Community has always been at the center of why I chose to become an art therapist. While art is often viewed as an individual form of expression, I have learned that its greatest strength lies in its ability to bring people together, foster understanding, and create spaces where everyone feels seen and valued. Throughout graduate school, I have had the opportunity to work with two very different populations—children and older adults living with dementia. Although they are at opposite ends of the lifespan, both have taught me the importance of creating supportive communities where people are accepted for who they are. When working with children, I have seen how a safe, creative environment encourages confidence, emotional expression, and connection with peers. Art becomes a shared language that allows children to communicate feelings, celebrate differences, and build trusting relationships. More recently, my work with individuals living with dementia has transformed my understanding of community. Too often, dementia can lead to social isolation and the loss of meaningful opportunities to connect with others. Through art therapy, I have witnessed how creative experiences can restore those connections. A simple collage, painting, or shared conversation about a piece of artwork can spark memories, encourage storytelling, and remind participants that their experiences and identities still matter. These moments not only benefit the individual but also strengthen relationships among caregivers, families, and the broader community by shifting the focus from loss to the person's remaining strengths and abilities. This work has inspired my master's thesis, which explores how a Garden Story Collage intervention can facilitate reminiscence and storytelling for individuals living with dementia. My hope is that this research will provide art therapists and dementia care professionals with another meaningful tool for promoting communication, preserving identity, and fostering social connection. Ultimately, I want to contribute to communities where older adults are viewed not through the lens of their diagnosis but through the richness of their stories and lived experiences. Beyond my clinical work, I strive to contribute to my community by treating every interaction as an opportunity to build trust, practice compassion, and advocate for those whose voices are often overlooked. Whether I am supporting a child as they gain confidence through art or helping an older adult reconnect with treasured memories, I am reminded that community is built one relationship at a time. Receiving the Books for Good Scholarship would support my continued education and research while reinforcing my commitment to serving others through art therapy. I hope to spend my career creating inclusive spaces where creativity becomes a bridge between people, strengthens communities, and reminds individuals that they are valued, connected, and never alone.

Mental health is important to me because it influences every aspect of a person's ability to learn, grow, build relationships, and navigate life's challenges. As a student in a graduate art therapy program, I have come to understand that mental health is not simply the absence of illness, it is the foundation for resilience, self-awareness, and overall well-being. Throughout my education and clinical training, I have seen how emotional struggles can affect people of all ages and backgrounds, often in ways that are invisible to others. This has reinforced my belief that mental health deserves the same attention, compassion, and resources as physical health. My commitment to mental health extends beyond the classroom through my work with both children and older adults. During my clinical experiences with children, I have used art to create a safe, nonjudgmental space where they can express emotions, build confidence, and process experiences that may be difficult to put into words. These experiences have shown me that providing opportunities for creative expression can foster resilience and help children develop healthy coping skills that support lifelong emotional well-being. More recently, I have focused my work on individuals living with dementia, a population whose mental and emotional needs are often overlooked. Through art therapy, I have witnessed how creative expression can preserve identity, encourage communication, and promote meaningful social connection despite cognitive decline. These experiences have inspired my master's thesis, which explores the use of a Garden Story Collage intervention to facilitate reminiscence and storytelling among people living with dementia. My goal is to contribute research that supports person-centered, strengths-based approaches to dementia care and demonstrates how art can promote dignity, connection, and emotional well-being. Within my school and clinical communities, I advocate for mental health by encouraging empathy, reducing stigma, and promoting creative approaches to healing. I strive to meet each individual where they are, recognizing that every person's story is unique and worthy of respect. I also hope to advocate through research by expanding the evidence supporting art therapy as a valuable mental health profession and increasing access to creative interventions for underserved populations. As I continue my education, I hope to become not only a skilled clinician but also an advocate for a more compassionate understanding of mental health. Whether working with children, older adults, or future communities, I want to help create environments where people feel seen, supported, and empowered to express themselves. I believe that when we prioritize mental health, we strengthen not only individuals but also the communities in which they live.

