Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
Lessons Learned from Bandit the Buddha Dog
Posted March 6th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.Lessons shared through a series of fleeting moments. …
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The Invisible Realms by Katherine Ninos
Posted February 22nd, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Consciousness & Mindfulness.Vice President Katherine Ninos shares her understanding of the essence of Quimby/Southwestern College...…
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Natascha Holmes’ Art Opening– Exploring the Inner World Through Color
Posted February 15th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More.
By Natascha Holmes, M.A., LMHC
Opening Reception was February 28, 2014 at Wildheart Gallery, Southwestern College Campus, Santa Fe, NM
When I am working with the materials and an image comes forth, I am aware that a story is unfolding. It really is my honor to be the channel for the colors, shapes and…
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Sacred Spaces in Winter
Posted February 12th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Ecotherapy, SWC Blog.Natascha Holmes first year Art Therapy and Counseling student from Florida hikes through the wilderness of the Atalaya Mountain Trail connecting with the sacredness of winter.…
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What Can I Do?
Posted February 11th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.In the face of so much destruction, injustice and greed, I ask myself what can I do?…
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Guiding A Person Through Ambivalence with Motivational Interviewing
Posted February 10th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.by Amy Hautman Bates
As a student practicing therapeutic work, I have been uncomfortable with the power dynamic between clients and therapists. As a counselor, I don’t like “playing the expert” and as a client, I don't like talking to someone when they act like they know more about me than I know about myself.…
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Consciousness Sometimes Travels in a Trojan Horse
Posted February 9th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Consciousness & Mindfulness.Claudia Escareno-Clark shares how Consciousness Class leads to transformation in unexpected ways...…
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Living the Dream at Southwestern College by Sylvan Schneider
Posted February 8th, 2014 by & filed under Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.Counseling student Sylvan Schneider shares what it is like being a male at Southwestern College, and in the field of Counseling. …
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Failure Becomes the Seed of Possibility
Posted February 7th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Consciousness & Mindfulness.What I have learned at Southwestern College is that each quarter brings with it new experiences. Sometimes they are wrapped in neat little packages with cute little bows, and sometimes whatever I receive I’d like to send back and pretend it was addressed to someone else. That being said, sometimes the most painful experiences lead…
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Inquisition: An Amplification Process
Posted February 5th, 2014 by & filed under Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More.An art therapy experience of honing in on our soul's needs. …
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Career and Life – Creating a Vision Board with Collage
Posted February 3rd, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.Making Vision boards - Popularized by Oprah and Martha Beck
In Career and Life Development class Webb Garrison kicked off the vision board project by leading us through a long meditation where we walked into a forest and eventually came upon a treasure chest. We opened the chest to see what was inside. These dreamy…
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Art Therapy and Elders with Alzheimer’s
Posted January 30th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Top News, SWC Blog.
by Debbie Schroder
I can’t seem to stop smiling. I’m smiling because of my morning – I went to the Roundhouse, the New Mexico State Capitol Building, to watch Art Therapy intern Todd Nichols speak in the Rotunda. A number of senators and state officials also spoke, but they didn’t bring art! Todd…
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The Healing Power of Ceremony and Nature
Posted January 30th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Ecotherapy.
During the warm days of autumn, a small group of us gathered in a wilderness area beside a lovely mountain stream, high above Santa Fe. The entire mountainside was covered with green conifers and aspens turning gold. At 10,000 feet elevation, deer and elk are abundant and the air is pure. Just listening…
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GRAD SCHOOL @swcsantafe IS….
Posted January 28th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.... staying in on a Saturday night to write a paper with the company of a Santa Fe Pale Ale and burning sage.
... is making, screaming at, rebelling against, and recreating a budget over and over again as I stumble towards financial sobriety.
... is shedding the self-construct that automates what I think I…
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SWC: The Experience by Claudia Escareño-Clark
Posted January 27th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, SWC Blog.As graduate assistants at Southwestern College we get to do a variety of tasks, depending on our strengths and interests. While doing social media and blogging, I came up with the idea last fall to do a series of videos. What I realized is that while I was fortunate enough to already be living in…
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Mapping Out Family Systems with Genogram Oil Painting
Posted January 26th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.by Amy Hautman Bates
I can easily draw a family tree, but in Family Art Therapy class we made genograms to explain our relationships with our families. Many people can map out their family systems with an assortment of boxes and lines and symbols. Here is what a typical genogram looks like:
…
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Containers in Art Therapy
Posted January 23rd, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More, SWC Blog.What is a Container?
There are so many types of containers, a person, place, or thing that holds. Many images come to mind: a milk carton, hands, shoes, a home, a room, a box, a nest, my heart, a chair, a mouth, a closet… Many sensations come to body: warmth, safety, fear, constriction, flee,…
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Creating a Vision Board: A Fresh Start to a New Year
Posted January 17th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.First year art therapy student describes her experience using a vision board to ring in 2014 and details some basic tips on creating vision boards. …
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Psychology of Altruism: A Creative Experience
Posted January 16th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, Consciousness & Mindfulness.by Christine Miller
The initial quarter of classes I took at Southwestern College was both exciting and intimidating. It was through one of my first and most memorable classes that I learned the value of intention. Without a concrete intent to work on something, I would get lost in other thoughts and distractions or procrastinate…
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Forgiveness
Posted January 15th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More, Consciousness & Mindfulness.Would I rather be ‘right’ or be in the loving?
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
- Mother Teresa
“As I walked out the door to the…
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Personal Journey Revealed Through Watercolor Painting of White Doves
Posted January 13th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More.
My past year at Southwestern College has taken me on an intense personal journey. I have spent most of my life desperately trying to figure things out. I moved to Santa Fe to study Art Therapy and learn a bunch of theory and technique. I wanted to get smarter. Although I…
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Laying Low
Posted January 12th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Consciousness & Mindfulness.*This post is a special note to myself, a reminder that my job is not to be Little Miss Sunshine ALL the time, but more accurately sometimes the clearest joy is in continuing on.
So what if I need to get things done—like go to my job so I can keep making money to pay…
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Balancing Act/Rhythm Dance
Posted January 10th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Consciousness & Mindfulness.
"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some." - Robert Fulgham
Is our purpose to achieve greater balance? To learn to set additional, or clearer, or more flexible boundaries with our activities…
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Glass Half Full? or Not
Posted January 9th, 2014 by & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, SWC Blog.
by Debbie Schroder
I have a song stuck in my head. I think it’s staying stuck because we’ve entered a new year and part of the lyrics are “How am I gonna be an optimist about this?” The song is called “Pompeii”, by Bastille.
This quirky song’s melody sounds pretty upbeat but the lyrics really appeal…
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An Art Therapy Student’s Resolutions for the New Year
Posted January 8th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.My New Year resolutions are usually the same every year: be healthier, be nicer, and appreciate the simple things. But this year felt different. For some reason I lit a candle and mediated. I felt there was something specific I needed to hear for 2014. I hope that sharing with the SWC community is a…
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Completion
Posted January 6th, 2014 by & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.Freedom
Did you ever have that feeling like a cloud of lively bats is swarming about your head? I have and it's really challenging to get bat guano out of a sweater.
Seriously though, having a lot of incompletes is like that cloud of bats--those unfinished tasks just won't leave me alone. Even when I've…
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