Modalities
Art Therapy
You don’t need to identify as an artist or even creative to benefit from art therapy. Art therapy is an approach to healing that uses the creative process as a vehicle for change, growth and new insight. It harnesses the power of art and human’s innate drive to find meaning in life experience to promote self esteem, emotional resilience and regulation, and adaptive coping.
The art making process is kinesthetic and multi-sensory and by tuning into our senses, we may better cope, self soothe and be present in the here and now. It can provide release and expansion or organization and containment- depending on each person’s needs. The art making process offers a vehicle to practice making mistakes, responding to internal criticism with self compassion, and strengthen problem solving skills. Art allows you to externalize challenges to gain deeper perspective and to play and explore safely, so important themes, experiences, and feelings can surface for greater clarity. In addition, connecting with the part of the brain involved in memory/visual retrieval can help safely access and integrate painful or traumatic memories.
Hakomi
Hakomi is a mindfulness-based body-oriented approach that draws from Eastern spiritual traditions and Western methodology to foster gentle and deep transformation. Through compassionate, experiential exploration in the present moment, we bring awareness to unconsciously held limiting beliefs about ourselves and the world. The method is grounded in five core principles: body-mind holism, mindfulness, non-violence, unity and organicity, and is centered around each person’s innate capacity to heal and grow. Healing can be more effective when consciousness (talk) is integrated with the unconscious wisdom that the body holds, as our experiences are remembered and lived through the body. Learn more
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an action-oriented approach to psychotherapy that teaches folks practical strategies to be more present and live their experiences fully. Clients learn to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions and, instead, accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to situations that should not prevent them from moving forward in their lives. An ACT approach helps people get unstuck from unhelpful thoughts, accept instead of suppressing or struggling with difficult feelings, and take committed action on values. Folks can clarify what’s important so they can make tangible steps towards their ideal life. ACT also helps people develop new, healthier relationships with internal experiences like difficult feelings and thoughts (which can get bigger when we try to avoid them).
Psychodynamic & Attachment
These approaches explore how our past experiences can shape our current patterns, choices, and beliefs. Our earliest relationships, particularly with our caregivers, can have a significant influence on how we view our world and our places in it. Self-reflection and exploration is a central aspect to healing suffering, and so too is the healing potential of a secure, healthy relationship with the therapist. In psychodynamic psychotherapy, we may explore how unconscious forces, often cultivated as necessary childhood survival strategies that initially protected against painful feelings, can cause suffering in adult life- especially when applied rigidly. Often we may dissociate or suppress parts of ourselves deemed unfavorable or unworthy, and this work may help reconnect and integrate those disavowed parts for greater wholeness and self acceptance. These approaches may help inform how we can cultivate and foster secure, healthy relationships with ourselves and with others in our present lives.
SoulCollage®
SoulCollage® was started by Art Therapy Seena Frost and is a gentle, creative and playful way of exploring your life and all parts of yourself, promoting healing of mind-body-spirit. The creative collage process allows individuals a flexible, accessible and inclusive tool to explore facets of personality, including identity, community, and spirituality, that are meaningful within ourselves and in our lives. The creation of personal cards can aid our own exploring, healing and empowering, so we may manifest our SoulEssence (our unique potential). The unique images that we are called to choose and create, can help guide us to navigate challenges and answer important questions and align us more deeply with our intuition. They may also help us accept and explore difficult aspects of our personality, uncomfortable emotions, and aspects of our unconscious, which may surface in a safer way, facilitating self compassion. SoulCollage® is inherently affirming, and may help us connect with our strengths, resources, and wisdom, enabling self awareness, self acceptance and self integration. Learn more here
Ayurvedic Healing
5,000+ years before modern medicine provided scientific evidence for the mind-body connection, the sages of India developed Ayurveda, which continues to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful holistic health systems. Ayur-veda translates to “life science” or the science of life, and its implementation empowers individuals to develop an intimacy with their mind-body-spirit system to promote health, vitality and longevity. Ayurveda goes beyond just treating illness or surface-symptoms, to teach individuals how to proactively develop a healthy internal foundation by means of self-knowledge, appropriate diet, lifestyle practices, movement, herbal medicines, and more. By aligning our internal rhythms to the rhythms of nature and finding balance in the five elements, air, ether, fire, water, and earth, we may achieve greater wellness and balance at all levels- physical, emotional and spiritual. Though it sounds complicated- it’s a very intuitive system that believes simple changes can impact health.