For me it was through working with children that I truly discovered the healing power of art therapy. As I volunteered in k-12th art classes, students taught me that creativity is instinctive. They approached the world with curiosity, imagination, and a willingness to express themselves without worrying about perfection. Everyday I would walk out I felt grounded to reality and grateful for all little things. Watching a child transform emotions into images showed me that healing does not always begin with conversation, it often begins with creating. These experiences led me to pursue art therapy because I wanted to help people find a voice when words are difficult or unavailable. As I continued my training, that passion expanded beyond working with children to include older adults living with dementia. Initially, I wondered how art therapy could reach individuals whose memories and communication abilities were changing. What I discovered instead was that creativity often remains long after other cognitive abilities begin to fade. For example, Chancellor et al. (2014) emphasize the need for meaningful sensory and creative engagement to stimulate preserved neural pathways and support cognitive functioning even during neurodegeneration. Working with people living with dementia has profoundly shaped the art therapist I hope to become. I have witnessed moments when a familiar image, color, or piece of music sparked a memory that had seemed inaccessible moments before. Through art-making, I have seen individuals reconnect with loved ones, share stories from their lives, and express emotions that might otherwise have remained unspoken. These experiences challenged my understanding of dementia, shifting my perspective from one of decline to one of resilience, identity, and continued personhood. These moments inspired my master's thesis, which explores how a structured Garden Story Collage intervention can support reminiscence and storytelling among individuals living with dementia. Using an arts-informed phenomenological approach, my research seeks to understand how creative expression can help preserve identity, encourage self-expression, and foster meaningful human connection. My hope is that this work will contribute to the growing evidence supporting art therapy as an essential component of person-centered dementia care and provide art therapists with another meaningful intervention to use in clinical practice. Art therapy has shown me that healing looks different for every person. Sometimes it is a child discovering confidence through painting. Other times it is an older adult recalling a cherished memory while placing images on a collage. In both cases, the creative process provides something deeply human: the opportunity to be seen, heard, and understood. As an art therapist, I hope to continue working with individuals across the lifespan, using creativity to help people reconnect with themselves and with others. I believe healing is not always about fixing what has been lost but about recognizing the strengths, stories, and identities that remain. Through art therapy, I hope to create spaces where people feel safe to express themselves, feel seen and supported, and remember that their stories continue to matter.

I am pursuing a masters degree in art therapy because I truly believe in the effectiveness of this practice. I have been so fortunate to experience working with individuals with Mild Cognitive Disorders (MCD) and bringing art to them was such a wonderful experience. I have learned so much from them and I look forward to working with this population in the future as a registered art therapist. Additionally, I am currently developing a masters thesis. The purpose of my study is to develop and explore a structured collage-based art therapy intervention for individuals with dementia that supports artistic identity, reminiscence, cognitive-linguistic functions, and social interaction grounded in person-centered and creative aging frameworks. Current dementia research increasingly supports non-pharmacological interventions that improve quality of life and psychosocial well-being among individuals with dementia (Livingston et al., 2017). Creative arts therapies have emerged as promising approaches for supporting emotional expression, social engagement, and identity preservation (Chancellor et al., 2014). Building on this work, Stephenson (2021) argues for a person-centered approach to dementia art therapy that emphasizes artistic identity, motivation to create, and connection as important therapeutic goals. Although art therapy has shown promise in supporting emotional expression, identity, and social connection among individuals with dementia, less is known about how structured art therapy interventions can facilitate engagement in the art-making process. Cognitive decline associated with dementia can make open-ended art directives challenging, as individuals may experience difficulties with abstract thinking, decision-making, and initiating creative tasks (Chancellor et al., 2014). The presence of a blank page may increase anxiety or confusion, creating barriers to participation. A structured garden-template collage intervention may address these limitations. The garden theme may help provide a familiar and concrete imagery that can support personal storytelling. Gardens are often associated with memories of home, family, caregiving experiences, making them a potentially rich source of autobiographical reflection. In discussing The imagery and textures collaged onto the template the art therapist may help provide an opportunity for components of the artwork to be identified, named, and defined in terms of their placement and relationships (Hass‐Cohen & Carr, 2008; Rubin, 2001). Thus, artwork discussed in the therapy sessions exercises verbal episodic memory (Alders Pike, 2016). Additionally, Through selecting, arranging, and discussing collage images within the garden template, participants may engage in reminiscence, social interaction, and identity expression while receiving the structure needed to participate successfully in the art-making process. Additionally, the process of browsing through magazines and choosing images may foster a sense of autonomy, freedom, and personal choice (Stallings, 2016). This is particularly relevant for individuals with dementia, who may experience a loss of control in other areas of daily life. Collage is well suited to this population because it provides a balance between structure and creative freedom. (Elkis-Abuhoff, 2008; Foster, 1992; Stallings, 2009; Stallings, 2016; Vick, 1999). Within the garden-template intervention, this combination of structure and choice may help facilitate meaningful engagement, reminiscence, and opportunities for personal storytelling. Additionally, incorporating a variety of paper textures and images into the collage process may provide sensory stimulation that supports engagement among individuals with dementia. According to Hinz (2016), sensory-rich art materials can help reduce sensory deprivation while promoting memory reconstitution. These tactile and visual elements may encourage reminiscence and provide multiple avenues for expression beyond verbal communication. Finally, I truly believe in myself and my deep motivation for helping others to get to a better place mentally. I trust in my passion for healing through the arts. I am looking forward to making new experiences in the field and learning from them.