Something has you on the wrong path.
For some time, someone or something has led you on a path you don’t recognize. You are aware of the responsibility for yourself and your actions, but somehow you always take the route that leads to nowhere.
And, it’s not that you haven’t tried to make conscious decisions; it’s as though somehow you’re observing rather than living this life. Sometimes, you don’t even recognize yourself anymore. The mirror before you seems distant, your thoughts are on repeat, and the heaviness of your heart is unbearable.
You’ve tried talking about it, but nobody seems to understand. You’ve tried praying through it, but God has other important things to deal with currently. You’ve tried EVERYTHING – listening to calming music, meditation, exercise, journaling, eating healthy, etc.
The worst part of it all is your guilt. Your life isn’t bad, but ultimately, your soul is still yearning for more.
Searching for the missing part leads to more frustration.
You are searching for something you’re not sure exists. You’re not even sure you know what it is. Is it love? Self-confidence? Motivation? Peace?
What is this desire that lays dormant and then rears its head with symptoms that make you ask, “What is WRONG with me?”
It’s ok to feel confused and want something more while not understanding why you got here.
You no longer need to feel alone. I’m here to help and guide you along the way. We will walk the path together. That path may take us through swamps, over the rubble, and to the peak, where you claim authority over your future.
You are Wholly Beautiful.
You are not a cereal box. You are not in a life-long competition. You are not a filing cabinet. With me as your guide, you will never be labeled, judged, or diagnosed.
As you walk over the threshold into the art therapy studio, you will feel safe, welcomed, and inspired. It is a judgment-free zone, filled with the positive energy of compassion and acceptance.
You are seen as such in the Wholly Beautiful space because you are.
Healing begins when you tell your story and feel heard.
You are a unique individual. You have a story as deep as the ocean and as wide as the earth itself.
Individual art therapy sessions allow the time and space for you to share your story, whatever might be in its pages, with a person who listens and provides guidance in moving through the pain.
Here’s what individual art therapy is like with me.
During individual art therapy sessions, you can work one-on-one with me as I provide the energetic space you need to heal. Art facilitates the conversation between two human beings, the client and the art therapist, in the art therapy space.
At Wholly Beautiful, the client is the expert on their own life and history. They have truths that inform who and how they are today. The art therapist is an expert in coping skills, art directives, and reflecting the client’s story as an observer and witness.
As the art therapist, I approach your story with compassion and nonjudgment. I reflect on what you share through imagery and words. I present questions in ways that lead to curiosity and insight, gradually challenging current perspectives and habits.
Art therapy promotes hope.
Whatever your past experiences are, responding to art directives and sharing the process with me can provide hope for your future. I process your visual response with you. Sometimes a conversation is held with the art, “If your art could speak, what would it say?” Other times, the art leads to immediate awareness and direction.
The process can provide information to the client that they may not have known previously. For each client, art holds various meanings. Guidance through questioning and listening provides the client with mobility and safety to explore their past, present, and future.
I can become better equipped to provide coping skills and options for actionable steps moving forward by processing your art with you. But, you decide what works best for you. And, we walk through the steps together so that you never feel alone.
Art Therapy has many benefits.
While many may view art-making as superfluous, extensive research shows just how beneficial it can be for people who engage in it, long-term and short-term.
Art-making helps decrease heart rate, reduce pain, and reduce depression, stress, and anxiety symptoms.
Art helps stimulate brain function, increase self-worth, and improve self-awareness, emotional regulation, and mood.
In addition, in combination with other modalities of talk therapy, art-making has shown evidence of helping people gain insight into problem behaviors, challenge self-deprecating thoughts, and change habits. These are all benefits of art therapy, which marries art-making with talk therapy.
Natural functions require all parts of the brain.
Art therapy can be better understood when looking at your brain’s natural functions.
The front of your brain, or the prefrontal cortex, holds your problem-solving function and often works even when you are unaware.
The left side of your brain holds the following: organization, order, routine, categorization, accuracy, strategy, verbalization, and rational and logical thinking. Have you ever felt like you couldn’t get the right words out to explain something while experiencing high anxiety? Blame it on the left hemisphere!
Your prefrontal cortex and left hemisphere start to shut down when you experience trauma, anxiety, or stress. In some cases, as in severe trauma or PTSD episodes, there is evidence that the prefrontal cortex and the left side completely shut down. This response can happen even when there is no real threat, just a perceived one!
Creativity, emotional response, passion, taste, color, intuition, impulse, and feelings are all processed on the right side of the brain. When the left part of your brain shuts down, it inherently means that problem-solving and rational thinking are non-existent, or at least unreachable. Therefore, the right hemisphere is working overtime to compensate for the loss in other brain parts; i.e., emotion and senses are turned up.
This response helps explain why trauma survivors suffer from trigger responses to noise, texture, smell, visuals, and other sensual stimuli. It also offers some answers to why traditional talk therapy doesn’t always help someone who suffers from anxiety or a history of trauma.
Find the right path through art therapy.
Art therapy provides connection and balance between the two sides of the brain.
The art therapy client explores the sensual activity of the brain where she can see the emotion on the page, make sense of what is happening, and create distance from it, quite literally.
If this still doesn’t make sense, but you’re intrigued by the idea that you won’t have to talk the entire therapy session, give me a call or schedule a free consultation!