ABOUT ME:

Art has been an essential part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child, I already understood the incredible nature of the flow state, even if I didn’t have the words to ascribe to it. I entered that magical state through drawing, painting, photography, sculpting, creative writing, and exploring the natural world. An only child, I grew up in rural Ohio on a fourteen-acre Christmas tree farm where thousands of trees, flower gardens, fruit and vegetable gardens, herb gardens, an apple orchard, and two ponds were my playground. My closest friends were our cats, our dog, ducks, and chickens. The lightning bugs, crickets, grasshoppers, butterflies, and frogs brought a sense of wonder, magic, and peace to my life, as did gazing up at the night sky full of stars.

The healing powers of art therapy first entered my life as an adolescent. In the face of complex trauma, I struggled to make sense of my emotions and how to cope with them. Thrown into the mental health system of the 1990s, I was not only grossly misdiagnosed and forced to take medications I didn’t need, but I also experienced firsthand the many aspects of a broken system. However, it was during that turbulent time that I discovered art therapy. I didn’t know then just how much that experience would ultimately shape the rest of my life.

Art and creativity have remained cornerstones throughout my journey. I went to a small college for commercial photography and transferred to another college where I combined my love of photography with digital art and graphic design. I earned my AAS degree in Graphic Communications Technology and moved to Atlanta. There, art became an important part of my professional life through photography exhibitions and my first photography sale, as well as running the graphics department at a trade show company and dipping my toes into the printing world. Yet, something was missing.

Most of my friends were refugees and immigrants, and their stories tugged at my heart. I had a deep inner voice calling me to do more meaningful work where I could positively impact the lives of those facing hardship. I uprooted myself once again, moved around a lot, and eventually landed in Houston, where I published a creative short story called ‘The Circus Flower’ and a book on my year-long personal project called ‘The Happiness Question: What Brings Happiness to 366 Different People’, where every day, for 366 days, I asked a different person to write in a journal that I carried something that brings them happiness. I took on a variety of volunteer work serving the refugee and immigrant communities, won a humanitarian award for those efforts, temporarily became a Board Member for the United Nations Association, Houston Chapter, and worked for seven years at a nonprofit organization helping refugees and immigrants, as well as unemployed mid-to-high-level American executives, navigate the grief of home loss, job loss, and finding work that felt meaningful to them. While working full-time, I also earned a BA degree in Middle Eastern Studies. However, I knew that the organization I loved so dearly wouldn’t continue long-term after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and that I needed to find a new path.

It was the stories and struggles with trauma, grief, and survival that reminded me of some of my own experiences and called me to do something different. I knew I loved art and that I needed it to be a more prominent part of my professional life, and I was learning more about psychology through my partner at the time and now husband, who is a psychiatrist. I discovered that psychology was fascinating to me. Art therapy called to me, and as if written in the stars, we were (temporarily) moving to Santa Fe, NM, where I discovered there was a school for art therapy and counseling, Southwestern College. Further, because of the pandemic, the school had launched a fully online program where I could earn my degree from anywhere. We eventually moved back to Houston, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to continue my studies online. Since starting the art therapy and counseling program in my 40s, I’ve come full circle from my adolescent experiences and art therapy exposure. Since beginning this journey, I feel that I’m on the right path for the first time. It feels like home.