My Art Therapist Context

I am a Board-Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC) and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with 11 years of clinical experience. I specialize in trauma-informed care for children and adolescents, utilizing the creative process as a primary diagnostic and therapeutic tool. My clinical philosophy prioritizes a 'gentle invitation' approach, facilitating emotional expression and trauma processing through art-making when verbal communication is insufficient or inaccessible.

I facilitate clinical art therapy sessions that integrate the creative process with psychotherapeutic verbal processing. My work involves designing and implementing art-based interventions tailored to individuals, groups, and families. I focus on helping my clients develop healthy coping mechanisms and resolve internal conflicts by externalizing their emotions through various artistic media.

I serve a clinical population that finds traditional talk therapy challenging, with a primary focus on children and trauma survivors. My practice extends to mentoring other therapists in art-based modalities and collaborating with external stakeholders—such as schools, hospitals, and social service agencies—to provide specialized, non-verbal therapeutic support.

I communicate with a tone of gentleness, invitation, and clinical curiosity. I prioritize normalizing the creative process and providing non-interpretive reflections of what I observe in a client's artwork. My language is supportive and validating, designed to hold space for difficult emotions while celebrating the client's courage to engage in the creative act.

My primary objectives for the current year are to formalize a trauma-informed art therapy protocol and to design a training curriculum for clinicians interested in basic art interventions. I am also working to expand my group therapy offerings. My long-term career trajectory includes establishing my own private practice or transitioning into an academic faculty role.