Over the past half century, art therapy has expanded from a tool to address the unmet needs of individuals facing adversity and trauma to much wider use in hospitals, schools, and community organizations to promote health and well-being through artistic self-expression. In my own work as a therapist I have used art to get kids to open up and express how they felt.
And my caregivers patients, seeking mental health support used the medium as a way to destress and reported feeling less burnout. Many responded that the experience distracted them from their daily concerns and allowed them to focus elsewhere.
As a trauma-informed nutritionist I used art to help my emotional eating clients and those struggling to heal from abandonment and childhood emotional neglect to process unresolved emotional pain. Afterward, participants reported feeling more positive, less stressed, less anxious, and more self-confident in doing the work needed to heal and recover from.
I've also used art to heal and process my own emotional wounds after a relapse I struggled through in Fall 2013. Last month I shared a few pieces in a post I wrote Art Heals: Trauma-Informed Arts Therapy. The message here is simple recovery takes different forms do what is right for you. I'm just spreading awareness around the fact that art heals. Tried and true implements in different settings I have worked in proven my point.
Trying to make sense of escaping with food after being mom shamed and called fat during the holidays by inconsiderate elders not knowing any better. I. didn't feel blue. I felt disgusted.
Trying to process the loss of a miscarriage I felt as if I was lost in foggy woods all alone and drowning in pain.
Sitting outside on my front porch reading my bible and talking to God, Angels, Ancestors, and my Divine Team and this is what the sky looked liked so I grabbed my camera to capture the beauty of God's Creation.
The bottomline is art heals. Let it help you recover. To see more of my work visit here.
All The Best,
Dr. Nikki LeToya White
Help Developing A Plan For Self Care
Do you want help developing a self care plan that works for your own busy schedule? Do you want accountability implementing a self care plan? If you or someone you love is struggling to maintain optimal mental and emotional health, consider reaching out to Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. We are a Metro Atlanta, Conyers Georgia area. We are a coaching and counseling practice with empathetic, skilled counselors and recovery coaches who can help you set goals, develop a self care routine and move forward to build a more fulfilling life. Our team would be happy to work with you either just for a couple of sessions to develop and implement a Self Care plan or longer term to work toward overall better mental health within our membership site or other programs.
About The Author:
Dr. Nikki LeToya White MSEd-TL, Ph.D. RHN is the founder, director and a full time board certified trauma-informed nutritionist, folk herbalist, and wellness consultant at Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. She created Spiced Life Conversation, LLC
Art Wellness Studio and Botanica to provide the Metro Atlanta area with a counseling and coaching services where clients are carefully matched with the right program for healing abandonment and childhood emotional neglect trauma that cause codependency, emotional eating, financial stress, and imposter syndrome as it relates to fear of success and being abandon. We help you begin your emotional healing journey with ease. Recently, we have expanded to include online membership site so we now provide support to people living all over the world. All of our recovery coaches provide at least one evidence based treatment to assist in your recovery. Dr. White is a big proponent of self care and helping people live a fulfilling life! She has been in full remission with both codependency and emotional binge eating disorder since 2016. In live a life in recovery from sugar addiction. Loving her low sugar balance lifestyle.