Growing up, I was forced to see a therapist after my parent’s divorce.

I remember being brought against my will, sitting in front of a nice middle aged woman and refusing to speak to her.  I was 14 years old.  I remember feeling triumphant when she got angry and told me I was wasting my parent’s money.

Later, I was bewildered when my mother, sister and I sat in front of a family therapist who simply said that as long as we kept second guessing each other, there was nothing he could do for us.  This time, I felt stunned.  What was the point of therapy?  I thought that therapists were experts who were supposed to figure out how to solve problems for us.  After these experiences, I decided to study psychology to finally learn what makes us tick as well as what good is therapy?

What I learned in my undergraduate years was that  there are lots and lots of fascinating theories out there, but the nature of what makes us the way we are is not a simple matter easily explained by a nice neat formula.  Social science is not physical science.  There is a lot of room for discussion, and not a lot of consensus.

After college, I wandered a lot, both intellectually and physically, moving to a country I had never been before to find my way in the world.  In Italy I was influenced by Transcendental Meditation and Roberto Assoglioli’s theory of Psychosynthesis, in many ways the opposite of the psychodynamic theories based on Freud .  I began seeing the commonalities among people and the ways we could understand and connect with each other rather than dissecting and analyzing our personalities, which seemed to emphasize our differences and our feelings of alienation.

All during this time, my passion was and still is drawing and painting, something I have done for my entire life.  Something about diving deep into my creative process feels healing and comforting.  I still feel completely at ease while creating art.

Combining my lifelong interests in art and psychology, I pursued a Master’s degree in Art Therapy and became a professional clinical art therapist.  I spent more than a decade working in a medical hospital with children, families and caregivers during health crises and often during end of life situations.  Offering creative arts therapy where the analytical mind could relax and other, more fundamental parts of the self could be expressed provided comfort, connection and ease.  Creating art is experiential, so that the results are felt in the body, not just understood intellectually.  Finally, I had found something that not only made sense, but felt right: Mind and body working together to provide relief.

Eureka!  I had come to understand the power of art therapy.

We are all creatures of habit.  How many times have we told our stories to others and how many times have we heard our own stories again and again and again? Creative expression allows us to find new pathways to ourselves, new ways to discover and rediscover our stories.  Each time we tell the story of our life, we can do it in a new way.  We engage in the vibrant and life-affirming process of discovery.  Each time we pick up a brush or pencil or piece of clay, we are offered a fresh opportunity to know ourselves in a completely new and original way.  We are engaged in the process of becoming.

Creative Arts Therapy allows us to rediscover ourselves and to retell our stories.  Learning to place judgments and criticisms aside is an important part of allowing creativity to flourish.  Appreciating our natural ability to put disparate elements together in our own way without stopping ourselves is creative.  Practicing creativity helps problem solving, lessens ambiguity, makes order out of chaos and brings clarity to emotional issues.  Our minds are beautifully and perfectly suited to make meaning out of the world around us.  Working with a creative arts therapist can help us use our innate gifts without worrying about reaching pre-determined goals of excellence or publication or fame.  What if success is the feeling of being completely at ease with yourself?

Living creatively is available to us all.

Learn a new way to tell your story.

Experience yourself in all your unique glory.

This, to me, is the point of therapy.

With best wishes for peace and authenticity,

Carla