How exactly does creativity transform therapy? Creativity takes courage, and using art in therapy is one way to experiment and practice different ways of being—in a space that is safe. With or without art, I am always honored to walk with clients as they express their authentic selves to make life meaningful.
I enjoy working with college-age students, young adults and up, and one of the methods I use to help clients express their inner experience—if they are willing—is through artmaking. Using tangible, tactile materials can be a concrete way to make visible your experiences and feelings that seem invisible. When you can create something and see it in front of you, you can get a little distance and perspective to self-reflect. Clients do not to be "artists" to benefit from art therapy, and for those averse to art, I am also trained in talk therapy in the ways listed below.
As a human, I believe you make sense—even if, initially, it doesn't appear this way. But I don't believe in Band-Aids, so I help you go to the source of the wound, identify the learned belief, feel what you learned to shut out, and begin to behave in ways NOW that are NOT designed to shut down your emotions or keep you so safe that you do nothing that makes you feel alive or meaningful.
One of my favorite ways to understand why we engage in self-destructive behaviors is through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS), which views the individual human being like a family system, with parts that take on certain roles—all with the intention of protecting our younger, sensitive parts that have been wounded. In addition, I have worked in treatment facilities and have attended several continuing education workshops where Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) was utilized, and have found it to contain a helpful philosophy for individuals struggling with eating or self-harm behaviors.
You learned to cope and survive with your own thoughts with the resources available to you, but I'll help you consider new thoughts and behaviors until we find what feels right for you.
-Kahlil Gibran