Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is primarily a talk-based therapy intended to improve and maintain mental health and wellbeing. The therapeutic relationship is a key component of the healing process, and we work collaboratively to create positive change in your life. Psychotherapy can help work through thoughts, feelings, moods, behaviours, or relationship patterns that are holding you back, making you feel stuck, and negatively impacting your daily life.
Art Therapy
Art therapy combines creative process and psychotherapy. Making art can help the expression of thoughts and feelings that are hard to put into words. Making art can be therapeutic in and of itself. It can shift energy, bring inspiration, and offer a new way of looking at things. Art therapy can be adapted for all ages and abilities. Artistic skill and experience is not necessary in order to benefit. As an art therapist I am trained to adapt the creative process to support your unique needs and goals for therapy. Making art within therapy sessions can support therapeutic goals in a number of ways, some of which include:
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A play-based approach for working with children
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To support nervous-system regulation (helpful with healing trauma, working through triggers, anxiety, depression, etc.)
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To deepen self-knowledge
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To connect with body-based and mindfulness-based practices
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To develop new ways of coping
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To connect with nature by using natural materials
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To re-claim personal narratives or explore identity
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To make meaning out of difficult life experiences (grief/loss)
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To improve quality of life (end of life care)
Eco Art Therapy
Eco art therapy focuses on integrating nature into the therapy sessions in a variety of ways. Sessions may explore a relationship between self and the natural world, and natural materials may be used to create artwork. I work from the belief that connection to nature within a psychotherapy session can help co-regulate the nervous system, that we are part of nature -not separate from it, and that recognizing our interconnectedness with nature can facilitate connection, a sense of belonging, and healing.
About Rachel
I am a registered psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, and a member of both the Ontario Society of Registered Psychotherapists and the Canadian Art Therapy Association. I have a graduate level diploma in art therapy (DTATI) from the Toronto Art Therapy Institute (2022).
Since 2017, I have provided art therapy in many settings including a hospital, long term care home, palliative/end of life care, feminist agencies serving women survivors of violence, shelters, an art gallery, a child and youth mental health clinic, and even a garden. In my private practice I draw from each of these experiences to support individuals.
For as long as I can remember, I have used some form of creativity to connect with and process my feelings, to cope through challenges, to make meaning from my life experiences, and also to express joy. I have a background in music, modern dance, and visual art. I bring my creative experience to my work as a therapist to support the therapeutic process, and continue to use creativity as a resource in my adult life.
I first discovered my interest in combining creative process and psychotherapy during my undergraduate study at York University where I received an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Art (2011). My studio art practice focused on photographic portraiture (of self and others) where the use of colour, texture, written words, projections, video art, dance/creative movement, and bookmaking explored an inner landscape during a healing process. One day I started bringing my poetry and artwork to my therapist, who helped me recognize what was being expressed through my creativity. Through this process I was inspired to study art therapy and train as a psychotherapist.
