How it Started: The Creatively Rooted Counselor

It all started with an emotionally filled, inherently disorganized, cathartic release; with the construction paper wrapped black wax, I aggressively scribbled all over a blank piece of white paper.

I didn’t know it at the time, but this experience set the foundation for my personal and professional relationship with creativity. When I couldn’t talk, I wrote, and when I couldn’t write, I scribbled. Stated perfectly by Georgia O’Keeffe “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.”

Hi. My name is Bri.

I’m a process artist and a mental health counselor. I am a relatively private person, but I have come to realize my love for learning and creating is enhanced through connection and engagement. I hope to create a space, amidst this blog, to connect and engage with others through sharing my own wellness approach (creative arts) and mental health topics, mostly incorporating creativity. 

This blog is influenced and informed by my experiences as an artist, counselor, scholar, and researcher. You’ll be exposed to my creations, counseling theory and intervention, supervision theory and intervention, cultural considerations, advocacy, and all things creative. 

In an effort to enhance my own practice and connect, I’ll share a bit more about before after the scribble experience to explain where I came from and how I got here. 

Before the Scribble

My dreams of being a school teacher were misguided as I failed to consider the core-subjects teaching requirements. I was taught how to calculate, read, write, and spell my name, but many teachers also offered me safety, humor, unconditional support, and even love. The desire to create this same environment for others, guided me to teaching as it was all I knew. 

After the Scribble 

After learning that, like teachers, mental health counselors are tasked with creating safe and supportive spaces, that promote growth, I knew I belonged in the mental health field. With an interest in protecting children and creativity, it was a logical step to become a counselor and work with children. 

Like my misguided desire to teach, the desire to work with children was rooted in an unrealistic expectation. My professional counselor identity does not reduce the risk of children experiencing trauma, as much as I wish it did. Trauma is not always predictable. It took me a few years as a youth and family counselor to learn, I can help “break the cycle” and promote healing of childhood trauma by working with adults and survivors of childhood trauma. 

 The Current Scribble

Counseling is a form of creation-creating new thoughts, considering different perspectives, defining new meaning, exploring experiences, gaining insight, accepting emotions, and so much more. After years of working with at-risk youth in crisis, and surviving my own traumatic experiences, I have humbly accepted I am not, at this time, best suited for working with children who have experienced trauma. Why? Because fundamentally, I do not believe individual therapy (alone) is the answer for children who experienced or are experiencing trauma. I can’t help the family who thinks their child is broken when their child is surviving. I can help these children by helping the people who care for them.

I also learned that most traumatized children turn into adults, who hold onto the same guilt, shame, and survival techniques from their childhood. I am at my best when I am helping adult survivors of abuse reclaim their worth as individuals. Why? Because we do not deserve to live our lives believing we are broken, unworthy of joy, or fearful of happiness.

I created this image of Victor Frankl, quoting Victor Frankl after my first clinical mental health counseling residency. It was a life changing experience. I was able to put a name to my philosophical beliefs and began building the foundation of my counseling career. A huge thank you to Dr. Benjamin Noah, who helped me become more of myself personally and professionally during this time and introduced me to Victor Frankl, existentialism, and reality therapy.