by Debbie Schroder
The idea seems simple, initially. When making a Genogram (kind of a family tree) use an image instead of a square or circle (how Genograms are usually done).
Each week in my Family Art Therapy course, one or two students shared their art-based Genograms. Never doubting our…
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Loss has been part of life since the beginning of time. It happens in nature with the seasons, animals and natural disasters. With humanity’s evolution, especially in certain societies, loss was hushed and shelved away in some imaginary file cabinet called denial. Grief, death, loss and other “sad” words were not spoken. When there were…
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I think of grief as the normal and natural healing process from a loss. There are many forms of loss, including, loss of a pet, health, home, finances, dreams and hopes, motivation, Self, addiction, social status, time, and, of course, death of a loved one. Any time you experience loss you may undergo a grief…
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A Blog on Grief and Loss, from Ted Wiard
Dear Ted,
What is the difference between grief and trauma? Sincerely, Just Interested
Dear Interested:
Thank you for your question. Unfortunately, grief and trauma are common topics in our world today. Grief is the natural emotional process of healing after a loss that allows the intensity…
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by Amy Hautman Bates
Watching the jellyfish at the Albuquerque Aquarium reminded me of how magical and mysterious we all are. The photos I took were perfect for my presentation about Interpersonal Neurobiology and Art Therapy for my Art Theories class at Southwestern College. Painting a watercolor helped me to visualize the brain and…
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Southwestern College sends interested interns to the Andean village of Maras, Peru to work with children ages 4-12 in the elementary school and in an after-school program. This region, located at 13,000 feet, is very poor due to an ongoing drought and loss of crops and animals. Men and boys leave Maras to work in…
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3,000 Hours: Growthiness
Growthy
[Grohth-ee]
adjective. 1. Generating personal growth. 2. Transformative.
Growth. Transformation. Expanding consciousness. Meaning the development of new psychological capacities, new relationships, new understandings.
Those are the goals. I believe they're the goals of every being everywhere, including mountains and rivers and clouds, if those can be said to have…
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I worked from pictures I took of myself, and then used pastels and ink to explore these feeling states. Working large accentuated these places, so that I could look at them outside of myself.
…
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Illusions Mixed Media; plaster mask, watercolor, fairy dust & altered book sculpture
By Molly Blythe Doerner
February 20, 2013
I have said it every quarter since I have been attending Southwestern College, that I have been inspired and moved at the core of my being. This is my third quarter as a…
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Shadow Boxes created in my section of Current Trends in Art Therapy, Winter 2013.
After exploring a population that students have a form of resistance to working with (from lack of information to disinterest, to strong opposition) through a research and reflection paper, they were asked to look at how their resistance is a part…
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I am blessed to have amazing teachers in this lifetime – from India, from South America, from the reservations of our own Turtle Island.
My favorite teachers are the everyday people who teach just by being who they are.
I think of Ronnie, our Navaho guide for our Wilderness Fasts in Canyon de Chelly. Ronnie…
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Pachamama is my teacher...........
by Candy Jones, student at Southwestern College
"I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle." - Wendell Berry from A Timbered Chore Take Me to Bethlehem
…
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by Amy Hautman Bates
Peacemaker, Sequoyah Trueblood visited SWC last week and referred to the need for women to moderate the aggressive nature of men. Honoring the feminine virtues of creating life, peace, sensitivity to Nature and the needs of others is the most obvious way to move toward a more sane world.…
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ON BEING HUMAN at Southwestern College, Santa Fe
- Allegra Borghese
I sit in client-mode, staring at myself down a long, dark tunnel. I see a flicker of myself that has been mischievously hiding for a long time. The uncanny feeling that emerges is a potent reality check slicing through who I think myself to…
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I have been inspired by all of the crayon melting art that Laura Lansrud-Lopez has been posting on NMATA's Facebook page. I have a bunch of broken crayons that I have been saving to melt into a new project. The first project was to make new crayons. I went to Michaels and bought a few…
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Painting by Laura Lansrud-Lopez, M.S., M.A., LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, ACS
Words by Deborah John, Ph.D., ATR-BC, LPAT
I wrote this poem to explain the way that I experience all art forms as deeply connected.
The Arts
connect and move the soul
to places we long to be.
Ultra-blue or grape-dark sky
Drifting…
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By Amy Hautman Bates
I just reread Tolle's The Power of Now for Katherine Ninos' Consciousness I class. It has been ten years since I first picked up Tolle's book and I was struck by how much clearer it seemed this time around. I think I used to be trying too hard to "get it." …
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Professional Ethics in Art Therapy
Final Paper
Camille Grec
Autumn 2012
“But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born. ...And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, and to love life through…
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MUD
On my elbows and knees,
trudging through thick mud.
Cut up, alone, and enveloped in darkness,
yet there is something delicious about the taste of this earth.
I chew it: its salty crunch cleans my mouth.
I pour it over me: it is thick and wet, and gives me a coat of warmth.
I…
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by Amy Hautman Bates
My first quarter at SWC has introduced me to what seems like a million new healing practices. One I find particularly interesting is Psychodrama. It is believed that acting out physically frees us from barriers and allows us to act spontaneously in the here and now. I like drama and I…
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by Debbie Schroder
A few months ago I wrote about the importance of words. Today I’m having trouble finding the right ones to describe my experience in supervision this quarter. Not wanting to add to the old myth that art therapists don’t talk, I’ll try to summon some words to express what I’m very aware…
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Reflection Option #3: A Letter to My Teacher--By Colleen Dougherty
Dr. Carol Parker, Ph.D, LPCC
Southwestern College, Santa Fe, NM
Dec. 3, 2012
Dear Carol,
I am writing to tell you about my experiences so far in the AmeriCorps program called OARS-Opportunities in AmeriCorps for Re-entry Success. This program exists in four of New…
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My Journey With My Ally Plant, by Dr. Carol Parker
About 10 years ago while leading one of my first Wilderness Fast ceremonies in a remote location in Death Valley, I was shocked when a young woman named Ricki returned from her solo site laden with three-foot long stalks of Wild Tobacco. I had no…
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My Life in in 5 Chapters
a poem by Portia Nelson
Chapter I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter II
I walk down the…
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by Magdalena Karlick
I delved into this rag rug project at the beginning of the summer, wanting to recycle old, ill-fitting, and stained clothing to make a rug for my son’s new room. I imagined a place where he could sit comfortably while looking at his books or playing with his toy animals.
Here are…
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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM