Have you heard about the idea of choosing one word for your year instead of making New Year’s resolutions? You choose one word that is your focus, goal, and mantra for the year. To choose your word, take some time to think about where your life is, how you hope for things to be at the end of the year, and what you need to add, change, or let go of in the next year to move closer to that dream. (A quick Google search will turn up multiple websites around the one word concept and … [Read more...]
Self-Esteem Stars: An Activity to Build Confidence and Self-Esteem
Better self-esteem in one of the top five goals for kids that I hear from parents when they come into my office. Low self-esteem can manifest in different ways. It can look like the child that is constantly seeking praise and reassurance from others, showing off or asking if others like what they’ve done. Or a child that never seems to feel like they are good at anything, putting themselves down or comparing themselves to others. Or a child that has an extreme reaction and meltdown to any … [Read more...]
Exploring New Art Materials! Kwik Stix Review
As an art therapist, I love exploring new art materials. Art therapy does not require a lot of supplies – I have done home-based therapy in the past with no more than paper, an envelope of collage pictures, glue, scissors, pencils and markers. But in my private practice now, I like to have a lot more options – including paint, glitter, oil pastels, clay, various paper choices, and small sculpture constructing materials – and have been slowly adding new things over time. So I was excited when I … [Read more...]
Drawing Prompts for Back to School Anxiety
School is beginning soon – here in Austin we’ve begun the one week countdown to the first day. For many kids, the beginning of a new school year brings a lot of anxiety. Art therapy for anxiety can be a great way to help kids explore and work through their fears. Here are a few suggestions for art directives to address back to school worries. 1. Superhero and villain drawing – The child can draw the problem or fear as a villain and draw themselves as a superhero. This helps to … [Read more...]
Using “Inside Out” to Explore Emotions
Therapists, counselors, parents, and kids all seem to enjoy the movie Inside Out. I loved it and have also loved how it has helped children in my therapy practice to talk about their emotions and understand the value of all of their feelings. Parents can easily fall into the habit of encouraging kids to not be angry or get over their sadness, but instead should remind kids that each of our feelings has an important role to play and should be honored (Dan Kois wrote a great Slate article on … [Read more...]
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