Earth-Based Practices and the Problem with Evidence-Based Practice
“Epistemology” is the study of “Knowledge,” and how we know what we know, or what makes us think we “know” the things we think we know. Some people need “data”, some rely more on intuition; some need experientials, some deep reflection; some do lit reviews, some do…
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Becoming Visionary Is A Mindset You Will Need --by Jim Nolan
What does it mean to be “Visionary”?
Visionary means looking into our unprecedentedly uncertain future and introducing innovation and creativity with a conscious intention of identifying the most useful questions, possibilities, solutions, and actions for making positive change in the world.
The…
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Conscious Entrepreneurship: Why You Should Know Dr. Melvin Varghese
Melvin Varghese is an incredibly likable guy who created what has blossomed into a huge phenomenon called “Selling the Couch.” He is a Psychologist who has created Podcasts, blogs, a Facebook Group, and other products aimed at helping you in private practice. This covers about every…
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Here in Albuquerque, the town is abuzz with over a thousand Art Therapist burning down the house... How great to experience! I feel honored to be among them...
SO many Southwestern College students, alumni, faculty, and friends are here, celebrating a very fast-growing profession, enjoying the camaraderie (this is TRULY a Tribe), and honoring all…
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Community-Based Ecotherapy
by Rene Tricou
I am a Master’s degree student at Southwestern College working toward the Ecotherapy certificate.
During my first year, many of the courses I took assisted me going deeper within myself to bring out the future counselor and process facilitator in me. In the Ecotherapy program I had the opportunity…
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Adjusting to Southwestern College and New Mexico
It’s challenging to express what my experience adjusting to Southwestern College and Santa Fe has been like. Finding ways to describe how magical, fulfilling, and painful it has been almost seems impossible. I arrived in Santa Fe from Oregon in August and I had almost two months…
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Meltdown!
No matter where one lands in terms of politics in our country right now, the stress of what we see and hear in the news can melt one’s sense of hope and resiliency.
A book on Positive Art Therapy that I’ve been reading, reminds me of what I deeply know about art making and…
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There aren't enough male therapists out there, and there are definitely not enough male therapists of color, or Spanish-speaking male therapists, or male therapists born and raised in Northern New Mexico, which is a country unto itself, as we all know who live and practice here.
So it warmed my heart to see some new…
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Are You an Artist Who Also Wants to Help People?
“Art Therapy” is a thing. A real thing.
It combines Psychology and Art. And Healing. And Personal Growth. And Archetypes and Metaphors and Creativity, and Making Art and Making a Good Living.
There’s a career for you.
So many of our students tell stories…
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Wild Heart Gallery
Beth Lykins, an Art Therapy/Counseling student finishing up the first part of the Southwestern College masters program, approached the Wild Heart Gallery about hosting an exhibition featuring the artwork of her fellow students who completed the Winter 2017 quarter of AT/CN 592, Art Therapy Techniques: Studio Art.
Fortunately,…
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Wild Heart Gallery
The term, “manifold” can be described in a number of ways, but in application to the latest Wild Heart Gallery exhibition, means “having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc.” This show’s theme centers around visual narrative investigation of Southwestern College staff, faculty, and students into the sacred pieces which formed their…
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Wild Heart Gallery
The term, “manifold” can be described in a number of ways, but in application to the latest Wild Heart Gallery exhibition, means “having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc.” This show’s theme centers around visual narrative investigation of Southwestern College staff, faculty, and students into the sacred pieces which formed their…
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A Penny Makes Change
Mark Speight, graduate of Southwestern College's MA Counseling program
Written in the Southwestern College weekly writing group facilitated by Dr. Ann Filemyr.
A penny makes change.
A cog fits into the machine and squeaks, occasionally.
A box of pastels mugged me on the way,
yearning to be…
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Wild Heart Gallery
The term, "manifold" can be described in a number of ways, but in application to the latest Wild Heart Gallery exhibition, means "having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc." This show's theme centers around visual narrative investigation of Southwestern College staff, faculty, and students into the sacred pieces which formed their…
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Wild Heart Gallery
May 2, 2017 was the Wild Heart Gallery opening night gala for Vicissitudes, the first solo exhibition for conceptual, multimedia artist and second year Southwestern College Art Therapy/Counseling student, Jessica Morris. The evening was filled with lively conversation, delicious refreshments, and music provided by SWC's own, Larry Harkcom.
…
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Voices in America chose Southwestern College/New Earth Institute as a unique, unsung, yet storied institution, to feature in television slots between full PBS broadcast shows.…
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Wild Heart Gallery
Monday, April 10th, 2017 Southwestern College's Wild Heart Gallery hosted the first opening night gala of the quarter. Deb Schroder, Program Chair of the Art Therapy/Counseling Program, had this to say about the exhibition:
“Students in our Family Art Therapy/Counseling courses are asked to create Art-Based Genograms, in order to experience the…
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A simple question. What is astrology?
I would say astrology is a way to live in connection with natural cycles of time. It is also the correlation, “as above, so below.” We are a part of a connected universe and it’s cycles. For thousands of years, people have been making correlations to the happenings…
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There are lots and lots of things to do outside of the classroom at Southwestern College. Music, while not part of the curriculum, is still a passion of many of us here at the college and some of us got together to share a night of art and music making together. From meditation and yoga,…
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Flexible Resonating
Or
Who are You Drawn To?
As a child I really loved “Bunny Rabbit”, the silent bunny on Captain Kangaroo. I suppose that could have predicted my introverted personality. I cringe when my youngest grandson seems spellbound by “SpongeBob” – I can only hope that’s not a predictor of anything.
Similarly, there are…
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It’s been approximately 60 days since I packed up Lotus, my 2003 Honda Pilot, with all of my belongings that I could fit into it so I could relocate to Santa Fe to pursue my MA degree in Art Therapy & Counseling at SWC! Yes, I left the “Charm City” (Baltimore, MD), leaving my beloved,…
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One of my several mentors, Dr. Sandra Shulman, told me to never let a professional license lapse.
So I went ahead and did, and always regretted it. There were reasons, of course--almost always money. It almost always created unforeseen headaches. Sometimes a LOT of them, and sometimes it took a long time and a lot…
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Wild Heart Gallery
To find out more about the exhibition in the Wild Heart Gallery called Moment of Truth, I sat down with Sarah Ehle, the liaison for the cohort of 13 art therapy/counseling students preparing to go into the internship part of the Southwestern College masters program, to talk about the meaning of this theme.
…
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Being a Counselor Activist
I was outraged from an early age. They say if you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention, so I guess I was paying attention. In 8th grade I protested my Spanish teacher who insisted that even the Mexican and Guatemalan kids in our class speak Spanish with a Castilian lisp, asserting…
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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM