Bite Sized Self-Care

Caregiving has often been described as a 36-hour day (Arora & Wolf, 2014), meaning more responsibilities than can fit into a regular day with no break! One of my roles as an art therapist, is a group facilitator for parents, grandparents, and people who are taking care of a loved one. Recognizing that personal time is precious and limited, I prioritize what I called bite-sized self-care (Altschwager, 2022). These are self-care activities that don’t take a lot of time.

A quick and effective way to return our attention to the present moment is to engage one or more of our senses. It is not unusual to get so busy during the day that we don’t pay attention to what or even how much we are eating, let alone all of the rich sensory experiences within each bite. A mindful warmup we recently used in the caretaker's group was to savor a piece of chocolate (Nash, 2022). You can do this yourself with chocolate, or another candy. Observe how the chocolate looks and smells, the weight and texture in your hand, and the sound the wrapper makes. When you are ready, close your eyes and place the chocolate in your mouth, but don’t chew it. Instead, notice the taste of the chocolate, the texture, and how it slowly melts in your mouth. Sound good? Give it a try!

Some other bite-sized self-care activities include (Altschwager, 2022):

• Fiber arts- knitting, weaving, crochet are long-term projects but can be broken down into smaller, bite-sized breaks. Completing a single row will only take a few minutes.

• #Stichaday-(Thomas et al, 2019)- this hashtag describes a phenomenon online where people work on a single embroidery hoop for a set length of time (usually a year), and make one small addition every day.

• Digital art- many apps including This is Sand, Zen Brush, and Scribblify, to name a few, allow you to engage your visual sense and creativity in a matter of moments.

• Miniature- Scale down your drawings to the size of an index card or business card. Fill them with patterns, doodles, colors, or scribbles. You might draw your breath, your feelings in the moment, a mandala, or whatever comes to mind.

References:

Altschwager, B (2022, June 9–12). Bite-Sized Self-Care: Moments of Creativity & Calm [Conference presentation]. Water and Stone CAT Conference, virtual, Brooklyn, NY, United States.

Arora, K., & Wolf, D. A. (2014). Is there a trade-off between parent care and self-care?. Demography, 51(4), 1251-1270.

Nash, S. L. (2022, May 9). Mindfulness and the Art of Eating Chocolate. Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/blog/practicing-mindfulness-with-chocolate

Thomas, S., Welton, K., & Marlow, D. (2019, October 30-November 3). #Stitchaday: Threading the art therapist identity through visual and written shared journaling [paper presentation]. American Art Therapy Association Annual Conference, Kansas City, Missouri.

Art Challenge: Dinovember

It’s November which means that it’s Dinovember. The annual traditions was started by Refe and Susan Tuma, “Every year, we devote the month of November to convincing our children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life. It began modestly enough. The kids woke up to discover that the dinosaurs had gotten into a box of cereal and made a mess on the kitchen table. The next morning, the dinos had climbed onto the kitchen counter to raid the fruit bowl.” Your challenge is to arrange your dinosaur figurines (or other toys) getting up to some mischief and photograph the results. What shenanigans will your dinosaurs get up to this weekend?

Art Challenge: Jack o' Lantern

Halloween is just a few weeks away and you might by thinking about decorations. The carved pumpkin, or Jack-o-lantern, comes from an Irish tradition of carving potatoes and turnips to ward off evil spirits. Your challenge for this week is to decorate a pumpkin.

• Carve a pumpkin (or other vegetable). Here is a resource with tips for helping your pumpkin to last a long time after carving. If you want to keep your pumpkin carving more natural, consider carving your pumpkin closer to Halloween.

• Decorate your pumpkin by painting. If you are going to display your pumpkin indoors, regular acrylic paints will be fine. If you plan to display your pumpkin outdoors, use a waterproof or spray paint option. When you finish painting the pumpkin you can add other details by carving into the surface (etching) or embellishing with glitter, ribbon, fabric cutouts, or flowers.

• You can also create a pumpkin two-dimensionally. Free-draw, paint, or collage a pumpkin or print this anti-coloring page.
  

