Posted June 15th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under SWC Blog.
Consider the idea that we co-create the dynamics of our relationships. This implies that when a problem is showing up in a relationship, each person in the relationship has helped create that problem and each person has a role to play in responding to the problem. I find this premise leads to an empowering way…
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Posted June 8th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under SWC Blog.
I make war with what comes in contact with a person's health or happiness, believing that God made everything good..."
~Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
Grad school is a unique, generally rigorous, and ideally outstanding life experience which will push you to your intellectual, emotional, and physical limits. At the end of year one…
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Posted June 5th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Consciousness & Mindfulness, SWC Blog.
Why do I rush? Often, it's because I'm trying to finish up something tedious I've been doing (so I can get to do something I actually want to be doing!) I want to get through the boring stuff so I can move on to the good stuff. The problem is, the good stuff never really…
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Posted May 30th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Consciousness & Mindfulness.
I can be good at strategizing. I can also be somewhat anxious. Put those two together, and what do you get? A mindset where I'm trying to anticipate and plan for every possible risk in advance. (Believe me, that's no way to live!)
When I notice myself doing this, I try to shift to a…
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Posted May 27th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Top News.
Technology, particularly device and computer apps, is a wiz-bang fabulous time saver to help you get your grad school life sorted and into maintenance mode. Plus, the entire campus is wired, which means you have access to your SWC email, and the world wide web, from any device while at school.
Being an über organized…
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Posted May 22nd, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Consciousness & Mindfulness.
When I'm unhappy, it's often because I'm not getting what I want. What to do at a time like this? I might try identifying the needs behind my wants. Identifying my unmet needs can help me have more compassion for myself—but it doesn't shift me out of my self-enclosed, solipsistic state. It's easy to keep…
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Posted May 16th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Consciousness & Mindfulness.
I view my meditation practice as a process of surrendering to my "true self." (My true self is the same as your true self.)
Surrendering to my true self is related to the practice of doing nothing. Doing nothing doesn't mean that my mind stops or my body stops; it means that my personality isn't…
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Posted May 13th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Professional Training Certificates & NEI, SWC Blog.
What do you get when you rock a holistic, integrative, soulful curriculum and approach to Art Therapy and Counseling, in an innovative and powerfully transformational dual degree program? You get soul-making at the graduate level, an exponentially mentally, emotionally, energetically, and otherwise, experiential and life-changing experience.
I knew that Southwestern College's M.A. in Art Therapy/Counseling…
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Posted May 13th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.
Second-year student, Sylvan Schneider, offers his reflection on navigating his own therapeutic approach and being a student therapist at the Southwestern Counseling Center. …
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Posted May 12th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, SWC Blog.
Santa Fe is awesome as a grad school destination and city. Check out a few of the honors awarded to "The City Different" below (read the entire "Best of Santa Fe" Chamber of Commerce post here detailing many more awards):
Santa Fe was ranked #2 City for Art Vibrancy by the National Center for Arts Research and…
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Posted May 10th, 2015 by swcblog & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Ecotherapy, Consciousness & Mindfulness.
I never thought that the coursework in a master’s degree in counseling would help me to survive a night of being stuck in Utah’s rugged, remote, and desolate Horseshoe Canyon. Nor would I have ever guessed that an education in counseling would help me transform my consciousness in a survival situation to be able to…
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Posted May 10th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Consciousness & Mindfulness, SWC Blog.
When we view others with hostility, we're more likely to try to get our needs met at their expense. Transforming our hostility into compassion can shift our approach to conflict, allowing us to respond in ways that are more beneficial for everyone involved. (By hostility, I mean those strategies, impulses and habits that tend to…
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Posted May 10th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.
Santa Fe has over 300 restaurants to choose from, and chances are whatever your tummy craves, or whatever diet you are on while studying here, Santa Fe has something special for you to eat! I can’t go over every restaurant or type of food offered in town, but I can give you the list of…
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Posted May 9th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.
In the the M.A. Art Therapy/Counseling program I find myself reading and/or studying quite a bit. Spending hours on end at home can be wearing. A simple change of location is enough to keep me energized and in the frame of mind to do my best work.
My top five places to study in Santa…
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Posted May 6th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.
By descending down into the depths of the soul, and not primarily by a painful acquisition of many manual skills, the artist attains the power of awakening other souls.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Art therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process,…
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Posted May 5th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, SWC Blog.
by Deb Schroder
If car designers only knew what art therapists truly need (not that we’re a big enough group to be listened to by the auto industry). We turn our mediocre, ordinary car trunks into Mobile Metaphor Containment Units – we drive around with art pieces stashed in the only container that exists in…
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Posted May 3rd, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under SWC Blog.
I read lots of books. I used to do a lot of underlining and note taking in those books—then I would file the books away on my bookshelf as a storehouse of knowledge.
Eventually, I started to notice something: I never went back to any of those books to look at my notes and underlines.…
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Posted April 29th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Ecotherapy, SWC Blog.
Once a heroic Jedi Knight, Darth Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force, became a Sith Lord, and led the Empire’s eradication of the Jedi Order. He remained in service of the Emperor—the evil Darth Sidious—for decades, enforcing his Master’s will and seeking to crush the fledgling Rebel Alliance. But there…
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Posted April 28th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Consciousness & Mindfulness.
“Interesting how you are only using a black sharpie marker in your art today,” says my art therapist, as she gently points out my visible tension with perfectionistic, black and white thinking….…
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Posted April 27th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC.
“How Can I Help?”, a book by Ram Dass and Paul Gorman, asks a critical question of potential Art Therapists/Counselors, others in the professions such as medicine, psychology, social work, the ministry, education, and humans in general. We read this book, which explores the topics of altruism and self care in the helping professions, in…
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Posted April 24th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under SWC Blog.
In a difficult conversation, when I'm considering saying something controversial, I find that it really helps to preface it with three magic words: "My story is..." This allows me to express my perspective while simultaneously owning it. Owning my perspective creates space for the other person to have their own perspective (which may be different…
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Posted April 23rd, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More.
Come Undone by Laura Schoff
I feel with such a passion that art has the capacity to heal in many different ways. It has been my support, my processing, my guide, my inner world displayed. Without this art, I may have not have completed my first classes at Southwestern. A year and a half(ish) ago,…
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Posted April 17th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under SWC Blog.
When I'm finishing up a session of meditation, I sometimes set an intention to continue doing nothing throughout my day. That doesn't mean I won't move from my meditation cushion—it means I'll take a wait-and-see approach to my day. It means acknowledging I'm not in control—and letting go. I simply wait and watch what my…
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Posted April 15th, 2015 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I am a film geek and child of the 80's. Bear with me.
That moment comes when you've been in grad school so long that you don't see how the training you are receiving has anything to do with working with clients. Perhaps that is…
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Posted April 13th, 2015 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, SWC Blog.
The technology of the internet... what does it mean? Does the internet teach social skills? Does it matter? Can we make connections via the internet and are they real? What about personal narrative? How does digital media affect us?
In this video interview Dr. Natalie Carlton discusses the topic of digital media as narrative, people's…
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