didn’t matter.  Instead I asked her, “How is it for you to see this?”  She started to cry and said, “I’ve never really seen this.  This is real.  In all my years of therapy, this is the first time I think I’ve really seen myself.”

 New Art Materials!

I’ve discovered the shoe section at the Salvation Army!!  I’ve started inviting clients to embellish old shoes to reflect family roles and individual personalities.  Is dad a cowboy boot or a worn penny loafer?  How about a 50’s houseslipper for mom?  Or an army boot for a 12 year old’s new step dad?  With a glue gun, fabric, yarn mirror and a myriad of “stuff” the shoes take on a life of their own.  Then we get to watch them walk their talk—and boy do we learn new things!




 

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Neuroscience and Art Therapy

I got a great introduction to neuroscience at the AATA conference in November.  It is so exciting to have science begin to explain how and why change happens when clients make art.  The most amazing part is this:  The thalamus, the brain’s stimuli communication center and the amygdala, the place where fear is registered and generated have no words! Not only do they lack words, but they process internally and externally generated stimuli/images the same way.  So, in my office, when a client engages in meaningful art making—even when they don’t use words—they are literally transforming the internal image/memory into a more containable, tolerable, and meaningful one. 

I think of a client who was drawing her painful relationship with her narcissistic mother.  She was surprised and excited to find that in the image, there existed space for herself.

Neuroscience cont’d

She spent the session filling this space with exuberant green squiggles.  Outside of session, she even honored this space by painting her bedroom the same shade of green.  Through her art she gave her non-verbal experience meaning.  She showed her thalamus an alternative image/memory, she changed her experience—and her bedroom. 

Trainings and CEU’s

My 4^th training group will be ending in February (I’ll be starting another one in March) and due to popular demand, I will be starting a consultation group for therapists who have had some form of art therapy training.  This group will give therapists plenty of time to discuss their use of art in therapy and to explore treatment planning through their own creative responses to clients.  In keeping with my philosophy that therapists who use art in therapy should do their own art, this group will also participate in a round robin art and journal process.  I can’t wait to see the results of this new addition.  

Expansion cont'd

Because of all the art making and the studio feel, the space needs to meet special requirements, and the building has to exude creativity and warmth.  My goal is to move to this new space in the next year, and I’m using all of my creative vision to call it forth!  

CEU’s and more Trainings!

I’ve been having a great time giving many local trainings on “Using Art in Therapy”.  I have really embraced the idea that it is crucial for non-art therapists to know how to safely and effectively use art in session.  Without some basic knowledge and practice, there are inherent risks.  So, I am encouraged that agencies and individuals have sought this information through my trainings.  My Friday seminar is well underway, and the participants are coming in with wonderful stories about their safe and effective use of art with clients.  I am now an official CEU provider (PCE#3497).  In response to folks’ requests, I will be starting another group in the Fall.

Chalk It Up!

I will be at the Chalk It Up! Festival on September 3-5 at Fremont Park on 15^th and P.  I’ll be working on yet another sidewalk creation (see last year’s at left) in the heat and the much of creativity.  Come and say hi!

Women and Depression

I’ve been privileged to share the unmistakable window to vitality that art making provides for women with depression.  Despite lethargy, worthlessness, and hopelessness many of my clients engage in their art making with spontaneity, energy, and curiosity.  When I’m able to reflect the vital dance that they’ve choreographed during their painting, they are often amazed at the irrefutable fact that part of them continues to thrive and express.  I thrive on the opportunity to witness this kind of expression.  It affirms to me that art heals.

New Painting Table!

For the new office space, I have acquired a specially handmade painting table.  It accommodates 21 colors in paint pots, water for each color, and a sweet little brush holder to go with each color.  The effect is much like Baskin Robbins.  So yummy, all those colors and flavors.  I can’t wait to use it and watch individuals and groups delight at the accessibility and spontaneity that it will allow.

                

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Expansion in the Works!

My studio has been bursting with client art, creative energy and enthusiastic learning.  For this reason, I am so excited to have welcomed Heather Johnson as an intern (IMF 42813). She is license eligible and extremely competent.  But, most of all, she is dynamic, charismatic, creative, and real.  She has great experience working with women and teens, and is forming groups that will incorporate creative expression with the group experience.  She is particularly interested in helping women emotionally adjust to life after a miscarriage.  She will also offer an evening teen group to help teens find alternate modalities to express feelings.  This is a group that I’ve had many requests for, and now Heather’s evening/weekend schedule will accommodate those requests.  With Heather on board, and more interns to come, we will need more space.  So, I am actively looking for a larger office.  It is so exciting (and anxiety producing) to tour properties. 

The Antidote for Burnout!

I’ve had many therapists ask me about learning to use art therapy with clients.  They express an understanding that healing inherently comes as a result of creative expression, but they don’t have the know-how or confidence to invite clients to make art.  I tell them that they have to experience it for themselves, from the inside out, to really understand.

I am privileged to have many therapists as clients.  They are finding that their art is the antidote for burnout and stress.  Their art is allowing a deeper understanding of client issues and relationships.  Their trust in art is growing.  And, by connecting with their creative selves, their enthusiasm for life and work has been rekindled.  I am really looking forward to starting another therapist group this Spring that will provide more therapists with the opportunity to experience the power of accessing their own untapped creativity, to gain balance and renewal through art—to learn art therapy from the inside out.

Conversations in Color!

I’ve been so amazed with this art directive when used with mothers and their teen daughters. Rather than using words, the pair holds a conversation in color by taking turns adding to a painting or drawing.  Each turn, or line, is a visual statement or comment.  The end result is a tangible map of the mother’s and daughter’s style of communication.  Both the process and the painting show so much.  Often I see mom’s wish to support or teach or control; and the daughter’s wish to individuate, to be supported, to rebel, and/or to be understood. When mother and daughter talk about the conversation/painting, they can identify ways of interacting that work, and instances when the exchange wasn’t working for one or both of them.  The experience has become a metaphor for several of these clients, and they refer to their Conversations in Color often.  I’m really looking forward to using this and other activities in a workshop for mothers and daughters this summer. 

“Where Did I Go?”

My women clients in their 40’s and 50’s are using art therapy to answer the hard question, “Where did I go?”  They are feeling emptiness after so many years of working, raising children, and/or looking for the right relationship.  They are enthralled by the vibrance and vitality that they find in their art.  I am thrilled to watch these women find inspiration for new paths and relationships through their creative expression.

New Art Materials!

My studio is packed with art materials, but I continue to experiment with new ones.  My latest addition is a gallon bucket of gesso.  Clients are finding that it is wonderfully thick and gooey and can add dimension and texture to just about anything.  Many have been delighted to squish it into textures and patterns and have compared this experience to finger painting with cake frosting.  In a safe setting, this kind of experimentation can be healing and transformative.

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