Expressive Arts TherapY
Our NEW Expressive Arts Clinician!
TITLE:
Expressive Arts Clinician
EDUCATION:
Masters in Social Work at George Mason University
CREDENTIALS:
Certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy from Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute
SPECIALTY:
Our Expressive Arts Therapist is an educator/social worker by trade, and she helps clients strengthen skills to address trauma, manage stressors, and restore a sense of well-being. Her practice approach is trauma-informed and person-centered.
She uses mindfulness techniques and expressive art modalities such as visual art, creative writing, sound and music, movement, drama, and play to integrate sensory information and emotional expression and help clients initiate change. Sessions often involve non-linguistic arts processes. Both expressive arts therapy and mindfulness are evidence-based techniques for addressing a variety of mental health concerns.
She has worked with youth and young adults for over ten years and has also spent time in the research field, examining the effects of risk and protective factors on youth. She is currently a supervisee in clinical social work.
Contact Information
If you are interested in learning more about her, or connecting with her, she can be contacted directly via email at: ExATLCC@gmail.com
OR
You can call the Main Office Line: 571-375-0668
What is Expressive Arts Therapy?
" Expressive arts therapy uses various arts—movement, drawing, painting, sculpting, music, writing, sound, and improvisation—in a supportive setting to facilitate growth and healing. It is a process of discovering ourselves through any art form that comes from an emotional depth. It is not creating a 'pretty' picture. It is not a dance ready for the stage. It is not a poem written and rewritten to perfection.
Expressive art means going into our inner realms to discover feelings and to express them through visual art, movement, sound, writing, or drama.
In the therapeutic world based on humanistic principles, the term expressive therapy has been reserved for nonverbal and/or metaphoric expression. Humanistic expressive arts therapy differs from the analytic or medical model of art therapy, in which art is used to diagnose, analyze and 'treat' people.
Most of us have already discovered some aspect of expressive art as being helpful in our daily lives. You may....
- doodle as you speak on the telephone and find it soothing
- write a personal journal and find that as you write, your feelings and ideas change.
- write down your dreams and look for patterns and symbols.
- paint or sculpt as a hobby and realize the intensity of the experience transports you out of your everyday problems.
- Or perhaps you sing while you drive or go for long walks.
These exemplify self-expression through movement, sound, writing, and art to alter your state of being. They are ways to release your feelings, clear your mind, raise your spirits, and bring yourself into higher states of consciousness. The process is therapeutic." (As stated in Natalie Roger's The Path to Wholeness: Expressive Arts Therapy)
If you are interested in learning more, please visit: https://www.psychotherapy.net/article/expressive-art-therapy
image from NScience.com