breast cancer awareness on teal wooden surface

Uncategorized

Beyond the Pink Ribbon: Supporting Emotional Wellness During Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Every October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month brings attention to education, early detection, treatment, and support for those affected by breast cancer. While the pink ribbon has become a familiar symbol of awareness, there is another important part of the journey that deserves recognition: emotional healing.

crop woman with pink heart in hands — Photo by Puwadon Sang-ngern on Pexels.com

A breast cancer diagnosis can bring a wide range of emotions, from fear and uncertainty to sadness, anger, and hope. Treatment and recovery may also bring changes to body image, relationships, daily routines, and a person’s sense of identity.

Everyone’s experience is unique, and there is no right or wrong way to navigate these feelings.

At Peace In Color Art Therapy, we recognize the importance of caring for the whole person. Art therapy offers a creative, supportive way to explore emotions, express experiences, and make space for the feelings that may be difficult to put into words.

When Words Aren’t Enough, Creativity Can Offer Another Path

Sometimes, it can be difficult to explain what we are feeling. You may know that something feels heavy but struggle to describe it. You may feel several emotions at once, or you may not yet have the words to understand your experience.

Art therapy provides another way to explore those feelings.

Through painting, drawing, collage, color, and other creative processes, individuals can express themselves without needing to find the perfect words. The focus is not on artistic talent or creating something beautiful. Instead, the focus is on the process of creating, reflecting, and discovering what feels meaningful to you.

You do not need to be an artist to participate in art therapy. You simply need a willingness to explore at your own pace.

How Art Therapy May Support Someone Affected by Breast Cancer

Art therapy can offer opportunities for emotional exploration and support throughout different stages of the breast cancer journey, including diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and surviving.

Expressing complex emotions

Fear, grief, frustration, uncertainty, and hope can exist together. Creative expression may help individuals explore these feelings in a way that feels manageable and personal.

collage of portraits of woman with many different emotions being expressed in her face. — Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Navigating changes in identity and body image

Surgery, treatment-related changes, and shifting relationships with one’s body can affect how a person sees themselves. Art therapy can provide space to explore these changes with compassion and curiosity.

Finding moments of calm and connection

Engaging in a creative process may offer a chance to slow down, focus on the present moment, and take a break from the demands of appointments, decisions, and daily responsibilities.

Recognizing personal strengths and sources of support

Creative activities can help individuals reflect on meaningful relationships, personal values, sources of comfort, and the strengths they draw upon during challenging times.

Making room for hope without dismissing difficult feelings

Hope does not require constant positivity. Art therapy can provide room for uncertainty, sadness, courage, joy, and many other emotions without asking someone to choose just one.

Art therapy is not about making difficult experiences disappear. It is about creating a supportive space where those experiences can be acknowledged and explored.

You Don’t Have to Be an Artist to Benefit

One of the most common misconceptions about art therapy is that you need to be creative or artistic to participate.

You don’t.

Art therapy is different from simply doing an art project. It involves a therapeutic relationship with a qualified art therapist who supports reflection, emotional expression, and exploration based on your individual needs.

A few colors on a page, a collage of meaningful images, or an abstract painting may provide a starting point for understanding feelings that are otherwise difficult to describe. There is no expectation to produce a finished masterpiece, and there is no single correct interpretation of what you create.

The meaning belongs to you.

A Gentle Creative Reflection: What Do I Need Right Now?

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, consider setting aside a few quiet minutes for a simple creative reflection.

You will need paper and any materials you have available, such as colored pencils, markers, watercolor paints, or magazine images.

Step 1: Check in with yourself.

Pause and notice how you are feeling today. There is no need to change your emotions or make sense of them immediately.

Step 2: Choose your colors.

Select colors that reflect your current experience. You might choose one color, several colors, or colors that seem to contradict one another.

Step 3: Create without judgment.

Make marks, shapes, patterns, or images on the page. Try not to worry about whether the result looks good. Allow yourself to follow your own process.

people holding a painting materials — Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

Step 4: Reflect gently.

When you feel ready, consider these questions:

What do I notice about what I created?
What feelings or experiences might this page represent for me?
What helps me feel supported or grounded?
What is one thing I need to give myself permission to do right now?

You do not have to answer every question, and you do not have to share your artwork with anyone. You can stop whenever you need to.

