"When I looked into it, I fell in love."

I originally heard about Art Therapy through my mother. She is a nurse and when she was getting her master’s back in 2016 her thesis was about music therapy. Around that same time, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to major in that was related to art and science and she said, what about Art Therapy? When I looked into it I fell in love. I knew how art helped me express myself and cope with things so I thought it was amazing to see that all backed by science and how it can truly help people. Although I did not do my undergrad in Art therapy and I ended up majoring in painting at scad, as time unfolded I could feel a shift in my art and myself that began leaning more towards art therapy so I knew that was my next step. I think overall what inspired me though was the idea of processing emotions and experiences through art, my love of people, my joy in art-making, and my goal of helping to de-stigmatize therapy in communities of color and make it more accessible. 🙂 

“I make art in class every day and I love it.”

What are some highlights and challenges experienced during this pursuit from what you are doing so far?

I am really enjoying working with/ meeting so many wonderful people and learning more about art therapy through my internship with Arts on The Block. It’s a lot of fun to research, plan, and facilitate art therapy directives with the TAP apprentices and the other teaching artists during the Art as Self-Care workshops. I originally worried a bit that the program would be all therapy and no art but it’s quite the opposite. I make art in class every day and I love it. I also really love all of my classmates in my cohort at GW. The only challenge I faced was making sure I had all the funding I needed. The good thing though is that I ended up getting a dean’s fellowship and there are some good scholarships that can be applied for. It can also be challenging with classes because it is an academically rigorous grad program so you have to make sure you plan and stay on top of things. Also sometimes the classes can bring up a lot of emotions and that can be a lot but it really shows you how to relate and help your future clients. It is also the reason they emphasize that we as future therapists go to therapy.