What is trauma? Trauma is psychological and physiological in nature. It has a direct impact on our health and wellbeing and is a subjective experience that is difficult to put into words. Many of us have experienced trauma over the course of our lives – it doesn’t have to be something as significant as war, an accident, medical incident or sexual abuse. Seemingly normal and ordinary event can cause people to develop trauma symptoms. It can be anything that we interpret as dangerous or that creates a nervous system reaction of fight or flight where the body freezes and dissociates to the degree ..read more

Recently I watched a video by Tara Brach on “How to overcome feeling unworthy”. It is part of a three part series of videos on self-esteem, made available through www.nicabm.com. Although the videos are no longer online, I’d like to share the sentiment and value of her message, as I feel it is much needed in this world of constant critique and criticism.   This journey into the light of healthy self-esteem helps one to cultivate unconditional care and acceptance for ourselves. Our self-esteem impacts our ability to connect with others. Tara states that one of mankind’s greatest regrets ..read more

  Steps to Self-Love   What is self-love? It’s not simply feeling good about oneself.  It is “a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth.” It is accepting ourselves as we are, working on our strengths but also nurturing our weaknesses. It is having compassion for ourselves and reassuring ourselves of our intrinsic, inherent value – simply by our nature of being human beings. I found this article on Psychology Today about some tips on how to nurture Self-Love in ourselves. I particularly am fond of the ..read more

Artist Tips for Expressive Arts Therapy As a mixed media artist, I am committed to taking painting lessons, either in person or through online formats (one of the sources of my art making tips is Ivy Newport). What I have learned over the years is that it is practice and not output or performance that matters in achieving success. We can nurture our imagination and creativity by creating time for play and exploration. In Expressive Arts Therapy, we focus on the process, and not the end product or outcome as much. Here are a few suggestions that I have learned as an artist that are also applica ..read more

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. This book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pie Happy New Year! The end of a decade is the perfect time to set goals for the months to come and to reprioritize your life. As we say “Goodbye” to 2019 and “Hello” to 2020, I find myself wanting to set some goals and aspirations for myself, typical of this time of year. My biggest challenge is to dedicate some time to practicing better self-care and the first step in my regime will be to craft a short period of ti ..read more

In September, I attended Susan Aposhyan’s Body Mind Psychotherapy workshop intensive this last weekend. Hailing from Denver, CO Susan brings a wealth of experience in movement, dance therapy, mindfulness, psychology and embodiment therapy. One important concept we as students were introduced to was the idea of sequencing, which is allowing felt sensations to move in and out of the body. This can manifest as tears, sound, shaking, sighing, screaming- any kind of energetic release. This letting go of control allows our bodies to transition between intensity and peace, adapting to the emotional p ..read more

I attended a workshop called Non-Violent Crisis Intervention on Surrey School District’s Pro-D day last Friday. The program is based upon typical behaviours and risks that could be encountered at work. As I will be volunteering to do Expressive Arts Therapy at a local Surrey elementary school working 1-1 with at risk students in April 2019 for three months, I wanted to be prepared for anything and also gain some help in decision making, disengagement or holding skills and postvention approaches that could arise in a potential crisis situation with a child. Teachers and EAs will be familiar wit ..read more

“Into the Darkness” – a paper written for Term 1 Visual Arts in Expressive Arts Therapy program A Tale of Soul Bearing Insight and Wisdom in The Emergence of the Courageous Heart Written December 2016 My journey into dabbling with my subconscious began over ten years ago, when I found myself delving in reiki, energy medicine and kundalini yoga. My hopes and intentions to connect with my intuition and inner knowing spurred this inquiry into different modalities of alternative health. These efforts were thwarted by a veil of darkness, where I experienced what may be known as the “dark night of t ..read more

A class assignment from my first semester at Langara in the Expressive Arts Therapy program. We drew names from a hat, and my book to review was “Self-Compassion” by Kristin Neff, Ph.D, a brilliant and moving account of how to love yourself more and be less cruel to ourselves when we open up to our hearts and take a more gentle approach towards ourselves and others. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – — – — – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – — — This book report serves to review my assigned book “Self-Compassion: Stop beating yourself up and leave insecurity behind” by Kristin Neff ..read more

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” This is a common anxiety provoking question that I ask high school kids who are thinking about their future, when positing about post secondary options and alternatives. In my travels, I casually mention that the average person will go through 7-8 careers in their lifetime. I am living proof of this. I am now moving on to my 8th career and it’s possible I’m not done. I could change again at any given notice. I hate to admit it ,but all my life, I have pursued careers by following my heart…..following my dreams and the whispers of passion and intuition ..read more