The feelings of grief can feel overwhelming, like a flood that will carry you away.  Art made in art therapy can contain difficult emotions.

I thought I would peel back one aspect of my life and talk about how I, as a therapist, cope with stress, anxiety, and the hard stuff. While these are not exhaustive lists, they are the things I learned to do consistently over time to take care of my overall health.

Adults who come to therapy, often have developed unhelpful ways of coping with their anxiety. Parents who reach out to me about child therapy want their children to learn better ways to cope with anxiety.

Anxiety is one of the main issues that people come to therapy to deal with.

Maybe you have never gone to therapy and the thought of talking about anxiety feels hard. Perhaps you have tried to “talk” to a therapist before about your anxiety. And it didn’t go as you hoped.

Some therapies rely much less on talking, Art Therapy is one of them.

Stress can come from external events, illnesses, injuries, and even from past experiences. How much stress can one body take? Everyone is different. Some people are more resilient in the face of certain stressors.

So how do you know if you’ve reached your limit and now may be dealing with underlying anxiety?

As I have provided therapy for kids, many have wrestled with anxiety, for various reasons. It's not uncommon for kids to have worries about their own safety. They also worry that something bad will happen to their parents. During the pandemic, these fears heightened for many children.

You can’t even put the past two years into words. You made it through the holidays. The disappointments, the stress, the grief. While you may or may not be looking forward to the New Year, you may be wondering if it’s time to address your anxiety. Perhaps you’ve been riding the waves up and down for a while.