I recently moved to Cartersville, Georgia for a position at a partial hospitalization program for children and adults. This position has many new challenges and opportunities for using the expressive therapies in a mental health setting. One great advantage is that there are fewer regulations about materials that can be used, since the clients are not actively in crisis and can have access to objects with metal pieces, such as a drum! Joy! Also, each client's stay in the program is longer than the typical five days at the Crisis Unit, so that affords more in-depth involvement over time with each client. One challenge I have faced so far is that there are more restrictions about hanging artwork on the walls in my new space, and the treatment rooms are not stocked with art materials - they have to be brought into each room for the sessions from a storage closet. One thing I have learned over the years is that having an engaging and creative space is one of the most important steps when inviting a client into an expressive process. I am hoping to have more ways of making the environment of my new position more warm and welcoming.
Since part of my theoretical orientation of expressive therapy is rooted in principles of ecopsychology, I feel I should mention my experience with being in a totally different bioregion than I was in Florida. Georgia has a very complex natural history that I am in the process of learning about. The Creek, Cherokee, and Yamasee Indians of this region were mostly wiped out by diseases, forced relocation, and genocide, but many of the Creek Indians of this region formed a community in Florida known as the Seminole Tribe. The history of slavery and the civil rights movement in this region continue to affect daily life, as countless incidents of racism have been brought up during group sessions in the few weeks that I have been working here. Atlanta was one of the earliest industrialized cities in this country, and the colonialists of this region exerted over three centuries of harmful dominion over humans and nature, resulting in a very exciting process of creative survival.
Walking in a nearby park, this phrase popped into my mind: "The walking wounded create their destinies." Both through my work with troubled children and teens and also through my observations of the resilience of the people and nature of this land, I hope to witness the beauty and grace of how all earth inhabitants can overcome horrendous difficulties and cultivate tremendous powers of insight and manifestation.
Since part of my theoretical orientation of expressive therapy is rooted in principles of ecopsychology, I feel I should mention my experience with being in a totally different bioregion than I was in Florida. Georgia has a very complex natural history that I am in the process of learning about. The Creek, Cherokee, and Yamasee Indians of this region were mostly wiped out by diseases, forced relocation, and genocide, but many of the Creek Indians of this region formed a community in Florida known as the Seminole Tribe. The history of slavery and the civil rights movement in this region continue to affect daily life, as countless incidents of racism have been brought up during group sessions in the few weeks that I have been working here. Atlanta was one of the earliest industrialized cities in this country, and the colonialists of this region exerted over three centuries of harmful dominion over humans and nature, resulting in a very exciting process of creative survival.
Walking in a nearby park, this phrase popped into my mind: "The walking wounded create their destinies." Both through my work with troubled children and teens and also through my observations of the resilience of the people and nature of this land, I hope to witness the beauty and grace of how all earth inhabitants can overcome horrendous difficulties and cultivate tremendous powers of insight and manifestation.
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