My role as a therapist is to guide my clients through this process of self-discovery and self realization. The process can be demanding as it is rarely in tune with our lives, our work, and our other roles. It requires courage and patience. My understanding, my awareness, and my professional knowledge all contribute to my performance as a guide in this process.

Approach

My Philosophy

My main goal is to help my clients to be happy; being true to oneself is central to being a happy person. That means being aware of one’s own mind and body, of the memories and emotions that come with it, even the most painful ones. Very often these memories and emotions are painful when something from the past hurts us, and that means that we need to learn something important about ourselves. In doing so not only could it help us to avoid future hurts, but it also helps us to free the creative energy held captive by our hurts and wounds. Releasing this energy makes us alive and happy.

How does it work?

Art Therapy and Sandplay Therapy can be combined with verbal and sometimes other creative therapies approaches. Experience has shown that a combination of these can be effective in helping people to live a productive life. Creative therapies work primarily through the process of symbolic expression. Any one of the creative therapies allows examining fundamental life experiences and their impact on one's personality. In Art Therapy, the clients use various art materials and forms of art. That allows them to access important memories, to recreate new experiences, and to connect to their sources of creative energy. In Sandplay Therapy, clients create their sand pictures on a sand tray, using figurines which represent a variety of human experiences, mythological and fairy-tales’ characters, beast and creatures, and various symbols.

Basically it comes down to constructing new experiences that help us to be happy and creative. Therapy, either in groups or individually, provides my clients the opportunity to take up the challenge of thinking and behaving in new ways, all in a very accepting environment. Once that experience is consolidated, it can be transferred into other areas of every day life.

Imaginary and Symbolic

The imaginary and symbolic are the focus of my work, and the creation of images (paintings, drawings, sculptures, sand pictures, collages, or other) is the primary medium of communication with my clients. Their artistic process allows them to express and to explore their emotions, and allows their personal growth to happen. In her/his artistic process the person uses symbolic, highly individualized language to parallel or work through certain life experiences. That creates a very condensed therapeutic context and allows change to happen firstly on a symbolic level, and then on the level of practical experience. The Publications section on this site will allow you to find out more about this fascinating concept.

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