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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM



“Failure” – A Great Transformational Opportunity, by Alicia Hoffman, SWC Graduate

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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Sacred Relationship by Patricia Meek

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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An Art-Based Ritual

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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A Mandala a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

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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Group Mandala

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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A Poem of Gratitude from Eric Golden

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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Final Thoughts on Maras: An Intern’s Farewell to Peru

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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Dru’s Pups Kioko & Suki

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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Scene Change: Shadow Boxes

        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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Transformation and Awakening at Southwestern College, by Amy Krok

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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Final Mandala for Archetypal Psychology, Spring 2011

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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Family Art Therapy

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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Compassion Fatigue – With a Southwestern Twist! by Colleen Dougherty

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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Art As Holiday Therapy

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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Overwhelmed By Art?

In the fall of 2011, I had the opportunity to present at the European Arts Therapies Conference in Italy. One of the keynote speakers for the conference was Graziella Magherini, M.D., a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. The title of her Keynote was “Aesthetic Emotion and Health: Arts Therapies in Italy”. One of the issues that she…
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Roadtrip to Chaco

Since so many of our students come to us from out of state, many want to explore the region and there is so much here to discover and experience! Chaco Canyon is an ancient site that is popular to visit. I will share my experience here just to give you a flavor.... Chaco is only…
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