Art Therapy

I attended Loyola Marymount University's masters program in Marital and Family Therapy and Clinical Art Therapy. I have been working as a Registered Art Therapist since 2022.

At InnerCalm Wellness, we offer art therapy as a unique and creative way to support emotional healing and personal growth. Through art, clients can express thoughts and feelings that may be difficult to put into words. Our licensed art therapists guide you in using creativity to explore your emotions, reduce stress, and build self-awareness. Whether you’re facing anxiety, trauma, or depression, art therapy offers a safe, non-verbal outlet for healing and self-discovery.

Expressive arts therapy incorporates elements of all forms of creative expression into a multimodal expressive form of integrative psychotherapy (Knill et al., 2005). Often I encourage the use of multiple forms of creative expression to articulate their inner world, including drawing, painting, photography, music, poetry, and role-playing.

I generally follows a client-centered orientation, emphasizing the individual strengths & resources of each of my clients.

I am trained in Art Therapy and I am a Board-Certified, Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC). I love to integrate art into therapy sessions if a client is interested, although it is not always necessary to use art. Art can be a strong communication tool to help you understand yourself in a way that verbal language might fail. There are also many talented art therapists in my practice who are available to take new clients. I will be taking in-person Art Therapy clients in Oct 2022.

Art therapy enriches the lives of individuals through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship. Art therapy is used to improve cognitive and sensorimotor functions, foster self-esteem and self-aware, cultivate emotional resilience, promote insight, enhance social skills, reduce and resolve conflicts and distress, and advance societal and ecological change.

I have a masters degree in Art Therapy and Marriage Family Therapy. I am currently a board certified art therapist with the American Art Therapy Credentialing Board. I taught for over a decade at Notre Dame De Namur university in Art Therapy . I am currently the president of the South Texas Art Therapy Association.

I can't say enough about how grateful I am to have this tool for myself and my clients! Art Therapy is like a very humble, quiet (aka nonverbal), magical, powerful goddess that supports us in reclaiming our inner strengths and having the autonomy to heal at our own pace and depth without feeling confrontational or judgmental. If you want to know more or experience this magic, come and join my art therapy session!

You can read my blog on art therapy here! https://www.embodyandmindcollective.com/blog-posts/what-is-art-therapy-its-not-just-for-creatives-by-shaye-mueller

I am a licensed and board certified art psychotherapist. My training allows me the ability to conduct talk psychotherapy, but also allows for art therapy additions as well. Even remotely, art making can be part of our session. Some people identify art making in session as soothing, and enjoy sharing their work at the end of session. Some people enjoy working after session with a specific art intervention, to help continue processing. Art making can be a great addition to our work.

I have completed my Master's degree in Art Therapy from Wayne State University and am an ATR- Art Therapist Registered.

I have specialized training in art therapy - having used this modality with adults, teenagers, and children.

Who knew hearing or saying simply “I Got U” carried so much positive affirmation!? Such a statement has helped me overcome many personal and professional obstacles during my lifetime. I even currently say those words to myself as a form of positive self-talk from time to time. With more than 15 years of working in Behavioral Health, I created “I Got U” as a safe space to remind whomever that: I see them, I hear them, and what they say does matter.

Art therapy is beneficial in supporting increased self-esteem, emotional regulation and awareness, and identity exploration. I love to use art materials and art-making in the therapeutic space to support clients in understanding and expressing their emotions. Through art making and creative expression, you can interact with your thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a different way than traditional talk-based therapy.

Art therapy can assist us in accessing core material that can often slip under the radar in talk therapy. Because it activates a different part of our brain and engages our creativity, we can move out of the experience of stuckness and into visualizing solutions, calming our nervous systems, becoming reacquainted with our strengths, or discovering something new about ourselves or our situation.

Art is a medium that allows us to express ourselves and more abstract thoughts without the need of words. It's something that I like to integrate into my in-person sessions whenever possible to allow clients the freedom to explore complex thoughts and emotions non-judgementally.

Art Therapy offers a unique pathway for clients to express emotions and experiences that may be hard to verbalize. By tapping into creativity, clients can explore and process feelings in a non-judgmental and expressive way. This approach not only facilitates self-discovery and insight but also helps foster healing through the creative process, making it a powerful tool for transformation and growth.

Art Therapy offers a unique avenue to explore and address issues that are sometimes too difficult to verbally articulate. In sessions, we will use art making as a way to explore and view challenges or issues that are impacting you. You don't need to be "artistic" or even have experience with art, to gain healing benefits of art therapy. I will guide you by providing a specific theme or a particular material, that will help us work towards your goals.

I am a Registered Art Therapist with a Masters degree in art therapy from George Washington University. I have extensive experience as a trauma-focused art therapist and have worked with clients from diverse backgrounds, many of whom identify as trauma survivors. I believe that art is innately human and provides a safe space for individuals to initiate growth and change.