Psychotherapy, art therapy, and creative self-care
being human is hard. sometimes therapy can help.
Communication, relationships,
emotions, & daily life can be a lot.
Being human is messy and there are times that we need a therapist to talk to.
Living abroad can create many challenges, and finding a counselor who speaks your language can feel overwhelming.
I provide therapy and counseling in English to expats and digital nomads.
Sometimes our messy moments can be glorious, beautiful, fantastical inspirational messiness, and then sometimes they are painful. Work/life balance and self-care are almost always thrown out the window when the mess takes over. Sometimes, as a result, we learn lessons from the messes. Other times it takes a while, and maybe also we need some help to find our way out of our favorite not-so-great habits. If you are living in a new culture and city, life as an expat, immigrant, or trailing spouse can present other changes to deal with on top of all of the everyday stuff.
Talking to a counselor can be like having your own personal emotional tour guide. It’s my job to help point out the cool stuff you might not see as you wander along. Counseling can be a really helpful tool for those times when we aren’t sure what we need to change, and how to go about creating that change for ourselves.
What’s the difference between counseling & therapy?
The terms “counseling” and “therapy” are typically used interchangeably. They pretty much mean the same thing. If you want to really get into it, counseling is more short-term and you just have a handful of solution-focused sessions that focus on a current concern.
Therapy (also called psychotherapy just to be more confusing) is a medium to long-term process that considers the whole of a person’s experiences. In sessions, you talk about how they might impact or inform your quality of life, relationships, school, and work. You also work with your therapist to establish the skills you need for on-going positive self-care, self-reflection, and personal growth.
Creative Self-Care
These days it seems like self-care is a term that is easily thrown about, but what does it really mean? At its essence, it is taking care of yourself. Period. Full stop.
Taking care of yourself exits on a scale, and can be as simple as going into the bathroom, closing the door, closing your eyes and taking a moment to breathe. To pause. Or maybe you get in the kitchen because that is what grounds you. Maybe you like to clean because you feel like you’ve accomplished something (sorry, not me, but total respect if it’s you). Some people doodle, or color, or knit. Sometimes it’s sitting in a cool patch of grass. And sometimes it’s that mani/pedi or massage that you read about in the magazines and top 10 lists.
Coloring books are a really great tool to use for grounding, turning off brain-noise, and occupying your hands. You can color while you watch TV or listen to music or a podcast and choose how much you focus. It’s portable, you can do it with other people or by yourself, and it makes you feel better. There are lots of great coloring books for adults in the world, including some really cool paint-by-number kits. Click here for a link to my Color Because series, available on Amazon. I’ve also published a planner called Keeping it Together which includes coloring pages and self-care prompts.
“When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.”
— Fred Rogers