Art Challenge: Fallen Leaves

You don’t need specialized materials to make art. Artists like Andy Goldsworthy, Yoko Ono, and Olafur Eliasson have made works of art from natural materials including sticks, rocks, trees, snow, and ice. An art teacher, Hirotaka Hamasaki, uses fallen leaves to recreate illustrations of characters from popular culture such as Pikachu, Kirby, and Winnie the Pooh. Your challenge this week is to take a break from raking and draw with leaves.

Art Challenge: Fireworks

Summer is here and with it, cookouts, beach trips, and vacation. If you’re in the United States, you might be getting ready to celebrate the Fourth of July. Your challenge this week is to create your own fireworks. No, I’m not telling you to go out and get explosives (remember, safety first). You can create your own fireworks display by drawing (draw free hand, print out this anti-coloring book page from Susan Striker, or use scratch art paper), painting, or using an app.

Art Challenge: Laundry Art

Image credit Helga Stentzel.

Helga Stentzel is a Siberian-born artist working in a variety of media including illustration, photography, video and stop motion animation. One of her more whimsical projects involved hanging laundry on a clothesline to resemble animals. In her artist statement, Stentzel wrote “To me, household surrealism is about finding magic in the mundane, seeing beauty in imperfections, and connecting to our reality in a new way. I love noticing playful similarities - be it a sweater on a clothing line looking like a horse or a slice of bread resembling a dog’s head… I hope that my art will help people to connect with their inner child and rediscover the joy of savoring little visual delights in and outside their homes.”

Your challenge for this week is make your own clothesline creation.

Water and Stone Conference

Creating a Digital Art Toolkit

Friday June 2, 2023 1:00-4:00 PM EST (virtual)

3 CE Hours

Register for the Water and Stone CAT Conference

With the plethora of new technologies available, how do you choose the best tools for your clients? This course will introduce the SPIRAL framework for evaluating apps for therapeutic use. Participants will use their devices to practice digital art and add new apps to their toolkit

1. Participants will be able to define the SPIRAL acronym for evaluating the suitability of art apps for a given client population.

2. Participants will be able to identify at least five apps which are suitable for the client population in their area of practice.

3. Participants will be able to demonstrate proficiency with one or more art making apps through the creation of a digital art work.

4. Participants will be able to apply the SPIRAL framework to evaluate at least one app.

Weekly App Review: Scratchify

Sample image made using the Scartchify app.

This week I’m reviewing the Scratchify app, another app by linkedPIXEL the makers of Scribblify. Scratchify immitates the look of scratch art, a subtractive drawing technique that utilizes a sharpened stylus to scratch away a think layer of dark paint (or pigment) to reveal a lighter color underneath. By carefully scratching away parts of the surface, the artist can create high contrast images.

Intended Use: The app is intended for making art.

Target Audience: The app is listed as appropriate for ages four and up.

Usability: The interface is simple to use and primarily text based. Users are prompted to answer the questions, “What’s worrying you?” They are then prompted to type their response and put it in the worry box. The user reports this process until they have addressed all of their hypothetical worries. Once all of the worries are in the box, the user is prompted burn the box. The app then plays a brief animation of the box of fire.

Cost: The app is free with advertisements. There are in-app purchases of gems which can be exchanged for additional brushes, shapes, backgrounds, etc. The pack of 250 gems ($4.99) removes advertisements.

Technical Requirements: Available for iOS and Android.

Pro’s:

• The app creates bright images with a lot of contrast. This is could be engaging for younger users. It may also be helpful for users who have partial vision loss.

• Users can free draw or use symmetrical drawing tools and stamps. This makes art making more approachable for those who may be insecure about their drawing skills or have motor impairments.

• This tool could be a useful introduction to traditional scratch art in art therapy or classroom settings. Alternatively, this could be a tool for clients to use in between sessions if they do not have access to art materials or a space to work with them.

• Unlike traditional scratch art, users can undo mistakes with the touch of a button.

• The app removes the need to use a sharp tool for drawing. This addresses a safety concern for clients who are at risk for violence, self-harm, or are being seen in secure facilities.

• Users can save their work and continue their pieces later.

Con’s:

• In the free version, users have to watch an advertisement before they can save their work. The frequent ads detract from the overall experience.

• The drawing area is very small on the phone version. It would be best used on a tablet to increase the available drawing space.

• If the app accidentally closes before the work is saved, the progress made on the image will be lost.

Is it worth it? The free version of app is worth trying for personal use. The bright colors are engaging and the interface is simple enough for beginner users. The option to use premade shapes and symmetrical tools makes art making approachable for those who are not confident in their drawing abilities or have physical limitations. In order to use this with clients I would recommend upgrading to the paid version and using it on a tablet.

Weekly App Review: ScreenZen

This week I’m reviewing the ScreenZen app. ScreenZen is a productivity app that is designed to help people use their devices more mindfully and reduce their overall screen time. Users set screen limits for different categories of apps and websites (e.g. social media, games, etc.) and set a schedule when these limits are in effect. If a user tries to open a distracting app during the designated timeframe, ScreenZen prompts them them to consider if opening the app is actually necessary. The user then has to decide if it is important or not. If opening the restricted app is necessary, ScreenZen will open the app for a brief pause and keep it open for a few minutes before locking the app down again. ScreenZen also has suggestions for a ten day digital declutter including how to set up Do Not Disturb mode, limit notifications from other apps, or reduce spam in their email inbox.

Intended Use: The app is for productivity.

Target Audience: The app is listed as appropriate for ages four and up. Adults and teens can set up the app for themselves and parents/guardians can set up the app for use with younger children.

Usability: The interface is the primarily text based. Users who are not tech savvy may have some difficulty setting up the app. Once the setting are put in place, the app restricts distracting app usage automatically.

Cost: The app is free.

Technical Requirements: Available for iOS.

Pro’s:

• The app is based on theories of behavior change. Specifically, ScreenZen works by interrupting the impulse to check your phone. Instead of picking up your phone and receiving a reward (e.g. opening an app for distraction or entertainment) the user is presented with a moment to pause and think through their decision. This reduces mindless activity and helps the user reduce temptation. Unlike other screen limiting apps, ScreenZen does not require all-or-nothing behavior change. Users can set the number of times they are allowed to open distracting apps each day. It is often unrealistic and unsustainable to go from checking your phone dozens of time per day to not checking it at all.

• Users can fully customize their experience. This includes which apps are restricted, during what days and hours, how many pick ups they are allowed, what mindful question they are asked during the pause, and the length of the pause (which can be the same amount of time each time or increase with each pick up).

• The app includes ten steps for digital decluttering their device and email inbox.

Con’s:

• The app relies on the user to set the controls. This means that 1. you have to be honest with yourself about what apps are distracting for you and 2. you have to actually set restrictions on those apps. For example, you might struggle with checking social media during work. You restrict Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok, but not Instragram, even though that is the app you use the most. This is not a fault of the app, rather, it is something to be mindful of when you are setting up your controls.

• Some of the screen limits are relatively easy to circumvent. Some entertainment apps, such as YouTube, can stay open longer than the screen limit time if the video is playing in picture-in-picture mode.

Is it worth it? The app is free and in the days that I have been testing it, I have noticed that I’m using the restricted apps less. I would recommend the app to anyone who is trying to use their devices more mindfully without having to go “cold turkey.” Gradual changes are generally more sustainable than radical ones and this tool can be a useful support as long as you are honest with yourself about what your strengths, weaknesses, and goals are.

Art Challenge: Animal Outlines

Watercolor painting by Sujay Sanan.

Sujay Sanan is an artist who draws his inspiration from the plants and animals of South Africa’s Wastern Cape wilderness. His distinctive works feature the outline of an animal filled in with intricate watercolor landscapes. About his work, Sanan explained “My works document landscapes seen through the species that inhabit them. Some of the places I have painted are familiar and close to where I live, while in others I have found myself as a momentary visitor. While these works document what I fear might be lost, they are also filled with optimism.”

Your challenge this week is to develop a drawing or painting featuring the outline of an animal and fill it with details from the environment where it lives. You might pick an animal that is native to where you live, an animal from a place far away, or one from your imagination.

Weekly App Review: WorryBox

Screenshots from the WorryBox app.

This week I’m reviewing the WorryBox app. Everyone has anxious thoughts or worries from time to time. The feeling of worry can be useful if it prevents us from doing things that are dangerous or motivates us to solve problems. Unfortunately, worries can sometimes become overwhelming or keep us from enjoying life. When you notice your thoughts becoming a series of “what if’s” about things that haven’t happened, worst-case scenarios, or over which you have little or no control (e.g. what if I say something embarrassing, what if the train is late, etc.), what we call hypothetical worries, it can be helpful to set aside worry time to acknowledge these thoughts and let them go. WorryBox is an app that helps users with worry time.

Intended Use: The app is intended for relaxation.

Target Audience: The app is listed as appropriate for ages four and up. It can be used by anyone who can write basic sentences (ages approximately 6 and up independently).

Usability: The interface is simple to use and primarily text based. Users are prompted to answer the questions, “What’s worrying you?” They are then prompted to type their response and put it in the worry box. The user reports this process until they have addressed all of their hypothetical worries. Once all of the worries are in the box, the user is prompted burn the box. The app then plays a brief animation of the box of fire.

Cost: The app is free.

Technical Requirements: Available for iOS.

Pro’s:

• The app is free and easy to use.

• There are no advertisements or in-app purchases.

• It can be a helpful tool to deal with hypothetical worries.

Con’s:

• The app is text based and only available in English.

Is it worth it? The app could be a useful tool for dealing with worrisome thoughts in conjunction with therapy. Specifically, users might need psychoeducation about the difference between practical worries and hypothetical worries as it usually best to deal with the two types in different ways. Problem-solving is generally the best strategy for practical worries as it addresses the problem directly, naturally eliminating the worry. Avoiding the discomfort of practical worries can make things worse by prolonging the problem and leading to an accumulation of unfinished tasks which can become overwhelming.

Five Ways to Protect Your Mental Health on Valentine's Day

Weekly App Review: Doodle Drawing Pad

Doodle made with the Doodle Drawing Pad app.

This week I’m reviewing the Doodle Drawing Pad app. There are many simple drawing app on the market but what sets this one apart is the ability to narrate and screen-record within the app (rather than using separate tools). This could be a valuable feature for art therapists and art therapy researchers as it will allow for stroke by stroke recording of the client’s creative process as well as their verbal comments.

Intended Use: The app is intended for art and productivity.

Target Audience: Both apps are listed as appropriate for ages four and up.

Screen shot showing the tools in the Doodle Drawing Pad app.

Usability: The interface is primarily visual and there are minimal text labels. Users can choose from pen, marker, and pencil tools in a variety of colors. Simply draw with a finger to make curved lines or use the ruler tool for assistance drawing straight lines. The selection tool allows users to move portions of their drawing around the screen. There are also tools to undo mistakes (e.g. an eraser tool to selectively remove portions of the drawing and a garbage can to start over).

Cost: The app is free.

Technical Requirements: Available for iOS.

Pro’s:

• The app is free and easy to use. This can be especially useful for beginners or during research as the user can learn to use the app relatively quickly.

• Users can selects colors from a preset palette or choose their own from the entire spectrum.

• Users can choose to record their process through the screen only or include voice narration.

• The selection tool could be used to create cut outs for animation during the screen recording process. For example, a client might draw a character then use the selection tool to move the character around the screen while telling a story.

Con’s:

Playback (sped up x4) of the drawing process on Doodle Drawing Pad app.

• If your phone is in Dark mode, the drawing and screen recording process will have a black background but drawings exported to the camera roll will have a white background. This means that the finished product might not look like what the user sees when they are creating it. The work around for this is to switch your phone to Light mode.

• Once the app is closed, the drawing space is cleared. This means that the drawing must be completed in a single session. It also means that if the app closes unexpectedly during the drawing process, that the drawing is lost and the user will need to start all over again.

• Users have to remember to press the record option before they begin drawing. It doesn’t happen automatically.

• The types of tools and customizations for those tools are limited. While this is good for beginners, it may not be robust enough for more experienced artists who appreciate a greater degree of control.

Is it worth it? While there are more robust drawing programs available (e.g. Procreate, Krita, etc.) this could be a valuable tool for beginners and researchers. Having a record of the art making process as well as the processing allows the therapist to review the session as many times as needed. It also creates opportunities to review the footage with the client if needed.

