Expressive Arts Therapy
My Educational Path
I am enrolled in the graduate program at Antioch University toward an M.A. in Mental Health Counseling, with the intention of becoming a licensed Expressive Arts Therapist. I began my graduate degree at Goddard College and had three wonderful semesters there before its unfortunate closure.
My education has been informed by what I’ve learned from my own journey with mental and physical health, my experience participating in many different art forms (including music performance, acting, creative writing, and fine arts), and my training and journey as a teacher of a unique approach to singing.
This voice and singing approach originates from the practices of Alfred Wolfsohn and shares its lineage with the expressive arts modality of voice movement therapy. (You can learn more about my method by navigating via the website menu to my "My Method" page under “Singing and Voice Instruction,” or by clicking here.)
My Voice Approach and Mental Health Therapy (and Mindbody Symptom Treatment)
I have witnessed, both in myself and in others, how powerfully transformative and healing singing can be. The most effectual and healing transformation is possible, I believe, only if the singer is guided in an appropriate way that also ensures they feel totally safe, supported, and empowered to express their true self. As an added bonus (or perhaps an inherent aspect), this voice work can be not only a healing journey but also fun and invigorating in its own right.
I see a lot of exciting promise in applying particular paradigms of psychotherapy — both long-standing and relatively recently emerging — to the voice practice that I have inherited and am developing in my own way. These paradigms include Polyvagal Theory, Somatic Experiencing, IFS (Internal Family Systems) or “parts work,” treatments for TMS (or Tension Myositis Syndrome, as explored by Dr. John Sarno) or persistent mindbody conditions, Jungian practices, and likely much more that I will learn about during my formal education.
My Mental Health Career Aspirations
In addition to the aim of becoming a well-rounded generalist in psychotherapy, I am particularly interested in trauma, the widespread effects of toxic stress, and proper, effective treatments of chronic mind-body symptoms (including the potential applicability of Tension Myositis Syndrome, otherwise known as TMS).
Although my deepest expressive arts exploration has been in the medium of singing and my voice approach originating from Alfred Wolfsohn, I am also very interested in incorporating other modalities of expressive arts — such as drama therapy, movement therapy, and art therapy — in my practice.