Why do I want to be an Expressive Art Therapist?

Why be an Expressive Art therapist? Why am I so interested in helping people with their struggles when I have gone through my own struggles? Why would I want to hear about other people's struggles and use art to help them? These are the questions that have been on my mind since I started this program at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). I am still exploring the answers but I do have some ideas. I will give some ideas on the answers to these questions and explore a couple main aspects of my identity; being Jewish and being a cis female related to being a future Expressive Art Therapist.

My goal is to be able to use my healing powers to help others feel better about themselves. I only want to be able to help those who are suffering in this world. I want to incorporate and put into action what I’m learning at CIIS in the real world. I am looking forward to helping others. No matter what type of disease somebody has, I want to do whatever I can to assist those who need it. I have always wanted to help others feel better.

Below is a poem I wrote about working with patients who are suffering from traumatic experiences:

I'm here for you

Speak your mind

Let it out, let it out

It'll be okay

I'm here for you

Here to help you

I want to listen

I want you to be heard

You are strong

It is okay to feel hurt

It is okay to not know everything

Let it out, let it out

You got this

I want to be there for you

Let it out, let out

It’s okay, it’s okay

You’re strong, you’re creative

I’m here for you

Let it out, let it out

My major in college was Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Women in this world have been treated unfairly and especially Black women because of racism and sexism. I wanted to connect this paper with mental or physical illness as well since that is also interesting to me. In the future, I would like to use what I am interested in and connect it somehow. I was taught that for decades women have been known as the ones that stay home, take care of the kids, do the laundry, cook, clean the house, and work as housekeepers. Women have not gotten paid for this though. This results in women not getting work experience and not getting integrated into society. This can also lead to their children getting depressed and feeling isolated.

The traditional view of the job of the housekeeper was a woman’s job and men were supposed to go out and work and make the money. I don’t think this is the way I want to live my life and I believe it is unfair for the woman to not be allowed to go out and work. I am realizing there is a lot of material that has piqued my interest in future research opportunities related to women specifically. This might be the main group of people even though I want to work with an Expressive Art therapist but I am open to working with others as well. Below is another poem:

All about Women

Women are strong

Women are fierce

Women are loving and kind

Women can be leaders

Women can go hunting

Women can be creative

Women can be men

Men can be women

Women can love men

Men can love women

Women can love women

Men can love men

Women have have babies

No matter how long the labor is

Women menstruate every month

Women breastfeed

Women are self conscious about their skin

Women wear makeup to hide their beautiful face

They shouldn’t feel they have to

Women come in all shapes and sizes

Women can now vote

There was a time when they couldn’t

Why?

I'm choosing to be an Expressive Art Therapist because I believe that art has the power to heal. Life can be hard, but art therapy can help lift the weight off of someone’s shoulders even for a moment. I am interested in many different creative modalities, and I will always be learning about a new modality. Now I use acrylic, watercolor, crayon, and oil pastel in my visual art that I create. Whenever I sit down to create visual art, I put on the page whatever comes to my head. There is no judgement.

I also play the drums, piano and am always listening to music. Growing up I was surrounded by theater, music and dance, and I still am now. I have a lot of passion and admiration for the arts because I know how much work goes into it and I want to be a part of that process. It's hard work!

Despite it being difficult, I believe that I'll be able to push past life's toughest moments using the arts. Others can too!