One of the critiques other reviewers have made is that this app is essentially a duplicate of the native Notes app on the iOS system. In my opinion, this is a fair critique. The Notes app actually has more tools available (e.g. ink pen, brush marker), supports switching between light and dark mode within the app, and allows the user to save and revisit their drawings within the app. In order to make recordings, however, the user would need to use the operating systems record function (outside of the app). The familiar interface might actually be a benefit to new clients as they may already know how to use the app and have access to it outside of sessions.

Art Challenge: Colorful Winter

Wassily Kandinsky, Winter Landscape I, Kochel, Bavaria, 1909

If I were to ask you what color comes to mind when you think about winter you might answer white, grey, or even blue. Kandisky’s Winter Lanscape I has a palette with bright yellows, greens, and even lavendar. Your challenge this week is to draw or paint a winter landscape with an unconventional color palette.

Weekly App Review: Anti-Coloring Book

This week I’m reviewing the Anti Coloring Book Collection (referred to as A in this post) and Adult Anti-Coloring Book (referred to as B in this post) apps. These apps are based on the work of Susan Striker, an art educator and author, who wanted to provide an alternative to traditional coloring books. Conventional coloring books encourage children to fill in the pre-printed drawings of adults rather than developing their own images. Her anti-coloring books encourage creative artistic expression by providing a prompt and basic structure in which to develop a unique drawing. For example, rather than creating an outline of an ice cream sundae for a child to color in, an anti-coloring book page might have a picture of an empty dish and a spoon with the prompt “Make your own sundae!” I’ve used the anti-coloring book pages in my practice with children and adults alike.

Intended Use: The app is intended for artistic expression.

Target Audience: Both apps are listed as appropriate for ages four and up. A could be used by children six and up independently (or younger children with support due to the need to read the prompts). There is a listen button to read the prompt aloud, however, this did not work on my device. B could be used by users sixteen and up as some of the prompts are geared towards adults and teens (e.g. If you could get a tattoo, what would it look like? or How do you want to be remembered in your yearbook?).

Usability: The interface is primarily visual and there are minimal text labels. Users are prompted to select an anti-coloring page or a blank canvas, and begin drawing. The tools include thick and thin markers, crayon, chalk, pencil, ink, paint, and an eraser. Users can select from a limited range of colors which, with some tools, can be lightened or darkened. Users draw with their finger in the blank space. They can also draw on/within the lines that are already on the page.

The trash can button allows the user to undo all of their work and start over. A listen button reads the prompt aloud. The print and save functions allow users to download their work to the device for printing or sharing. The read button connects users to links to borrow or purchase a book related to the topic of the anti-coloring page.

Overall, I found the user experience on an iPhone to be frustrating. The space within which to draw is very small and is an odd proportion (very tall and narrow). You cannot pinch to zoom or move around the screen. Because of this, there isn’t much room to draw and part of the anti-coloring prompt gets cut off. This does not appear to be a problem for the iPad version (see demonstration video).

Cost: A is $1.99 and B is $0.99.

Technical Requirements: Available for iOS.

Pro’s:

• The app offers a variety of drawing tools and prompts on a mobile device. This allows users to create art on the go or in places where traditional materials might now be practical or allowed.

• The app encourages connections to literacy through the Read option.

Con’s:

• The eraser tool not only erases your drawing but also the lines and words from the anti-coloring book page. There is no undo function apart from the trash can, however, this undoes everything. While this can encourage users to work around their mistakes and develop problem-solving skills, it can also be a source of frustration.

• On my device, I could not save my completed pages to the in-app gallery but I could save them to my phone’s camera roll. I also could not navigate out of the drawing portion of the app back to the main menu (I had to force quit the app and open it again).

• On my device, the drawing area is narrow and cuts off part of the prompt.

• Some of the anti-coloring book prompts are timeless, however, users might find the look of some of the drawings to be outdated. Further, a few of the terms in the B app need to be updated to reflect current language (e.g. shrink needs to be updated to therapist or psychiatrist).

