Memorial Day at the Office

Since I work for Veteran's Services, we decorated the office and did an art therapy project for Memorial Day.  We put out flags and pinwheels along our entry way:

And we got people to make a Memorial Day Garland.  I had pre-cut stars (stars are surprisingly hard for people to draw) and we invited staff, faculty, and students to write the name of someone they wanted to remember or to write a message of thanks.

Here is a picture of the finished product:

It wasnt a huge thing we did, but it was a nice way to remember those we have lost.  We are going to keep it up too!

ACA Conference

In March I got to go to the American Counseling Association Conference in Orlando, FL.  My Journey started at DFW where I found this art in the terminal:

I was absolutely LOVING the weather in Orlando because it was so nice - much warmer than Texas, but not yet hot.

At the ACA Expo the Association for Creativity in Counseling hand an art activity for us to do.  We used alcohol inks on the back of dominoes to make cool, one of a kind, magnets:

Here is the table when I made my domino:

Here is what I purchased at the Expo... a chart to explain feelings.  This will be (and already has been) useful for working with my clients, and it looks like an artists pallet so that is a plus!  The cards at the bottom are a deck with therapy exercises/directives.  I also got it for help working with clients.

A sink mirror selfie... I was very glad that I had this belt bag because carrying around a back on my shoulder all day was making my arm hurt!

One of the best things about the conference was finding out about the Military and Government Counseling Association and meeting other people who work with military and veterans!

After the conference was over, before I went home, my awesome best friend came to get me and took me to Downtown Disney.

We had lunch at Bongos - a Cuban restaurant - and it was delicious! 

Here I am with my awesome best friend:

It was great seeing her again after 6 months!!  I really enjoyed this conference, but it certainly did keep me busy 7am until about 10 or 11pm each night!!  I learned a lot and I even signed up for next year which is going to be in Montreal!  It will be my first trip to Canada and I am really hoping that I can take a few days before/after so that I can explore the city!

My New Job

I was asked "what is your job at the college?" by one of my lovely readers, so I decided to do a post about my job - and some of the cool things I have done since working here!

My official title is "Veteran's Counselor."  I work with student veterans and family members of veterans (dependents) and help them with mental health counseling/art therapy/social services.  So, I do individual counseling, group psychoeducation (classes about mental health topics) and a lot of referrals to other community services.

I also work with the school and help them with school wide events.  I helped with a recent job fair that we had.  I helped out when we had Women in Technology Day.  Future and current women students were invited to network and learn about different fields.  I led a discussion about what it is like to be a woman in a traditionally male field.  Here are some pictures from the event:

Welding

Students from the Lineman program demonstrate what they do! 

A female student from another campus tries out what the lineman demonstrated

And I had a table at our health fair.  I did a mural about self-care (mental, emotionally, physically or spiritually) and had information about veterans services at the school and in the community.


Overall I really like working here.  Most of the people here are super nice - and a most have been working here for quite a while.  What I like most is helping the students!!  If you have any other questions, I would love to answer them, so ask away!!

Whats Up Lately

Hello friends!  Long time no see, right?  Sorry about that!  Here is what has been going on:
I moved out of my parent's house and into an apartment so that I would be all set up before starting my new jobs.  I started my job at Catholic Charities and worked 1.5 days before I was offered a full time job in another city.  I accepted it for many different reasons such as - pay and benefits - but most importantly because it was working with my desired population: Veterans!  In the middle of all of that I took and passed the NCE and had a procedure done on both of my feet which left me a little hobbled for a bit.  I have now healed and I already started my new job.  I am a counselor at Texas State Technical College and I will be working exclusively with student veterans.  Because the job is located about an hour and a half away from my current apartment I am moving again!  Twice in less than 2 months! So, this coming weekend, after Christmas I am packing everything up again and moving to Waco, TX.  Anyways, I think that is enough rambling for now - I just wanted to let you know why I was absent for so long!  I am REALLY hoping to get back to blogging on a regular schedule.

FSU Veteran Creative Arts Workshop 2014

A few weeks ago I went back to FSU to help with their annual creative arts workshop!!  Here are some photos from the first day when we were set up on the Union Green and had a make-and-take event where any student could stop by and learn about paper making and make some paper!

FSU Student Veteran Center's new logo ready for screen printing!

pressing water out of the paper with a Gator!

 And pictures from the workshop:

It was a lot of fun!  I went as an art therapist  - so I was there if anyone needed someone to talk to.  I helped with the workshop too.  I also made a few sheets of paper!!  Here are some photos:

Half Army - Half Navy Paper

Half Air Force - Half Marines

Some fabric that was dyed purple...and put a retro lady on it

I loved helping with this event!  I am super excited to be working with Peace Paper Project again in November when they are going to Texas Tech University.

Documented Life Week 23

Hello there!!  Today I want to show you my Documented Life planner!!

Week 23's weekly page:

This photo shows the weekly page and the "notes" page where I art journal.  The challenge for this week was gratitude:

I added an extra flap with the flyer from the Operation Thank You event since I am very thankful for the veterans than came before me:

What are you thankful for?

ICAD 19-20

Hello friends!!  Two more ICAD creations for you today!!

First, 19 June:

As you can see from this ICAD there is a bit of writing (see that "se"?) under the paint.  I have started to use the index cards that I used for my thesis thematic analysis - they had phrases on them and I sorted them into like piles in order to determine themes from my thesis interviews... I had tons of them so I decided I should use them for ICAD because I am all about repurposing.

On the 20th I spent the entire day doing a mask making workshop with FSU's Student Veterans!  If you want to read about it you can check out this post.

