Art Therapy with Morgan Reinsbakken, BSc.Psych, DVATI
Studio Mission Statement:
To provide individuals and groups of all ages, nations and walks of life with a safe and therapeutic creative environment for exploration, expression and healing through art therapy activities, programs and art making.
An Introduction
My name is Morgan and I am a Professional Art Therapist offering Art Therapy services and programming in Terrace and the Nass Valley. In 2011 I started a small private practice, ArtBeat Art Therapy Studio. From May 2014 to August 2023 my studio was located within the walls of the Northwest Integrative Healthcare Centre (NIHC). Most recently I am offering Art Therapy services and programming in the Nass Valley through Nisga'a Valley Health Authority (NVHA), as well as working toward Open Community groups in Terrace, BC.
"What is Art Therapy?", you might ask. It is life enhancing and ever evolving, adapting to the needs of the clients and the community. Currently I travel three days a week to the Nass Valley and I am so honoured and privileged to work along side the Mental Health Team at NVHA. I am no longer taking on new individual clients in Terrace, however I am working toward offering open community groups for both Youth and Families, watch my website for programming updates. Need more? Scroll down and let me introduce Art Therapy, the Materials, the Space, the Elements of Healing and the driver behind this creative caravan, the Art Therapist.
"What is Art Therapy?", you might ask. It is life enhancing and ever evolving, adapting to the needs of the clients and the community. Currently I travel three days a week to the Nass Valley and I am so honoured and privileged to work along side the Mental Health Team at NVHA. I am no longer taking on new individual clients in Terrace, however I am working toward offering open community groups for both Youth and Families, watch my website for programming updates. Need more? Scroll down and let me introduce Art Therapy, the Materials, the Space, the Elements of Healing and the driver behind this creative caravan, the Art Therapist.
What is Art Therapy?
Art Therapy is not only a creative activity but also a safe, therapeutic process that is both healing and life enhancing. Art Therapy is client-centered; able to meet the needs, challenges and abilities of each client supported by an art therapist armed with experience, insight and a wealth of art-based therapeutic programs, exercises and activities. Art Therapy can be a primary or adjunctive mental health service. This means that an art therapist may be your only source of therapeutic support, or they may work along side or in a team with other health care providers such as your General Practitioner, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Counselors and other health professionals. In art therapy your information and creative work is subject the strictest confidentiality. Art Therapy can accommodate people of all ages and level of physical ability, it can be short or long-term. No artistic skill is necessary! Art Therapy focuses on the journey more so than the destination - it is time and space for exploration and expression of yourself in a safe and therapeutic creative environment.
Goals in Art Therapy are SMART:
In BC the professional standards and Code of Ethics of Art Therapy are defined by the
BC Art Therapy Association (BCATA), www.bcarttherapy.com, and the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA), www.canadianarttherapy.org.
Goals in Art Therapy are SMART:
- Specific - Keep it simple.
- Measurable - structured, goal-oriented.
- Achievable - based on needs and abilities.
- Rewarding - stimulates creative thinking, and it's fun!
- Time limited - there is a beginning, a middle and an end.
In BC the professional standards and Code of Ethics of Art Therapy are defined by the
BC Art Therapy Association (BCATA), www.bcarttherapy.com, and the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA), www.canadianarttherapy.org.
The Materials
I am familiar with a variety of materials and artistic processes. I am familiar with the ingredients of art materials, as well as their safety requirements and proper use. I am also familiar with the characteristics and limitations of these materials.
“Materials provide the source of inspiration in art making for some people. Having a range of materials available that offers different qualities, such as ease of control, fluidity, resistance, malleability, softness, rigidity, massiveness, delicacy, containment, expansiveness, cleanliness, messiness, and so on, may be all that is necessary to ensure a ‘good fit’ and sufficient motivation for some clients.”
(Catherine Moon, Studio Art Therapy, 2002)
The Space
Our environment influences us just as much as our past experiences and the people around us. To nurture a therapeutic environment I ensure the studio space is safe, non-judgmental, confidential, and consistent yet flexible for the needs of my client(s). Even in pop-up environments, wherever a studio space may happen.
“The art studio functions like a spa, a watering place for the soul. The elements of the therapeutic studio are never limited to the patient, the artwork, and the art therapist. As the therapeutic properties of the spa are discovered, people will come to it with a sense of what they need. Or they will come with an open and flexible mind, knowing only that they are in need, and that the therapeutic environment has many things to offer. The treatment will emerge through the process of a person’s interaction with the place.”
(Shaun McNiff, Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul, 2004)
“The art studio functions like a spa, a watering place for the soul. The elements of the therapeutic studio are never limited to the patient, the artwork, and the art therapist. As the therapeutic properties of the spa are discovered, people will come to it with a sense of what they need. Or they will come with an open and flexible mind, knowing only that they are in need, and that the therapeutic environment has many things to offer. The treatment will emerge through the process of a person’s interaction with the place.”
(Shaun McNiff, Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul, 2004)
The nitty-gritty of healing in art therapy
Art making can be an enriching experience and life enhancing on its own, however art therapy reaches farther to explore and express core issue(s) in a safe and therapeutic environment.
1. Awareness / Acknowledgment:
-become aware and acknowledge the problem/pain/stress,
-without acknowledgement there will be no way to gauge change or success.
2. Achievable Goals:
-if your healing goals are not achievable you set yourself up for failure,
-know the difference between your desire (wants) and your capability.
3. Clarity:
-clearly define and understand the problem.