Is it worth it? I think that the idea behind this app is a good one, however, the execution did not live up to my expectations. There were a number of technical problems which detracted from my enjoyment of the app. As I mentioned earlier, some of the issues on the iPhone might not be problematic on the iPad due to the larger drawing area. If you are planning to use the app on your phone I would probably skip this one and purchase the actual Anti-Coloring book instead. There are a few free printables on her website and the books can be purchased here.

Art Challenge: Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year begins this weekend and will be celebrated by people in different cultures all around the world. Fú (福) is a traditional Chinese symbol that represents good fortune. It is commonly used as a decoration for Lunar New Year. Your challenge for this week is to develop your own symbol of good fortune, peace, prosperity, or another wish for the new year. You can draw or paint a symbol from your imagination or one that is important to your culture. You can find a tutorial about how to make a Chinese paper cutting from the Norton Museum of Art.

Four Tips for Improving Your Focus

Quick, if you had to guess, how many times a day do you check your phone? Research suggests that most people check their phone approximately 85 times per day (about every 15 minutes) and significantly underestimate their usage. It often takes a long time, over 20 minutes, to regain focus after an interruption. Frequent interruptions can also reduce the quality of your work and increase feelings of stress related to working. You pick up your phone and before you know it, the day is almost over. The idea that your phone can be distracting isn’t a new but what can you do about it? Getting rid of your phone completely is not realistic but that doesn’t mean that you can’t take steps to reduce distractions from your phone.

1. Charge your phone in an other room- Notifications from your phone can interrupt your sleep during the night. If you use your phone as an alarm clock, consider setting “do not disturb” hours in the evening. This will silence notifications except from selected contacts. During the day, place your phone in another room or a drawer when you want to focus. If you wear a smart watch, consider setting it to theater mode.

2. Interrupt the urge to check your phone- Frequently checking your phone can create a reward feedback loop. Essentially, your brain anticipates and seeks out pleasure (e.g. excitement, novelty, social connection, etc.) or relief from negative feelings (e.g. boredom, anxiety, loneliness) and this is reinforced by responding to notifications from the phone. If this happens enough times, eventually, it becomes an automatic habit. To break the cycle, take a moment to ask yourself if checking your phone is serving a purpose other than distraction. In other words, think about WHY you are checking your phone in that moment and if it can wait.

3. Schedule time on task and time for breaks- Setting a timer for a task creates a sense of urgency and can help you focus on the task at hand, rather than giving in to distractions. Techniques such as the Pomodoro Method leverage this sense of urgency gently. To use the Pomodoro Method, set a timer for 25 minutes and try to make as much progress as possible on one task for that whole time. After the 25 minutes are up, take a five minute break. You can check your phone, use the restroom, stretch, eat a snack, take a quick walk, or use this time however you like. When the five minutes are up, complete this cycle again. After four cycles, take a longer break of 15 to 20 minutes.

4. Schedule time away from screens- Schedule times during the day or during the week when you stay away from screens (not just your phone). This might include meal times with family, going for a walk or hike outdoors, making art, or another activity you enjoy. The purpose of this is to reduce reliance on your phone for entertainment.

Weekly App Review:

This week I’m reviewing Smiling Mind, a mindfulness and meditation app. The premise of the app is that approximately ten minutes per day of mindfulness exercises can help reduce anxiety and stress while promoting greater health and wellness. There are specialized programs within the app for youth, adults, classrooms, families, and workplaces.

Intended Use: The app is intended for relaxation and wellness.

Target Audience: The app is listed as appropriate for users age four and up. The kids program is for children ages three to twelve, the youth program is for adolescents between 13 and 18 years of age, and the family program is designed for the whole family to listen together.

Usability: The interface is easy to navigate with text and supporting graphics. Users start with a well-being check-in, selecting their age group, and selecting the area they want to focus on (e.g. sleep, mindfulness, sports, school, stress management, relaxation, etc.). The app automatically keeps track of the user’s progress in the program so they can develop their skills in a logical progression. Users can also set up reminders to use the app at certain times of the day.

Cost: Free, there are premium programs available for the workplace (requires contact with the developers).

Technical Requirements: Available for iOS and Android.

Pro’s:

• The app is free and there are no ads or in-app purchases.

