How Art Therapy Helps You Take On Core Issues In Your Life

Women have a tendency to prioritize the wants and needs of those around them causing them to feel disconnected from themselves. On today’s show, my guest Anne Walsh helps us to dig deeper within ourselves to see who we are, and what we want outside of our roles as a mother, wife or employee. She emphasizes that a sense of community for women, especially mothers, is essential to their wellbeing. Without these group discussions among peers, these women are likely to feel isolated handling the unspoken hardships of motherhood.

Anne Walsh is an art therapist, writer, public speaker and mother of two. She chose to pursue graduate studies in art therapy out of a desire to connect more deeply with people who struggle to communicate what they are experiencing.

Her work started out with older adults diagnosed with dementia living in long term care. When nurses requested burnout prevention workshops on the weekends, Anne’s work was noticed by a recruiter and she was hired to teach Psychology, Leadership and Recreation for Older Adults classes at Algonquin College. Anne taught for twelve years until she became a mother. Hoping to achieve work-life balance, she chose to return to her calling as an art therapist on her property in Kemptville, Ontario (Canada).

When her eldest daughter was being bullied at school, Anne launched a series of workshops teaching prosocial behaviors through art as a way to create more collaborative classrooms. She published two children’s books and devoted much of her business to the mental health of children and their families through classroom workshops and after-school art programs for families.

Realizing that parents needed additional support, Anne focused on programs that would give mothers a sense of community. She discovered the need for mothers to speak openly about their experiences with others and documented their stories by writing a book, Out of the Mouths of Moms. Anne has been actively involved in creating an infrastructure of support for mothers in her community. Her efforts have earned her the Chamber of Commerce Business Innovation Award.

Covid has caused Anne to pivot her business by providing online support through her online art therapy sessions, creative journaling group, ghostwriting services and speaking circle. These days, she mostly works with women in their 40s and 50s who have lost touch with their true Self through and are coming home to themselves through creative directives, self-expression and self-exploration.

"Women don't see their strength, they see everyone else's strength" @annewalshauthor

What You’ll Learn from This Episode:

• How we can develop our ability to adapt to the changes that life presents us
• The advantages of art therapy as opposed to the traditional verbal-communication-centered therapy
• The ways that your art can mirror your life experience regardless of your artistic abilities
• The gravity of art interpretation in art therapy
• How different art mediums are used to aid in therapy for specific traumas
• How creative journaling is used to unite women, and affirm the universality of their problems
• A healthy way for children to manage and view their anger

Free Offer: Get a 30 minute one-on-one virtual creative journaling session with Anne Walsh - Get free access here

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