4. Balance:
-work toward finding balance between mind, body, and soul,
-know what you have control of and accept that which you do not.
5. Motivation / Drive:
-healing is hindered when motivation/drive is lost, it cannot be forced,
-motivation/drive is essential to work through the pain that comes with healing.
6. Pain:
-healing means confronting something that is painful,
-in art therapy this is done through artistic exploration and expression, at one's own pace.
"Therapy must touch this spot; it must move from the beautiful wounded condition into the actual present hurt.”
(James Hillman, A Blue Fire, 1989)
7. Strength Building:
-achieved through exercise and repetition,
-cognitively, new pathways are set when old ones are damaged by trauma,
-physically, movement and flexibility are mastered,
-spiritually, re-establishing self-awareness, self-esteem and self-worth.
8. Discipline:
-priorities, time management, hard work and focus.
9. Self-care:
-maintains everything that is achieved in healing!
-become aware and acknowledge the problem/pain/stress,
-without acknowledgement there will be no way to gauge change or success.
2. Achievable Goals:
-if your healing goals are not achievable you set yourself up for failure,
-know the difference between your desire (wants) and your capability.
3. Clarity:
-clearly define and understand the problem.
4. Balance:
-work toward finding balance between mind, body, and soul,
-know what you have control of and accept that which you do not.
5. Motivation / Drive:
-healing is hindered when motivation/drive is lost, it cannot be forced,
-motivation/drive is essential to work through the pain that comes with healing.
6. Pain:
-healing means confronting something that is painful,
-in art therapy this is done through artistic exploration and expression, at one's own pace.
"Therapy must touch this spot; it must move from the beautiful wounded condition into the actual present hurt.”
(James Hillman, A Blue Fire, 1989)
7. Strength Building:
-achieved through exercise and repetition,
-cognitively, new pathways are set when old ones are damaged by trauma,
-physically, movement and flexibility are mastered,
-spiritually, re-establishing self-awareness, self-esteem and self-worth.
8. Discipline:
-priorities, time management, hard work and focus.
9. Self-care:
-maintains everything that is achieved in healing!
This Art Therapist
Morgan Reinsbakken (BSc.Psych, DVATI)
I have a BSc. in Psychology from UNBC (2005), as well as a Visual Arts Diploma from RDC (2007). In 2011 I graduated with a post-graduate diploma in Art Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute (VATI). From that day on I have been practicing Art Therapy and I call myself an Art Therapist. In 2019 my work became DBT-informed and continues to focus on the healing, growth and well-being of clients through creative exploration and expression utilizing various modalities of art (ie, drawing, painting, clay work, collage, jewellery making, etc), and evidenced-based life skills (DBT Skills practice through art, 2020).
I am a Professional Member with the BC Art Therapy Association and we support FACT BC! Why? Art therapy is a counselling therapy. But the sad fact is counselling therapy is an unregulated profession in BC and anyone can call themselves a counselling therapist. This means there is no regulating body with legislative authority to ensure professional competencies, ethical practices or accountability. Because of this, British Columbian's are at risk of emotional, mental and financial harm. Because of this I support FACT BC.
FACT BC is the Federation of Associations for Counselling Therapists in BC. They believe that a regulating body for counselling designated under the Health Professions Act, like the College of Physicians and Surgeons, would provide the ongoing competency framework and regulatory support necessary to promote competent, ethical counselling therapy in BC. I have signed on as a FACT BC Ambassador and will be reaching out to my local MLA, Ellis Ross. It is our hope that he (and every other MLA visited) will approach the Minister of Health, Calvin Dicks in support of regulation to promote and ensure public protection, accessibility and accountability!
In my spare time I try to be an active member of CATS Community Pottery Studio, teach a hand-building class here and there . As well, I am working (volunteering) towards establishing an Art Hive Initiative in the Northwest - a non-profit, low-barrier art studio space, open to all community members. My long-term hope and goal is to grow a NW Arts & Health network by offering and supporting this Art Hive Initiative within communities throughout Northwest BC. Let's Connect, Create, Communicate, Heal and Grow Together! If you are interested in this initiative feel free to email me, I would love to hear from you!
I am a Professional Member with the BC Art Therapy Association and we support FACT BC! Why? Art therapy is a counselling therapy. But the sad fact is counselling therapy is an unregulated profession in BC and anyone can call themselves a counselling therapist. This means there is no regulating body with legislative authority to ensure professional competencies, ethical practices or accountability. Because of this, British Columbian's are at risk of emotional, mental and financial harm. Because of this I support FACT BC.
FACT BC is the Federation of Associations for Counselling Therapists in BC. They believe that a regulating body for counselling designated under the Health Professions Act, like the College of Physicians and Surgeons, would provide the ongoing competency framework and regulatory support necessary to promote competent, ethical counselling therapy in BC. I have signed on as a FACT BC Ambassador and will be reaching out to my local MLA, Ellis Ross. It is our hope that he (and every other MLA visited) will approach the Minister of Health, Calvin Dicks in support of regulation to promote and ensure public protection, accessibility and accountability!
In my spare time I try to be an active member of CATS Community Pottery Studio, teach a hand-building class here and there . As well, I am working (volunteering) towards establishing an Art Hive Initiative in the Northwest - a non-profit, low-barrier art studio space, open to all community members. My long-term hope and goal is to grow a NW Arts & Health network by offering and supporting this Art Hive Initiative within communities throughout Northwest BC. Let's Connect, Create, Communicate, Heal and Grow Together! If you are interested in this initiative feel free to email me, I would love to hear from you!