That is all for day!!  Hope to "see you" tomorrow.

Student Veteran Mask Making

Hello friends!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  Last Friday I did a mask making workshop with the student veterans at FSU.  It was a lot of fun and I have many pictures to share with you today!!

Several of the students outlined their masks on their face with lipstick (their own idea):

The next step is to cover the entire face in vaseline so that the plaster does not pull out any of the hairs on the face:

Then the partner builds the mask on the face:

After this the person with the mask waits until the mask is dry enough to remove.  After we removed them we used a heat gun to dry the masks faster and then the veterans decorated the masks however they wished:

It was a great day and I really love getting to spend time sharing my love of art and art therapy with these wonderful student veterans.

ICAD June 4-6

Hello again!!  More ICAD for you today!!

On June 4th I did art therapy at the community college.  I did paper marbling with the veterans - I used my example piece as the background for the card:

 June 5th - the first time I wasn't lazy in my ICAD making... I've been pretty lazy sense lol...

 On the 6th I did Operation Thank You which was an event to thank WWII Veterans.  It was pretty awesome because I got to hear the story of a veteran and meet several others and talk to them about what they did during the war.

At Operation Thank You We made this:

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great day.

Blog Hop Around the World!

Claudia over at http://creativeupcycling.blogspot.com/ invited me to participate in a blog hop!  Of course I said yes!!    

What am I working on? 
What am I not working on?  That's the real question.  I still have 2 months left of graduate school so recently a lot of my time has been devoted to working n my thesis! On the art front I have my WIPs - I'm doing the Documented Life Project, I keep an art journal, I do a monthly & yearly right brain planner, I keep a fitness art journal, I participate in the Happy Art Swap and I have a painting that I am working on.  Also, ICAD started yesterday!!  Here is my first card:

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I am not sure if my personal work differs from others.  I do art because it makes me feel good and helps me de-stress.  I do art to heal myself!  

On the art therapy front, I do think my work my differ from others!  I bring my own personal style into my work with my clients.  I like to use recycled materials.  Also, while I do have some art training (enough to go to school to become an art therapist), I am not as trained in art as many other people in my field.  A lot of my style and work/material preference has developed via experimentation on my own.  

This is a picture of a community painting we did at first Friday - we recycled one of my old canvases for this!  You can see a video of this painting being made at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_4jU7l8quA

Why do I create what I do?
As previously stated, I do art to feel better. I had surgery on my hip back in 2009.  It still gives me trouble and causes me pain.  I also struggle with depression - its definitely a chemical thing for me and hormonally linked.  In addition to my personal issues, I am in graduate school which means tons of stress!  A lot of my art has to do with motivating myself, thinking positively and feeling better.  I ALWAYS feel better when I allow myself some time to get involved in the creative process.  

I do art therapy because I feel that if art can help me then it can help others too!  I certainly want to work with veterans because I understand military culture and I know the challenges that veterans face.  I really hope that I am able to teach others how to use the creative process to improve their quality of life.

How does your creating process work?

I suppose my process depends on what I am trying to do.  Typically with an art journal page I start by selecting 3-5 colors (sometimes monochromatic, sometimes not).  I scrape them onto the paper with an old credit card or old insurance card.  Then sometimes I print other designs on them with different colors - sometimes not.  Sometimes I use washi tape and/or collage of different colored paper.  Then I select an image from my stash of images.  After I pick the image I go through my box of cut out words/phrases.  Unless I am making art for a specific purpose (for instance postcard swaps where I try to make cards about art making) I just pick whichever words "speak" to me.  

Part of the blog hop is that I get to direct all of you lovely readers over to three more people who will be participate in the hop!!  So, here they are:

Trece blogs at http://simplytrece.wordpress.com/  - This wonderful woman was the first of my online friends!  We have never met in person but we talk online and we have sent mailart to each other many times!  She has been super supportive and I am so glad I "met" her.

Sarah blogs at http://rainbowgeckogal.blogspot.com/ - I also met Sarah online and she has been a wonderful mailart friend.  She lives is Australia!!  She has sent me lots of goodies that have ended up in my art journal!  

Last, but not least, is Teresa and she blogs at http://www.rightbrainplanner.com/ - Like my previous two buddies, I met Teresa online too!  I have been doing Teresa's monthly Right Brain Planner since October!  Following her work has given me the opportunity to find news ways of journaling and planning.  

So, go visit my wonderful friends - they will positing the answers to the above questions on their own blogs next week, June 9th.  

Thanks for stopping by today!!  Have a great Monday.  

Art Therapy at the Homeless Veteran Stand Down

This past weekend was the North Florida Homeless Veteran Stand Down.  It is a 3-day event that aims to help homeless veterans get back on their feet.  They can come stay at the camp for 3 days and get food, clothes, showers, a safe place to sleep, legal assistance, medical care, dental care, housing assistance, state IDs or drivers licenses, birth certificates, help filing a disability claim with the VA.  In addition, a lot of other companies/organizations come out to set up a table and provide service or information... for instance: a library, the local junior college, the national guard family readiness group, pet therapy, art therapy (of course!), music therapy, a library, recreation therapy, red cross, health department, and many more!

The FSU Art Therapy Association went out from 8-4 on Friday and 830-430 on Saturday and we made an American Flag with everyone that was there.  We had contributions from ages 2-70!  Here are some photos from our time out there:

This dog came and did art therapy with us! 

This is what she made!

At the end of day one! 

half-way done

Shark!  Have fun doing a slow-moment!  

The finished flag!  Its so wonderful!! 

It was a lot of fun to get to talk to all the veterans and the veteran service providers.  I am really glad I got to go!!