President Ann Filemyr participated in The Heart of Nature Summit on April 19, 2024. This video is her interview and covers the values of Southwestern College, the purpose of the PhD in Visionary Practice & Regenerative Leadership, as well as reflections on the balance needed to heal ourselves and heal the Earth.
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Our Capstone process underwent a new iteration this year. With the class split in half with students who are learning at a distance, and students who are local to Southwestern College, Jennifer Albright and I decided to have the distance students create their own process. Click here to see their zine, Pilgrimage.
And read on…
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Our Capstone process underwent a new iteration this year. With the class split in half with students who are learning at a distance, and students who are local to Southwestern College, Jennifer Albright and I decided to have the distance students create their own process. Click here to see the zine that was created by…
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As I move towards facilitating my last mural painting process at Southwestern College, I am thinking about relationships, legacy and love. Debbie Schroder and I have co-facilitated this process since 2013, and since the pandemic of 2020 the process has undergone many changes (see Group Murals During a Pandemic and Cracked Wide Open).
The mural…
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Jennifer Albright Knash joined the Southwestern College family as department chair of the Art Therapy & Counseling program this past spring 2022. She has brought diplomacy, kindness, creativity and a trauma-informed approach to the Art Therapy / Counseling program. Please read her bio on the SWC website.
This link will lead you to Hope's Tree-…
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One of the required courses in our Art Therapy for Clinical Professionals Masters program is a 1-credit Arts-Based Research course. Students are asked to choose a symbol to engage with over the course of the quarter through arts-based inquiry and symbolic research. Part of the course asks students to identify their social location and multiple…
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In March 2020, we enjoyed our last "in-person" mural process on campus (Cracked Wide Open, March 2020). As we move to gathering together as a group this summer (August 2021), I wanted to take the time to review and share the steps that we took, the pivots that we twirled to make sure that our…
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Cover image: "Rebirth" by Sarah Carter
SWC's Wild Heart Gallery has gone online!
Experience SWC community's heart and soul.
Internal process.
Thinking, feeling and doing.
Creations of self-care so as to be present during this time.
Sharing with Community.
Art as a platform for social justice as advocates and change agents.
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An apt title for the potential personal experience this global pandemic has encouraged. Two days after it was announced that gatherings of 50 or more people needed to be postponed, and that public schools in New Mexico would be closed until April 6th (now that has been extended through the end of the school year),…
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I am a third of the way through my second residency at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee Switzerland. This intermodal education challenges students to learn through our bodies, minds and hearts. Students and teachers from all over the world (Hong Kong, Canada, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Mexico, Germany, Mexico, United…
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Dr. Nolan discusses combining Counseling and Coaching as a career option. …
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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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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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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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Dr. Nolan answers the question "How do I become a professional counselor?"…
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One of the many blessings of living in the Southwest is the ability to reach amazing geological locations within a day span. Over the holiday break, I had the opportunity to go to Zion National Park, the most visited and beloved National Park that I have been to thus far. Zion National Park is between…
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In our Yoga class at Southwestern College, my intention and plan as facilitator is for this class to be inclusive as the Nature of Yoga is meant to be and truly is. Yoga is for all cultures, all body types, all levels of ability and experience, all ages, all genders...all are welcome and everyone can…
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The time has come where I am going to be in facilitator role again. Very well. I accept that with gratitude and responsibility because there is a lot of energy to be shared within our SWC community. I received my 200-hour certification about a year ago and have not used it yet other than in…
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A bold and beautiful articulation of the Values and Understandings of the Southwestern College Art Therapy/Counseling Program faculty members. …
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Dear Southwestern College Students,
Tonight 22 faculty members came to our monthly meeting.
I wish you could have been there, seen and heard it.
We talked about “Transformational “Teaching, and what it looks like, how people actually “be” in the classroom, how CONSCIOUSLY they manage what they do to make the experience as…
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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM