I want to work in the prison system using art therapy with children and young people. This is not something I came to from textbooks or theory. It comes from watching what happens to people when they don’t have healthy ways to deal with what they’ve lived through. I have also seen how powerful art can be. There is something almost hard to explain about it. When someone starts creating, even without knowing exactly what they are doing, something can shift. It can be calming, it can be expressive, and sometimes it brings things out that words never would. Even simple materials like pencil and paper can become a way for someone to let something out that they’ve been holding in for a long time.
What stands out to me is how often people carry things they don’t talk about. Some of it shows up in behavior, some of it shows up in silence, and a lot of it just stays buried. Especially with kids, it isn’t always easy for them to explain what they are feeling or even understand it themselves. Words are not always enough, or sometimes they just don’t come at all.
That is why I am interested in art therapy. It gives people another way to get things out without having to explain everything perfectly. It is not about talent or making something look a certain way. It is about having a way to release what is inside when talking about it is too hard.
I am especially drawn to working with children who are affected by incarceration, whether they are in the system themselves or dealing with a parent being gone. From what I have seen, that kind of situation doesn’t just pass. It follows them into how they relate to people, how they handle emotions, and how they see their future.
I also know the prison system is not simple. People end up there for different reasons, and whatever those reasons are, they are usually complicated. I don’t see my role as fixing people or explaining their experiences. I see it more as offering a tool that might help them process what they are carrying, especially when other ways haven’t worked.
What I want most is to do work that is useful in a real way. If art can help someone release even a small part of what they’ve been holding onto, especially a child, then that is the kind of work I want to be part of. I want to be present in spaces where something small like that can change the direction of a life.
Art therapy is not something I can say I chose, but instead, something that chose me. All throughout my life, I can recall how art and creativity have been guiding beacons of light during times of immense distress. In my youth, I experienced sexual trauma and persistent bouts of depression, which led to increasing levels of anxiety as an adult. A decline in my mental health created a pattern of self-destruction in my life that often spilled over into the lives of those around me. My artwork was often the only thing that gave me a positive self-concept. Being naturally artistic enabled me to easily cultivate my creativity and improve my talents through painting, dance, and writing. Without realizing it, self-expression guided me back to myself and began to lay the groundwork for what would become my future career. Entering adulthood meant completing my undergraduate degree, moving out of my childhood home, and starting a family. These life changes, though miraculous and wonderful, caused much contention within myself, as there often is when growth is required from an individual. I fell into postpartum depression and struggled to find a career that felt fulfilling. However, I knew that I wanted to serve the community in some way, so I became a teacher. While teaching, I began to witness the positive effects of creativity in children. I watched firsthand as children who struggled to manage difficult emotions picked up a crayon or a paintbrush and were instantly transformed into calm, almost placid, students. This increased my curiosity about how self-expression could improve the lives of entire families, schools, and communities. My decision to enter grad school was a decision based on everything I had learned about myself through my artwork and as a teacher. Self-expression created a door for me that has led me to a career that I can be proud of and one that I am confident will bring me fulfillment. Helping others in a way that my past self would have needed makes me feel as though I am living in the purpose God has put on my life. As I come towards the end of my grad school journey, I have begun to create goals for how I want to provide creative mental health services for others who have experienced depression and anxiety. My goal is to gain experience working with the women in my community who need help raising their families, adjusting to motherhood, and redefining their sense of self. Through creative expression, I hope to help others redefine their self-care habits as a means of both self-improvement and self-preservation. I want to plant the idea that self-expression is a means of becoming curious about life through a lens of grace and compassion instead of judgment. I also hope to start a nonprofit to partner with public schools to educate children about the importance of creativity, self-care, and somatic healing through self-expression. Being an art therapist is so much more than just painting nice pictures- it is a means to bring peace to our inner world by processing, understanding, and releasing the pain trapped inside us all.