This activity is an invitation to reflect, not a substitute for therapy. If it brings up difficult emotions, take a break and reach out to someone you trust or a qualified mental health professional if you need additional support.

There is no single path to emotional wellness, and healing does not follow a predictable timeline.

Art therapy can be one part of a broader support system, alongside medical care, counseling, trusted relationships, and other resources that meet an individual’s needs.

At Peace In Color Art Therapy, we believe creativity can create opportunities for connection, self-expression, and personal exploration. Sometimes, a brushstroke or a splash of color can help open the door to a feeling that has been difficult to express.

This October, let’s look beyond the pink ribbon and remember to care for the emotional well-being of the whole person.

You deserve space for your feelings, support through uncertainty, and opportunities to reconnect with yourself along the way.

With compassion and care,

Peace In Color Art Therapy

Art therapy services should be provided by a qualified art therapist. Art therapy may support emotional wellness but does not replace medical treatment or other indicated mental health care.

colorful leaves flying around wooden stairs in forest in autumn

Art Therapy , Career Development , Community , Mental Health , Therapy , Uncategorized

Start of a New Season and a New Path!

(Potential trigger warning – Mild attempt at humor here! Which is how I survive stress). Shortly after I started my last job I experienced an significant apartment fire, which brought me to the fox valley. It’s only fitting that after signing on to a new job, I experience a tornado. 😅. I did incur damage however, I am safe, my home is standing and I continue to be amazed with the community support.

Recently I came across an opportunity to join a virtual clinic as a traditional employee with Talkietry. This will include benefits of a team of other therapists, psychiatrists and nurse practitioners. One thing I have missed dearly these last few years is being part of a team! I am so grateful to have an amazing group of clients who have chosen to follow me to my new platform and/or stay and work around my new schedule.

My private intake is officially closed, and will no longer be accepting new clients on Talkspace to make room for my new full time employee status with Talkiatry as of August 31st. I will remain open privately for existing Teladoc and private pay clients as there is no cash option on the platform. Or, truly special circumstances will I take on new clients outside of Talkietry. With my primary concentration now as an employee, I will keep private on a limited time basis. As I figure a good balance for this my focus is on hosting groups. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, so this is the perfect time to get set up for that group and or workshop.

Groups

I will be offering Bariatric Surgery Pre-Operative Psycho educational support groups through “Bariatric Psychiatric Training” a clinic in Florida.
- This will be starting late September: a set of 8-10 weekly sessions preparing people for surgery.
- Watch here for future information,
Collaborating with a new non-profit, Squirrel Space. This is a place for people who have been diagnosed or are in the process of being diagnosed with some type of neurodivergency and the struggles that come with that.
- We are looking to host virtual and in person Art Therapy groups with various sponsors. My portion is on hold for now – please check back for more information! (if you would like to be a sponsor please reach out! Ideally we would like to offer these art therapy groups to neurodivergent folk for free)
I recently brought art therapy to Thedacare stroke support group and will be attending their community day on September 19th.
- Make sure to stop at the art booth and say “Hey!” We are discussing potential future collaboration behind the scenes as I adjust to my new employment.

To see my bio, schedule and or verify your insurance on Talkiatry please check here!

Community , Health & Fitness , Life Coaching , Meditation

2025 Bingo Card!

It’s that time of the year again! Many will be planning or have planned ways they want to improve their year going forward, the hardest part can be sticking with those plans. Making goals fun is how I like to stick to those and see what I have accomplished at the end. I saw on TikTok a great idea to create your own Bingo card. You could create your own on your phone, computer or hand draw it! But most importantly, keep it in a place you will see it regularly. I plan to draw mine out and put it on my fridge so I will see it and keep it in the forefront of my mind throughout the year.

Creating a bingo card for New Year’s resolutions is a fun and engaging way to stay motivated throughout the year! Each square can represent a resolution or goal, ranging from personal development to adventurous challenges. It’s a great idea in order to make your goals easy and fun to achieve, then at the end of the year see if you hit Bingo!! It can be specific or general or just ideas on how to de-stress or change habits. Here’s a sample layout:

New Year’s Resolutions Bingo Card

(5×5 grid)

B	I	N	G	O
Drink more water	Read 10 books	Try a new hobby	Volunteer locally	Meditate weekly
Exercise 3x/week	Save $500	Organize your closet	Explore a new city	Go camping
Meal prep weekly	Take a social media break	FREE SPACE	Join a local activity	Try a new recipe
Learn a new skill	Hike the Ice Age Trail	Paint my bedroom	Pay off a debt	Watch a documentary
Take a daily walk	Practice a musical instrument	Limit screen time	Declutter your closet	Compliment someone

letter tiles beside mandarins — Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

Art Therapy , Community , Mental Health

The Professional Podcast Network

Aired: 7/25/24

Host: Phil

Interview With Samantha Hanson

Below is a transcript from the podcast discussion I had with The Professional Podcast Network:

Link below if you’d like to listen to the podcast.