• Users can select light or dark mode. Users may prefer dark mode if they are using the app for help with sleep.

• The app supports both guided and unguided meditation. It focuses on brief meditation (under ten minutes) which can be easily incorporated into a busy day which is good for beginners. There is also a section of extended meditations (15 to 45 minutes).

• Although the app is in English there are meditations available in Arabic as well as native Australian languages (Dari, Kriol, Ngaanyatjarra, and Pitjantjatjara).

Con’s:

• The library of meditations is more limited than some of the other apps on the market.

• The meditations are audio only whereas other apps offer a video or other visualization on the screen. Depending on how you meditate, this may not necessarily be a negative.

Is it worth it? This is a great app for developing mindfulness practices. Unlike many apps that are on the market now, this one is free and appropriate for both children and adults.

Art Challenge: Pow, Zap, Boom

Whether they rely on action-packed stories or relatable tropes, comics use images and words to tell stories that entertain and inspire. Many of the super heroes we know today can be traced back to the golden age of comic books of the 1930’s and the silver age of the 1950’s. The internet memes we see have roots in the counter culture movements of the 1970’s.

Your challenge this week is to create your own comic. It could be a single panel or a whole book. Not sure where to start? The Comiclopedia is an online archive of over 14,000 that you can browse for inspiration.

• Tell your story through a character who represents you. You might introduce yourself, she what you do, what you're interested in, what you like or dislike. You can introduce other characters to represent friends or family members. You can use your character to talk or think about the important parts of your life that you want to share.

• Be a super hero or a super villain. If you could have any super power, what would it be? Would you use it for the greater good or for the forces of evil? Do you have a sidekick or henchman? What does your costume look like? Do you have an alter ego during the day?

• A day in the life. Illustrate a day of work of school including what people are doing and thinking. Is it an adventure? A comedy?

• Find your courage. What would you do it you could be bold and brave for a day. Just what great deeds would you do? How would you change?

11 Reasons People Seek Therapy

Therapy can be a useful tool to help people better understand themselves and others, cope with difficult emotions and situations, manage changes and transitions, achieve goals, and improve their overall wellness. Despite this, 45 percent of Americans who meet the criteria for a clinical mental health diagnosis do not seek professional help. The main reason for this is a preference for self-help, followed by barriers to connecting with treatment including affordability, accessibility, and stigma around mental health conditions.

You might be wondering if therapy would be helpful for you or someone you care about. Here are eleven reasons a person might consider starting therapy:

1. You are experiencing unexpected or intense mood swings.

2. You’re going through a big change in your life such as moving to a new city, losing a loved one or close friend, ending a relationship (break up, separation, or divorce), starting school, or changing careers.

3. You find yourself turning to drugs, alcohol, gambling, shopping, self-harm, or other behaviors to cope with your emotions.

4. You or someone you care about was recently diagnosed with a chronic medical condition or mental health condition.

5. You are having difficulty in your relationships with friends, family, or your partner.

6. You feel like your actions are negatively impacting people around you or you don’t feel in control of your emotions and behaviors.

7. You are pulling back from activities and people that you usually enjoy.

8. You have trouble sleeping or, alternatively, spend more of the day sleeping.

9. You are having difficulty concentrating or taking care of yourself.

10. You’ve already tried talking with friends or family but feel that you’ve run out of advice (or that advice is not helping).

11. You feel like you need someone to talk to who can be objective and supportive.
    

Art therapy can be particularly useful for people who have may have tried art therapy in the past but didn’t find it helpful. A strength of art therapy is that is allow people to process emotional content differently than in conventional talk therapy. When you talk about a problem, you use words to access emotions and eventually bodily sensations. This is called “top-down” processing. Art therapy often takes an alternate route. The sensory stimulation from art making allows direct access to bodily sensations, which can help a person access and identify emotions, and eventually find the words to develop a coherent story about their experiences. This is called “bottom-up” processing. It is especially helpful for people who may have difficulty finding the words to express how they feel due to their age, physical abilities, history of trauma, or other factors.

Prioritize you mental health in 2023. My practice is accepting new clients for telehealth art therapy on Mondays, evenings, and weekends. I work with children, teens, and adults