Personal Healing Journey

My own journey with creative therapy began when I started drawing and writing as a way to cope with the death of my partner in 2011.  I discovered the potential of the arts to help me process my grief and create connection and beauty out of a tragic and painful experience of loss. Soon after, I applied for the Expressive Arts Therapy Program at Langara College and graduated in 2015. As I observed my process in all the different modalities, I encountered my fears, anxieties, and the loud inner critic that had been running my life for so long without my knowledge.  As I dug through the layers of how I thought I was supposed to be, I came closer and closer to who I really am and who I still could be.  

​

Expressive Arts Therapy has also taught me how to witness and process some of my most painful and traumatic experiences in more loving and playful ways, and it has allowed me to reconnect with my imagination.  In an effort to protect us, our traumas and wounds constrict us to make us feel safe.  Once I embarked on a journey of healing and regained a sense of safety within my own body, heart and mind, my imagination had more and more freedom to explore and create, and the possibilities in both the arts and my life began to expand.  This is what brings us closer to health, to joy, to a sense of meaning and purpose, and to our vitality.  It adds a little more soul and magic to a life that is inevitably filled with both ups and downs, victories and challenges, for all of us. ​​​