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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM



Posts by Southwestern College

Creativity & Healing and an invite to “SWC Creative Commons” by President Ann Filemyr

Creativity & Healing Social distancing does not have to limit our creativity. Are you dancing in the living room? Playing the ukulele in bed? Singing in the shower? Penning poetry by the window? Perhaps this time apart has offered you an opportunity to express yourself. What are you longing to say in this moment? So…
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Southwestern Soundbites: A Second Master’s Degree and Art Therapy

Hello, and welcome to Southwestern Soundbites. In this episode, Dru Phoenix talks about her experience as someone who already had a Master's degree and later decided to pursue another Master's degree in Art Therapy. She also discusses the power of art and what led to her decision to go in this direction. Tune in for…
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A Therapist in Times of Covid-19 : by alum Allegra Borghese

            As I write this, I am completing my final doctoral externship at a VA medical center in New York. My last day in the office was Friday, March 13th, after discovering three people I had direct contact with tested positive for Covid-19. I moved my caseload to telehealth the following Monday, and since then…
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Southwestern Soundbites: Trauma Theory

Welcome to Southwestern Soundbites– quick audio clips featuring current students, staff, and faculty discussing SWC’s various certificate programs and happenings at Southwestern. This episode features Courtney Shackelford, current student in the Art Therapy and Counseling program and also admissions staff, and Dru Phoenix, alum of the Art Therapy and Counseling program and Director of Enrollment…
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Some Reflections on Providing Therapeutic Services in the Changing Times of COVID19

By Val Valentine Wow, what a difference a month can make!  I went from a full private practice with between 25-30 face to face clients a week, to 15-20 clients per week with every session either on-line or by phone; some clients ready and discharged and some needing to take a break during this time…
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Message from Alum Carie King during the Pandemic

Photo by Carie King, taken on a road trip to Grand Junction, CO.  Carie grew up in Maine with a wildlife biologist / photographer, so her appreciate of Earth’s beauty is life-long. Colorado’s lakes and mountains rival Maine’s. Message from Carie:  I think I’ve been experiencing “stages of grief” … (I’ve definitely gone through…
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An Alum Updates us during the Pandemic

Aloha my Southwestern colleagues!  My name is Tess Yong Kim, and I am a graduate of 11/10/2018.  I began my clinical practice on 2/6/2019 as an LMHC (Licensed Mental Health Counselor).  I’ve been working throughout this COVID-19 pandemic. I Just ended my weekly, “Substance Abuse Group Therapy,” with 8 clients through the Zoom video at…
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Message of Reassurance to SWC Students during COVID-19 from President Ann Filemyr

A Message of Reassurance   Dear Students, Today I was deeply moved to read the responses to the student survey distributed by our Student Success Team under the leadership of Emilah DeToro, Director of Student & Career Services. I was touched by a student who wrote that they would like a “message of reassurance from…
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Holding the Heart

By Deborah Schroder An individual Zoom meeting with a student inspired me to think about this, and I so appreciate that. The student was wondering how faculty members were working to keep the heart of Southwestern present as we implement these new ways of teaching and “seeing” clients. Prior to my first class this quarter,…
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Soundwestern Soundbites: Applied Interpersonal Neurobiology and Psychodrama with Ben Miller

Photograph by Whitney Tressel at whitneytressel.com. Welcome to another episode of Southwestern Soundbites– quick audio clips featuring current students, staff, and faculty discussing SWC’s various programs and happenings. In this episode, Courtney Shackelford speaks with current Art Therapy and Counseling student, Ben Miller, on his journey to Southwestern, his art, and his experience in Southwestern's…
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Southwestern College and the Temple of Chavin: Educational Centers for the Transformation of Consciousness

By Laura Addiss, current counseling student at Southwestern College, and Juan Rivas Palacios, medicine guide and wisdom keeper of Chavin Laura: As future counselors it is essential that we go into our own shadows, to observe and understand our emotions, thoughts, and fears. We must find the courage to look at our unresolved trauma and…
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Certificates on Certificates on Degrees: Three Reasons to Add a Certificate Program to Your Education

By Courtney Shackelford As someone who works full time and attends grad school I have enough on my plate. So why would I add any additional certificates to that workload? I have three reasons: The information is critical to my future clients. In grad school, you will develop a strong foundation for practicing…
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Southwestern Soundbites: AAR Holistic Models and Biological Aspects of Addiction and Recovery

Welcome to another episode of Southwestern Soundbites– quick audio clips featuring current students, staff, and faculty discussing SWC’s various certificate programs. In this episode, Courtney Shackelford (Admissions Associate and current student) talks to her friend and peer, Amanda LaMendola. Amanda is both a student in the Art Therapy/Counseling program and the Addictions, Abuse, and Recovery…
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Southwestern Soundbites: TGR Dying to Know

Photo by Alissa Petrosoniak Welcome to Southwestern Soundbites-- quick audio clips featuring current students, staff, and faculty discussing SWC's various certificate programs. This episode features Courtney Shackelford, current student in the Art Therapy and Counseling program and also admissions staff, and Dru Phoenix, alum of the Art Therapy and Counseling program and Director of Enrollment…
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Touch & Embodiment by Magdalena Karlick, M.A., LPCC, ATR-BC

    A couple of weekends ago, Ginna Clark (Director of the NEI certificate program in Human Sexuality) and I, co-taught a weekend course entitled "Touch and Embodiment." Discussions included the history of sex therapy in the United States, what interrupts, coopts and/or numbs personal and interpersonal pleasure, and how to practice embodiment.  Through…
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Sandplay

Inessa Mil'berg, SWC Alum sent us this blurb about Sandplay Therapists interested in providing a non-verbal, depth approach to therapy might consider learning sandplay. Sandplay, as developed by Dora Kalff, is a nonverbal therapeutic process based on the psychology of C.G. Jung. The path to individuation as understood in Jungian psychology becomes visible in the…
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An Interview about the Art Therapy Field with Debbie Schroder, Program Chair of MA in Art Therapy/Counseling at Southwestern College

Debbie, you have been in the art therapy field for a significant time, can you tell us more about the trajectory of your career? Hindsight is amazing, but looking back I believe that each art therapy position helped me secure the next position. Sometimes I would take a leap of faith and try…
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First Year…first quarter (and some tips) by Whitney Tressel, MA in Art Therapy/Counseling student

"Week Five" marks the halfway point of my first quarter within my first year as a first-time graduate student. Both unbounded excitement and complete overwhelm compete inside me for my attention each day. While it feels like there is not much time to reflect blog-style at this peak point in Fall, it is important…
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Healing the Patriarchal Wound by Dr. Ann Filemyr, President Southwestern College, Ecotherapy Certificate Director

  I define the patriarchal wound as ancestral suffering and intergenerational trauma caused by the power imbalance between genders. Under patriarchy, boys, men and the masculine are considered inherently superior while girls, women and the feminine are considered inherently inferior. The extreme social positionality of superior vs. inferior causes distance between the genders and distorts…
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A Lively Variation of Art Therapy

By Deborah Schroder Sometimes I think of art therapy as a wild, colorful plant, and I most often think in “plant words”, not “garden words” – which to me speaks of art therapy’s ability to grow and thrive in surprising, unexpected places. Although many have planted, nurtured and tended to it (garden words) over the…
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