Posted July 18th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, SWC Blog.
Southwestern College, Santa Fe
Notes from Cooper Riis by Eliza Buck 7-13-12
Sensing safety takes time. I’ve been at Cooper Riis for 13 weeks now and have just acquired a level of safety that enabled me to propose a new group and move it forward to actuality. This process helps me understand the value of…
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Posted July 8th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Ecotherapy, SWC Blog.
Craig “Tomas” McAdams – Southwestern College (Santa Fe)
Internship in Maras, Peru
A couple of days ago one of the boys I meet with for individual sessions – let’s call him Steve – came in for our meeting with his older cousin, John, and I was pleasantly surprised, almost shocked when he ran up…
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Posted July 7th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Where do SWC Grads Work, SWC Blog.
The Alchemical Possibilities of Failure
by Alicia Hoffman
“My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.” - Bono.
I agree with Bono; surviving a mistake or a perceived failure and transforming it into wisdom or a life lesson is inspiring. If you do…
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Posted June 25th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Ecotherapy, Consciousness & Mindfulness, SWC Blog.
Southwestern College Alumna, Patricia Meek, Recounts a Mission of Healing in the Mountains
Sacred Relationship
“The winds end when the snow caps of Mount Blanca melt.” This is a common saying in the San Luis Valley, especially in the spring when the thirty plus gusts blow grit across one’s teeth.
It was a windy day.…
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Posted June 15th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC.
An Art-Based Ritual
by Deb Schroder
Artwork created by Magdalena Karlick
A summer ritual in the art therapy program has begun again. We’ve started our annual “Portfolio Review” process which is a part of the transition for first year students who are ready to begin second year in the fall.
Deborah John and I will…
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Posted June 7th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Ecotherapy, SWC Blog.
Southwestern College, Santa Fe: Internship in Peru
In the beginning of my internship in Peru, I had the honor and blessing to be able to work with and learn from Andean Shaman (Paqo's). Through this journey, these men became my teachers, mentors, friends and brothers. First, I sat with Adolfo Ttito Condori, one of five…
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Posted April 18th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More, SWC Blog.
by Eliza Combs
Okay, so maybe not once a day, although that would be an awesome practice but at least once a week for 8 weeks or so. I loved getting to come to Seren's Art Therapy Techniques class last quarter and make my 10-minute mandala with watercolors.
This was a project I wanted to…
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Posted April 6th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More, SWC Blog.
Sara Martin
Artist Statement
One of the most important things I will take from my education and training in becoming an art therapist is that I can now confidently call myself an artist. I got my undergraduate degree in art, I have been making art ever since I can remember, but calling myself an…
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Posted April 6th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More, SWC Blog.
Termination Phase
~Group Mandala~
Betsy Sohmer & Camille Grec
Presentation Project for Art Therapy Techniques, teacher: Seren Morris
Intention:
To create a space and activity for the group to experience visual cohesion of the things we’ve learned in class while maintaining perspective of each member’s distinctive contributions.
Materials:
Two Large pieces of butcher paper
Various…
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Posted March 29th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC.
I just spent about an hour and a half playing a board game. At work, in my office. Believe me, I know I have a great job.
One of our students, Stephanie Murphy, is getting ready to graduate and brought her Capstone Project over. Yes, that’s the board game! It’s a visually dynamic, thought-provoking and…
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Posted March 18th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under SWC Blog.
ONE MOMENT LONGER
May I embrace you
One moment longer
So that hugging
Becomes Holding
May my heart be in the presence
Of your heart
One moment longer
So that longing
Becomes Loving
May our brief touches last
One moment longer
So that aching
Becomes Caressing
May our paths cross
One moment longer
…
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Posted March 16th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Ecotherapy.
Final Thoughts: Maras
By Sara WIlliams
I cried after leaving Maras. It was something like a mixture of sadness and gratitude. Sadness because never again will I have the same experience. It was confusing because it is unusual for me to get sentimental about endings. It is more common to be looking to the future,…
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Posted March 12th, 2012 by Dru Phoenix & filed under Student & Alumni Stories.
