People often come for therapy when their effort to improve their experience of living is just not working for them. Life presents challenges and we do our best to meet those challenges, but we often get stuck, frustrated and overwhelmed.
Therapy can help by providing a safe place for unloading stored up thoughts and emotions, and unlearning old destructive or unproductive habits. There are many ways to accomplish this, many kinds of therapy and therapists, many modalities and methods.
My job as your therapist will be to create the structure best suited to facilitate your therapy process. The approach I use brings together the perspectives of expressive arts therapy, social work, and psychoanalysis, emphasizing whichever works best for you in any given session.
Clay is at the heart of the studio based work I do. Clay is dense, weighty, and malleable. Clay can become anything. Forms may be representational or abstract or somewhere in between; they may become fixed and permanent, be fired and even glazed, or be crushed and rolled back up in a ball
In addition to clay work, I offer other art materials and playful modalities, such as role play, movement exploration, story telling, and sand play, a nonverbal method for all ages, using sand and miniatures. All of these expressive modalities provide stress relief, stimulate the imagination, and through journaling and discussion, connect the intuitive and the logical sides of the brain.
Individual Sessions
Adults
For those seeking to enliven their personal journey, anchor their healing in concrete expression, relieve stress, neutralize and transform toxic energy, and get in touch with their dreams, individual sessions offer a combination of talk with clay work, drawing, painting, sandplay, or movement. Sessions are usually weekly or twice weekly for 60- 90 minutes. Individual "Dreamfigures" sessions are available for both men and women. (Please see description under Group Work.)
Teens
"Self-initiated Therapy” is the way one teen described Michelle’s way of working. You can talk if, how, and when you want. If you don’t feel like talking, you can focus on your art project, write in your journal, create a scene in the sand tray, or express yourself through movement. You’re not put on the spot. Having a chance to do something physical or creative makes talking easier.
Children
Play therapy, art therapy, storytelling and sandplay are the primary modalities Michelle uses with young children. Social, educational, behavioral, and family issues are additionally addressed through meetings with parents and school personnel.
Parent Counseling
Parent sessions support the work with children and teens. Some parents may prefer to address parent - child issues through ongoing parent counseling sessions.
Group Work
“Dreamfigures,” A Women’s Clay group*
"Dreamfigures" are the images and forms which inhabit our dreams, fantasies, and the wordless depths of the unconscious. This group process encourages opening to these personal and collective images and allowing them to make themselves known through clay or other art materials. Group members practice being in dialogue with the unconscious and gain strength from witnessing and being witnessed in the creative non-judgemental sessions. In addition to structured exercises and time for free artistic exploration, the Dreamfigures Group experience includes journal writing, sharing personal stories, and experiencing oneself and one's creations within the supportive circle of the group. Basic instruction is offered as needed.
After three initial individual meetings with Michelle, participants may sign up for a series of six to ten 2 hour group sessions. On alternate weeks, group members meet with Michelle for individual sessions, or meet for ongoing therapy with another therapist of their choice.
*The "dreamfigures" work can also be done on an individual basis.
Couples and Family Counseling
Couples or parent-child dyads use weekly sessions to build new ways of communicating, enhanced by the use of symbol and metaphor inherent in art therapy and creative play.