Dear Reader,
Individual therapy is a unique experience for everyone and depends upon the goodness of fit between you and your therapist. Through this letter I offer a glimpse into what therapeutic relationship might be like with me and whether I might be a good fit for you and your therapy journey. I offer a bit of my background, what led me to art therapy, my theoretical approach, and what you might come to expect from therapy with me. In return, I invite you to ask any questions or voice any concerns upon reading this or at any point in our therapeutic relationship, should you decide to connect with me.
My Background
By becoming an art therapist, I not only answered a call from within, but I also came full circle. With a background in private piano education, I spent my early years teaching young people and children how to connect with their own inner musicality. And from there, my passion for knowing the inner workings of the mind and body led me to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. After graduating with my BA, I was compelled to change course and into the faculty of Social Work, as it felt important to move the theory I had learned into practice. I completed most of the undergraduate courses in Social Work and then completed the pre-Master of Social Work program at the University of Manitoba in 2001. Over the course of that year I facilitated individual therapy with children, family therapy, group therapy, and play therapy at the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre (MATC) under a wonderful mentor who taught me many things, including the impact of mindfulness practices on children’s wellbeing and development.
I then started the Master’s in Social Work degree program in 2001, but needed to put my studies on hold when I started experiencing symptoms of anxiety and severe body pain. After a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, I spent many years taking care of my health and once in balance, chose to pursue a professional path in alternative healing as an energy-based healing arts practitioner. At the end of 2019, however, I realized that I had not been pursuing an authentic path and closed my practice to find my true path in life.
It was at this painful time, as well as at the onset of the pandemic, that I began re-experiencing symptoms of fibromyalgia. In response, I felt ready to ask for help and created a team of support to guide me through what can only be described as a Dark Night of the Soul. My team included a fibromyalgia specialist who encouraged me to also find a new therapist. I knew I needed something more than talk therapy to bypass my strong mind, so I was connected with an art therapist and for the first time in therapy I was able to instantly access what was being held in my body, which felt transformative. Then with the help of my art therapist, I realized that training in therapy was calling to me once again, but this time within the field of art therapy. In art therapy I felt I was at home and therefore, on an authentic path. I was inspired to apply to the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute (KATI), sensing from deep within that the training program was going to be medicine for me and my healing journey, both professionally and personally.
In May of 2024, I completed the program and can confidently say I found my authentic path. Because the training program is both experientially and theoretically transformative, I was given the tools to heal that which led me down the path of inauthenticity, as well as become a deeply attuned art therapist. I answered the call of deep pain and through deep listening, found myself in art therapy. The program equipped me to not only heal my personal physical pain, but showed me my place in the world as an art therapist and allowed for professional healing as well. As a result, I am able to use my body now as an instrument to attune to others and as I do so, my previous energy -based skills are re-emerging, but in a new configuration within therapeutic relationship.
I am now a professional art therapist registered with the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA). I am also a Registered Therapeutic Counselor (RTC) with the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists and adhere to standards of practice and code of ethics for both associations. My placements while at KATI involved facilitating individual art psychotherapy with children, adolescents, young adults, and older adults online and in person, as well as facilitating group therapy at the Provincial Eating Disorder Program and with student leaders within a university setting. I have experience with helping others listen to their own bodies, their calls from within, whether that be addiction, depression, anxiety, uncertainty, or identity-based. My research project entitled, “Moving from the Head to the Body: Answering the Call for Integration” was presented at the national Canadian Art Therapy Association conference in August 2023 and demonstrates the power of answering the call. You can find a distilled version of this project on the home page, that captures my journey through art therapy to get back into my body and my heart.
About Me
My Approach and Theoretical Orientation
The relational approach is the umbrella under which all culturally responsive, person-centred, positive, humanistic, and client-centred approaches are located. As a relational art therapist, being trauma and attachment informed is essential because it is trauma and attachment disruption that interferes with relationship to self, other, and nature.
So truly, it is my belief that healing and repair, whether with your body, mind, with others, or with the world around you, can only occur within a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship.
I use techniques from mindfulness, somatic, and neurobiological approaches, like Focusing Oriented Art Therapy and Internal Family Systems Theory, to help build a bridge between the mind and body. And this allows access to the many parts found within in order to give them voice, including the body’s inherent wisdom and authentic voice, which once activated and integrated, has the capacity to create cohesion and integration amongst all parts within.
I draw upon ecological art therapy and use natural materials or metaphors when possible in artmaking to cultivate deeper attunement with self and draw upon the inherent healing capacities of nature.
I also now draw upon my own re-emerging energetic capacities that include being able to bear witness to the human energy field in order to support you in accessing the energetic dimensions of your being, if inspired.
What to expect:
I believe that you are the expert of your life, so you can expect an atmosphere of collaboration and a relationship based on trust, non-judgement, compassion, empathy, cultural sensitivity, acceptance, respect, and curiosity. I use theory to inform questions to help you find answers from within and am committed to offering strength based perspectives. You can expect to lead the process and explore materials at your own pace. I may offer art invitations that emerge out of your explorations and might do art alongside you, if that’s more comfortable for your process. You do not need to identify as an artist, as I believe we are all inherently creative, and I will meet you where you are. I see the art as an extension of you and so I treat the art and the artmaking process with the respect I treat you as a person.
There are little parameters around what we do in a session, but it generally holds the structure of:
· beginning with a brief check in
· moving into art making (with or without dialogue)
· then if inspired, taking time to look at the art and processing it in dialogue
Arc of Therapy:
Therapy begins with an intake session, where we connect around your history and get to know one another so that you can determine goodness of fit. Depending upon your goals for therapy, your therapeutic needs may range from needing a only a few sessions to a longer commitment and a more intensive, consistent experience. When engaging in a longer term therapy relationship, planned endings are important so that you have the opportunity for closure and experience the transition in a safe and predictable way.
It is important to note that all therapy looks different for everyone and can be experienced in nonlinear and sometimes surprising or unpredictable ways. There can be a range of responses and reactions within the therapeutic context, but the discomfort and challenges that can emerge are temporary and are met with as much gentleness and support as possible.
If this feels like something you’d like to know more about or are inspired to answer your call with me, please do reach out.