Don't these faces say it all!
Well I will get around to having my face in there too...but I wanted the pups to get a little press time all by themselves! The husky mix is called "Kioko" - it means "born with happiness" in Japanese and the brown one is "Suki" - also Japanese. They…
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Posted March 8th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under SWC Blog.
REMEMBER HOME
Turn back towards God
Loneliness, panic, sadness, disconnection
Any sufferings
Are not punishments
They are guides
Pointing you back towards God
Towards love, towards family
How lonely Pluto must be
So far out in the darkness and cold
With only an almost imperceptible sensation of gravity calling him in
Until he remembers
And…
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Posted March 1st, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC.
Jane Cunha does a lovely job discussing her art with her client for therapeutic purposes. Click here to view video.
…
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Posted February 27th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More.
This is another assignment for my History of Art Therapy: Current Trends class. Students were asked to bring in to class a medium sized box, recycled materials, and an idea about a scene they would like to change: Personal, Professional, or Global. This was inspired by a project done with Veterans at…
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Posted February 15th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories.
It was a vision.
On the rising from sleep one idle morning, the young 25-year-old girl experienced something out of this world; the girl saw clearly before her, her future. At 25, the girl had spent most of her twenties up to that point confused and searching for answers, directions and guidance. It came…
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Posted February 7th, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More.
In my section of Current Trends in Art Therapy, one of the first homework assignments was to create a self-piece collage with Polyvore.com. Here are some of the examples of what these creative students put together.
Copyright 2012
…
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Posted February 6th, 2012 by Dru Phoenix & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Where do SWC Grads Work, Ecotherapy.
Southwestern College: Change Agents From the Heart--Ted Wiard
I love our alum! The folks that graduate from SWC are change agents from the heart! They go out into the world and make a difference whether it is working in a big recovery center like the Betty Ford Clinic, doing art therapy with the CIA (oh…
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Posted February 1st, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, SWC Blog.
by Nicole Morgan, Copyright 2012
colored pencils and pen on paper
For this project I pieced together several different images that came out of active imagination exercises. When I finished an active imagination drawing, I scanned it in to my computer then printed it out so I could isolate and cut out specific images that…
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Posted February 1st, 2012 by Donna Harrington & filed under Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More.
Hello There!
Please enjoy the art, and words about the art processes that are posted here.
~*~
The blog is intended to inspire the creator within in us all by both seeing various mediums used, as well as reading how the pieces have been created and what they mean to the artist. We will…
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Posted January 12th, 2012 by Dru Phoenix & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC.
I took Family Art Therapy at SWC in the winter of 2012, and enjoyed reading the two texts on the topic. I suppose everyone has to swim in theory in these studies wherever they are, but I was relieved that we did experiential work in the classroom. Most importantly, I am glad we did art.
…
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Posted January 4th, 2012 by swcblog & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, SWC Blog.
In August of 2011, I presented a 1 ½ hour talk on compassion fatigue in animal care work to about 35 people at the New Mexico State Humane Conference in Albuquerque. Soon after I returned to Ohio for my Internship, I got an e-mail from the sponsoring shelter in ABQ, asking when I could come…
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Posted January 3rd, 2012 by Dru Phoenix & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC.
written January 3, 2012
We have just traversed the holiday season; a time for celebration and joy. It was a peaceful and happy time for me, but I also had some really sad moments, and I know of others as well who were sad due to the loss of a loved one. It is harder…
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Posted December 20th, 2011 by Donna Harrington & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC.
Little toddler fingers sticky with glue, reached into the container of sequins. Hello, bling! Shiny stars and hearts stuck well and the tiny artist was completely fascinated by his magical-looking hand.
At the Holiday Bazaar where students could sell their art, we also had a little art making room for kids. And adults wandered back…
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