I’ve been with Southwestern College for almost 20 years. As I get ready to move on to a new position in northern New Mexico, I’m aware of what an honor it’s been to teach and care for art therapy in this place. My heart has been touched by so many students over the years.
…
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Trans- (prefix): From Latin. (1) On the other side of : across : through : beyond
(2) so or such as to change or transfer
Southwestern College offers a curriculum that initiates transformational learning. Meaning, through the process of education one will emerge differently than they arrived. The mantra of the institution is “transforming…
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In March 2020, we enjoyed our last "in-person" mural process on campus (Cracked Wide Open, March 2020). As we move to gathering together as a group this summer (August 2021), I wanted to take the time to review and share the steps that we took, the pivots that we twirled to make sure that our…
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By Deborah Schroder
Thanks to a very generous donation from a local therapist, we now have a lovely sand tray collection to use in the Art Therapy building. We have several rooms at Tierra Nueva that are well equipped for sand tray or sand play work, and now we have that opportunity available in the…
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Rising Hope:
At first,
I see the road ahead,
to be long, and
treacherous.
The mountains I see,
as steep,
and unforgiving.
I feared,
challenges unknown,
and obstacles well-placed ahead of me.
At times,
I stumbled,
from the weight of all I carry.
But,
I feel my spirit,
ignited once more,
rising above the…
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By Laura Lansrud-Lopez
At the beginning of March 2020, New Mexico experienced a statewide and rapid shift to physical distancing and stay-home requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and global health crisis. Even with so much unknown, the leadership team at Tierra Nueva quickly recognized the impact this might have on our clients. The…
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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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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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An apt title for the potential personal experience this global pandemic has encouraged. Two days after it was announced that gatherings of 50 or more people needed to be postponed, and that public schools in New Mexico would be closed until April 6th (now that has been extended through the end of the school year),…
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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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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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By Deborah Schroder
I continue to be just stunned by the continuing wall of beauty that contains the Capstone murals. The weekend course, or Part One of Capstone, when the mural painting happens, is how we encourage students who are finishing up Practicum, to explore what they know and have experienced about group work, and…
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The initial impulse to create a unique higher learning institution devoted to consciousness began in 1976 in Alamogordo, NM. Then in the fall of 1979 the first 12 students began their course of study.
In the first entering class was Katherine Ninos, M.A., LPCC, who now teaches and mentors other teachers in the Consciousness curriculum.…
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I am a third of the way through my second residency at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee Switzerland. This intermodal education challenges students to learn through our bodies, minds and hearts. Students and teachers from all over the world (Hong Kong, Canada, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Mexico, Germany, Mexico, United…
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By Maqueita Eleazer
While taking the History of Art Therapy course, I was surprised to see that 7/301 pages mentioned the contributions that art therapists of color have made to the field of Art Therapy. Pioneers such as Cliff Joseph, Wayne Ramirez, Lucille Venture, Georgette Seabrook, etc. have made tremendous contributions to this profession, and…
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by Dru Phoenix, MA, LMHC
The upcoming Wild Heart Gallery art show at Southwestern College is titled “Anger and the Feminine Self.” The idea was to invite the feminine into a visual and written dialogue on anger and to give permission for anger to be present since many of us have been raised to avoid…
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By Deb Schroder
I’ve come to really value small moments of joy. My life isn’t lacking happiness but on many days it gets crowded out by stress. One night after work as I dragged myself through the grocery store I found myself staring at the usual row of healthy cereals that do seem to be…
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By Courtney Shackelford
The brain is special and magnificent, strange and mysterious. It is powerful enough to send messages to assist in regulating our bodies, but is also a vulnerable 3 pound organ encased in bone and liquid to keep it safe from the various hazards of the world. A millennium later, humans still do…
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Communicating Creatively: Art, Music, and Alternative Addiction Treatment Therapies
--by Michelle Peterson
recoverypride.org
Millions of people who suffer the ravages of drug and alcohol addiction benefit from traditional, 12-step treatment therapies. Nevertheless, there are some recovering addicts for whom such methods are not effective, and who need the help of alternative approaches that a decade…
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I have been honored to serve the Nambé Pueblo community since October 2013. The reasons for my arrival to the little reservation nestled in a corner of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and hidden behind the winding backroads between Pojoaque and Chimayo, continue to be veiled in a mystery that deepens each day. I began…
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Meltdown!
No matter where one lands in terms of politics in our country right now, the stress of what we see and hear in the news can melt one’s sense of hope and resiliency.
A book on Positive Art Therapy that I’ve been reading, reminds me of what I deeply know about art making and…
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Wild Heart Gallery
Beth Lykins, an Art Therapy/Counseling student finishing up the first part of the Southwestern College masters program, approached the Wild Heart Gallery about hosting an exhibition featuring the artwork of her fellow students who completed the Winter 2017 quarter of AT/CN 592, Art Therapy Techniques: Studio Art.
Fortunately,…
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Wild Heart Gallery
The term, “manifold” can be described in a number of ways, but in application to the latest Wild Heart Gallery exhibition, means “having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc.” This show’s theme centers around visual narrative investigation of Southwestern College staff, faculty, and students into the sacred pieces which formed their…
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Wild Heart Gallery
The term, “manifold” can be described in a number of ways, but in application to the latest Wild Heart Gallery exhibition, means “having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc.” This show’s theme centers around visual narrative investigation of Southwestern College staff, faculty, and students into the sacred pieces which formed their…
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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM