by Debbie Schroder
I can’t seem to stop smiling. I’m smiling because of my morning – I went to the Roundhouse, the New Mexico State Capitol Building, to watch Art Therapy intern Todd Nichols speak in the Rotunda. A number of senators and state officials also spoke, but they didn’t bring art! Todd…
Continue reading
During the warm days of autumn, a small group of us gathered in a wilderness area beside a lovely mountain stream, high above Santa Fe. The entire mountainside was covered with green conifers and aspens turning gold. At 10,000 feet elevation, deer and elk are abundant and the air is pure. Just listening…
Continue reading
... staying in on a Saturday night to write a paper with the company of a Santa Fe Pale Ale and burning sage.
... is making, screaming at, rebelling against, and recreating a budget over and over again as I stumble towards financial sobriety.
... is shedding the self-construct that automates what I think I…
Continue reading
As graduate assistants at Southwestern College we get to do a variety of tasks, depending on our strengths and interests. While doing social media and blogging, I came up with the idea last fall to do a series of videos. What I realized is that while I was fortunate enough to already be living in…
Continue reading
by Amy Hautman Bates
I can easily draw a family tree, but in Family Art Therapy class we made genograms to explain our relationships with our families. Many people can map out their family systems with an assortment of boxes and lines and symbols. Here is what a typical genogram looks like:
…
Continue reading
What is a Container?
There are so many types of containers, a person, place, or thing that holds. Many images come to mind: a milk carton, hands, shoes, a home, a room, a box, a nest, my heart, a chair, a mouth, a closet… Many sensations come to body: warmth, safety, fear, constriction, flee,…
Continue reading
First year art therapy student describes her experience using a vision board to ring in 2014 and details some basic tips on creating vision boards. …
Continue reading
by Christine Miller
The initial quarter of classes I took at Southwestern College was both exciting and intimidating. It was through one of my first and most memorable classes that I learned the value of intention. Without a concrete intent to work on something, I would get lost in other thoughts and distractions or procrastinate…
Continue reading
Would I rather be ‘right’ or be in the loving?
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
- Mother Teresa
“As I walked out the door to the…
Continue reading
My past year at Southwestern College has taken me on an intense personal journey. I have spent most of my life desperately trying to figure things out. I moved to Santa Fe to study Art Therapy and learn a bunch of theory and technique. I wanted to get smarter. Although I…
Continue reading
*This post is a special note to myself, a reminder that my job is not to be Little Miss Sunshine ALL the time, but more accurately sometimes the clearest joy is in continuing on.
So what if I need to get things done—like go to my job so I can keep making money to pay…
Continue reading
"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some." - Robert Fulgham
Is our purpose to achieve greater balance? To learn to set additional, or clearer, or more flexible boundaries with our activities…
Continue reading
by Debbie Schroder
I have a song stuck in my head. I think it’s staying stuck because we’ve entered a new year and part of the lyrics are “How am I gonna be an optimist about this?” The song is called “Pompeii”, by Bastille.
This quirky song’s melody sounds pretty upbeat but the lyrics really appeal…
Continue reading
My New Year resolutions are usually the same every year: be healthier, be nicer, and appreciate the simple things. But this year felt different. For some reason I lit a candle and mediated. I felt there was something specific I needed to hear for 2014. I hope that sharing with the SWC community is a…
Continue reading
Freedom
Did you ever have that feeling like a cloud of lively bats is swarming about your head? I have and it's really challenging to get bat guano out of a sweater.
Seriously though, having a lot of incompletes is like that cloud of bats--those unfinished tasks just won't leave me alone. Even when I've…
Continue reading
May beauty unfold throughout the year!!…
Continue reading
Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM