For the past decade I’ve worked as a facilitator and teacher in Canada, the United States, and abroad. I noticed how art creates opportunities for connection and self-discovery in ways that conversation alone sometimes cannot. I became an art therapist because I wanted to combine my passion for mental health and creative expression to offer a unique approach to community-care and self-care. 

The name “Art Therapy in Real Life” came from my research as a graduate student. In the early months of the pandemic, I created a podcast to explore how the field of art therapy was adapting to the online world. As a student, I didn’t expect to build a practice online instead of in-person. “Real life” now seems to include both the digital and analog ways we move through the world. Today, my work as an art therapist seeks to explore how we can feel well while navigating this digital age.

As an artist and mental health professional, here are some questions I explore:

VALUES

Mental health is political. “Wellness” is not just about the ways we care for ourselves. It is also the social, environmental, historical, and political contexts we live within. As a practitioner with many (unearned) privileged intersections of identity, I am committed to working in a way that is sensitive and responsive to systemic barriers preventing wellness for all. I believe that wellness is about relationship, creativity, and liberation.

• Relationship: Healing happens in safe connection with others. Being in relationship and community is crucial to our thriving.
• Creation: Creativity is an ally to wellness. Art is not just for those our culture has deemed “talented”. It is an innate human way of expressing and processing emotions that we all deserve access to.
• Liberation: Wellness is not a solitary journey of personal ascension. True mental health comes with solidarity and care for the people around us. It includes challenging the systemic injustices that prevent others from experiencing safety, ease, and connection.

ACTIONS

Here is an evolving list of actions I take in my life and work to live into these values. These actions have been informed by the Truth and reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action (link), The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People’s (link), and my ongoing study of anti-oppressive therapy and business. I am committed to a lifetime of listening, learning, and accountability and would welcome your feedback.

I am committed to using trauma-informed language and behaviour in facilitation and marketing.

Action steps:

• I endeavour to promote my work in a way that honours the agency of my audience. On social media, this means not utilizing shame, urgency, wealth/virtue signalling, or false-authority to sell products or services.
• I value the consent of the people I work with. I never share the art or experiences of clinical clients. Art or testimonials from non-clinical groups are offered with clear permission.
• I give clear instructions for how participants may cancel or unsubscribe from offerings and communications.
• I understand that I cannot decide what a make a space “safe” for anyone but myself, but I can collaborate with the people I work with so they they feel respected and cared for.

I am committed to unlearning the colonialism innate to the society we live in.

Action steps:

• As a white settler on unceded (stolen) Sinixt territory, I commit to beginning events and projects with thoughtful, researched acknowledgments of the land I am working on or visiting, as well as offering resources to participants. Learn more about the indigenous territory you live on here. (Link to native-land.ca)
• I redistribute a percentage of my business’ quarterly profits to organizations that support Indigenous art and language initiatives in Canada.

I am committed to unlearning the white supremacy innate to the society we live in.

Actions Steps:

• I engage in on-going trainings and reading on the topic of racial justice.
• I have built a referral list of other mental health practitioners with backgrounds, identities, modalities, and worldviews that are different from my own.
• In writing and research, I intentionally include a diversity of voices. I conduct further research if I find that my sources are mostly white scholars and thinkers.
• When providing art materials, I ensure I offer a variety of flesh tones. When offering collage materials, I include images of people with a diversity of bodies and identities.

I am committed to advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights.

Action steps:

• I discuss my queerness publicly, while understanding the privilege I have as a straight-passing cis woman.
• I am also committed to honouring the language (ex: pronouns or descriptions of orientation) that others use to describe themselves. I create systems to remember this language.
• During groups, I compassionately correct participants when they misgender others. Homophobia and transphobia is not tolerated in the spaces I facilitate.

I am committed to unlearning ableism and fostering accessibility.

Action items:

• I interrogate the language I use and aim to speak in terms that do not have harmful or stigmatizing origins, especially relating to mental health.
• I collaborate with clients and groups members to select materials and projects that reflect their mobility needs and sensory preferences.
• When possible, I provide closed captioning and transcripts of live events.

I am committed to collaboration.

Action steps:

• I have build systems of soliciting anonymous feedback for the work I offer.
• I begin groups by inviting all participants to collaborate on creating ‘community guidelines’.
• I aim to share the power in facilitation roles by hiring and collaborating with other professionals.
• I value emotional, physical, and intellectual labour by paying collaborators fairly for their time.
• I use my platform to promote the work of colleagues.

I am committed to therapeutic ethics.

Action steps:

• I engage in regular supervision and group consultation with other therapists committed to anti-oppressive practice.
• I set clear expectations with clients, group members, and social media audiences about the limitations of my work in specific contexts.
• I abide by the standards of practice of The Canadian Art Therapy Association and The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and participate in their quality assurance programs.
• I create resources for other practitioners about ethical marketing and digital presence. I offer these resources to training programs.

I am committed to critiquing capitalism while engaging in commerce.

Action steps:

• I redistribute a percentage of my quarterly profits to charitable organizations. I intend to increase that percentage as I become more financially stable.
• My writing and research directly names the connections between oppressive economic systems and mental health.
• I offer differently priced services so that my work is not only accessible to those who can afford individual therapy. I have become a member of the College of Registered Art Therapists of Ontario so clients some clients can pay for therapy through insurance.
• I am conscious that group participants may not have access or funds for specific art materials. I intentionally design projects that can be created with recycled and readily available materials.

I am committed to listening.

Actions steps:

• My queerness and neurodivergence are important facets of my identity, but do not exclude me from examining the impact of my whiteness, affluence, and other identities our society unfairly rewards. I endeavour not to centre my own experiences, to listen deeply, and use my privileges to advocate for justice.