Artist and Therapist Statement

My practices as an artist and art therapist continuously inform each other. Art making is a vehicle for me to distill my personal experiences by providing the space to dissect, analyze, and re-construct my understanding of them. I utilize art making as a way to explore the multiplicity of my identity, typically investigating issues of immigration, culture, femininity, ability, and mental health. My art practice has developed my capacity to be introspective and self-reflective. These abilities further the tact and empathy necessary to strengthen the therapeutic alliance. Similarly, my therapeutic practice expands my artistic sensibility by inspiring artwork that assists me in the processing of my experiences as a mental health clinician.

Both my art practice and therapist identity are diverse. I utilize a broad range of traditional and non-traditional materials, including dryer sheets and tea bags, in my artistic explorations. As a therapist, I work through a client-centered relational framework and draw techniques from various methodologies such as Mindfulness, TF-CBT, STRONG Families, and SPARCS. These clinical interventions underline the impact of trauma in individual’s experiences within a cultural context while emphasizing mindfulness and communication. Through this integrative approach, I incorporate various therapeutic interventions to best meet the needs of my clients.