The year is 2020, and I’ve just moved into my apartment after living with my mom and 4-year-old daughter in a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment for the last three years. I was accepted into the Family Scholar House, a program designed specifically for single mothers providing wrap-around services, under one condition: I had to enroll in post-secondary education. Over the next 4.5 years, I would obtain two degrees and complete my first semester of graduate school. The journey was not without its challenges, as I navigated the academic world as a non-traditional, first-generation, single-parent student, but these struggles only fueled my determination.
One of the services the program offered was weekly Art Therapy, both in group and individual formats. I attended my first group session and knew from that moment forward that I was meant to become an art therapist. These sessions have not only shaped my career path but also had a profound impact on my personal growth. I’m currently a 2nd year art therapy student at the University of Louisville. I’ve had the honor of working in collaboration with the houseless, youth, and substance abuse populations thus far as a student clinician, and I have left each group session feeling that the work I do as an art therapy student is empowering, impactful, and necessary. Being able to share space with women who are experiencing homelessness and the conditions that come along with it, to create watercolor portraits, or collages while also being transparent about life choices, mistakes, and lessons is the reason I continue to push through my trials.
I often say, my art is my activism. Working with individuals who society has deemed as unfit, unworthy, or undesirable allows both me and the participant to humanize their lived experience through art, despite the “norms” we’ve been made to abide by. Being able to release in real time through wheel throwing or sculpting reminds me, as a mother, student, and person, that what I feel and how I feel are normal, and that they will always be valid. I intend to provide that same level of clarity and recognition to each participant I come in contact with. I’m currently interning at a local organization, the Center for Women and Families, that provides wrap-around services to women experiencing Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, and Sexual Abuse. Over the next year, as an art therapy intern, I plan to continue growing in my knowledge as a student clinician while also furthering my efforts to work with populations who have temporarily forgotten the power they possess within themselves. My dream is to be of and in community, and to serve as a tool of artistic and creative expression for those who need it most.
Art has been my passion for as long as I can remember. Before the world told me who I was, I was a carefree, free spirited child. After the suicide of my cousin at the age of 14 ( I was 15), I became anxious and hypersensitive to the well-being of others. I knew people suffered in silence, and I did not know what to do about that. I wanted people to know that I care. Even if i did not know someone, I cared. At that moment, I knew I wanted to be a therapist.
At the age of 18, my mother was diagnosed with stage four sarcoma cancer and was not given a good prognosis. Living in fight or flight mode for over a year took a toll on me mentally and emotionally, but mental health was not talked about as much as it is today. I suffered in silence, not knowing if my mom would leave this earth at any moment. The day of her first surgery at Moffit Cancer Center in Florida, I paced around the hospital as the white sterile walls surrounded me. Upon turning a corner, there was a room on the corner with glass walls and color everywhere. My wonder made me inquire about the room, and I was told it was for art therapy, mostly for the pediatric oncology unit. This caused that physical ping in my heart. Art utilized in therapy? That sounded beautiful. I knew I wanted to become an art therapist.
Years later after graduating with a degree in art history and studio art from The University of Georgia, I planned to attend graduate school to study art therapy. I took the GRE, but my path changed. The anxiety and worry I held in over many years caught up with me and I began to self medicate. I realized quickly I was an addict but those years, I look at as a blessing and a curse, provided life experience that will only benefit me in my endeavors to help others. I recovered. I saw women suffering in treatment with no options after detoxing. I had support, I had the means to get back on my feet. I vowed to never return to that life and started to teach art classes. I eventually owned the studio I worked at but there was something missing. My heart and gut were telling me to still pursue counseling.
I did it. I have taken all of my courses in graduate school for clinical mental health counseling, and am finishing the last two semesters of my internship. I was offered an internship at a place called "Art It Out". Unfortunately, having two young children of my own, the schedules did not line up. I am currently finishing my last two semesters of internship at a holistic PHP/IOP Substance Use Disorder facility. They utilize art therapy at one of their locations and I intend on becoming certified so I can offer it to the clients at the location I am at (assuming they offer mea job)! Art has been a constant in my life and remains my means of self care and therapy. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and just need a little help at the moment. This is an concise as I could make my response with the word limit. Every way I facilitate a group involves expression and art. The clients love it and I want to continue to help others heal through self expression. Thank you for your consideration!
