Art is everything.
  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Letters of Support
      • Community Thoughts
      • Special Event Photos
    • Board of Directors
    • Online Exhibition
    • Mobile Art Therapy Program >
      • Clarus Center
      • Communities in Schools
      • Culture Stock
      • Elderday Center
      • Family Counseling Service
      • Hesed House
      • Mutual Ground
      • Rush-Copley Medical Center
      • Triple Threat Mentoring
      • Villa St. Benedict
  • Donate
    • Art Jam
  • News & Resources
    • What is Art Therapy?
    • TLOTH In The News
    • The Light of The Heart Blog
    • Art Therapy Resources
  • Contact Us
    • Join Our E-Newsletter
    • Volunteer

 Self-Care from Carla

1/23/2014

1 Comment

 
PictureCarla DePalma, 2014 MAT Candidate
In my six months as a clinical art therapy intern, I have learned a lot about what it takes to run a not-for-profit and how to be a clinician.

I began my training long before I started working with The Light of the Heart. I have always used art to express a variety of moods, and this has
evolved rapidly over the past few years. For instance, I have learned to make art to understand coursework, reflect on the process of graduate school, and work through general life experiences.

I have also learned to notice how much I hold inside my body. I carry my own emotions and experiences, but I also carry my clients and others  with me. At my best, I have revelations about art therapy directives for particular clients when I’m stirring pasta sauce or going to work or washing my hair. At my worst, I want to just hide under a table and let the world sort out its own problems. When I see too many emails or feel overwhelmed with work, I have the urge to grumble in a prickly, cryptic voice, “Stop asking me for things.” This is hard work that we do, but necessary.

This leads me to one of the most important things I’ve learned—self-care. Some days, I take better care of my movie and music collection than myself. I actually hadn’t heard the term until grad school, when classmates would chidingly say, “Self-care” when I mentioned getting only four hours of sleep or when I declined an invitation to hang out. Self-care, Carla. What? Self-care.

The term stumped me. I’ve come to realize that it’s an ongoing, changeable process, and I will always be working on
it. For example, a few months ago, I smashed a few of my ceramic sculptures on the driveway and later affixed those pieces to a multimedia board to make a new artwork. You may say, “You need more positive outlets to deal with
your anger!” But art is one of the best ways to channel that emotion in a positive way—to make it therapeutic.

More recently, smashing terra cotta and stoneware has given way to scratching words on paper—haphazard words coming together to form a verse. Thinking made visible, offering a clarity that only art could provide. It’s
self-care.

It’s baking to get my hands dirty and spill flour everywhere.  It’s running through the woods and scraping my knee. Or taking a 45-minute nap. Painting. Turning down a friend so I could read a good book or watch a movie.
What I need will change day by day. Likewise, my clients’ needs will change and I have to watch for that.

Knowing all this helps me feel less…stuck. I also feel some relief knowing that I don’t have to interrogate my client, or do my best Tom Cruise Jerry Maguire impersonation and insist, “Help me help you” over and over again. I can use my intuition or feelings—the dreaded ‘f’ word we are often criticized for having—to help guide the session in a way that’s beneficial to my client. Sometimes, I’ll be wrong, and the client will tell me somehow. This is a process I’m
learning.

I look forward to seeing what else my clients and my time at The Light of the Heart will teach me.

~Carla

1 Comment
Becka
1/23/2014 08:55:03 am

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    TLOTH

    We are artists and art therapists and love what we are blessed to do everyday.

    Archives

    November 2015
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    April 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All
    Aurora Art Therapy

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.