Welcome to the Professional Podcast Network, where brilliance meets business. Elevate your brand and supercharge your revenue with inspiring insights and innovation.

Hey there, everyone, and welcome back to the show. This is your host, Phil, and our next guest here today is Samantha Hansen, who’s based out of Appleton, Wisconsin, with her business called Peace and Colorful Dynamics.

How are you doing today, Samantha? Good. I’m doing well, thank you. Glad to hear that. So, Samantha, tell us a little bit more here about what you offer at Peace and Colorful Dynamics. Well, I offer mental health services. I do individual sessions with people using traditional talk therapy, but combined with expressive arts as a way to help communicate feelings and needs in a different way.

Sounds good. How long have you been doing this all for? I’ve been in private practice for about four years now. Excellent. So how does the whole process work here when it comes to this therapy you’re doing? Like, where do you start with people? Well, we can do a consultation, a brief 10-15 minute call just to talk about concerns, make sure we both feel we are a good fit.

I usually offer a video consultation so that way we can see each other and talk, that tends to be more personal than a phone call or as far as getting out of busy work schedules and traffic, video consults seem to work great. The next step would be checking with insurance if that’s the case, or cash pay option if choosing not to use insurance, and then we could go from there, scheduling a session.

Alright, excellent. And what was it that kind of led you toward this career path? What was your inspiration here? Well, growing up, I was sick a lot. I was chronically ill, and my mom taught me about crocheting and knitting and painting and drawing. And so it was something that helped me growing up, just using the expressive arts to help me feel better.

And then as I got older, general stress, it helped me just feel better generally, not just, when I was sick. So. When I realized art therapy was a thing, I had to see where I could take it. And I loved the idea of learning about psychology and this whole new world. So combining the two aspects, it just made sense.

And they really do go hand in hand. Even if we’re not using expressive arts, there’s still visual metaphors and art behind everything we do. Hmm. Well, it sounds like to me you found your calling here. All right. Well, Samantha, is there anything else here you want our listeners to know about you? Anything else you want to share today?

Well, I’m just very down to earth. My job is to make my clients feel comfortable, and I know in my own therapy sessions I would want to feel comfortable and have somebody that is, you know, more down to earth not feel, not feel judged. I mean, judging people, not judging 101 was our first class in school.

Just, I want to make people feel comfortable. So I’m down to earth, I do a lot of art and music in the community. I foster dogs and cats. Occasionally they join sessions if we are telehealth. I want people to know that I have this art to provide to them and I’m here to help them through their journey.

Alright, sounds great. Well, Samantha, how do we reach out to you if we want to talk to you more about this? Yes, I do have a website, peaceincolor.org. It has more information on it, talking about services, different examples of what stress may look like if people aren’t sure if that’s what they need.

And then there’s contact information on there to reach me via email or phone. Email is preferred, it’s a little easier to get back to people. That would be peaceincolor2020@gmail.com. But, the website does have all the information. I’m also on social media. You can search up the Peace in Color or Peace in Colorful Dynamics.

I’m all over Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. All right. Well, Samantha, thank you again for joining us today and talking to us about all this. Thank you for inviting me. Wonderful to be here. Wonderful to have you here. You have a great day. All right. You as well. Bye. Take care. The rest of our listeners stay right there.

We’ll be right back after the short commercial break. Welcome to the professional podcast network where brilliance meets business, elevate your brand and supercharge your revenue with inspiring insights and innovation.

Art Therapy , Coaching , Life Coaching , Mindfulness

3 Steps to Improving as a Neurospicy Person in a Neurotypical World

As you know being neurospicy means you interact with the world a little differently. The positive side of that is people with these unique traits have qualities and strengths that neurotypical individuals would not have. Someone with neurospicy traits sometimes needs help to navigate the world around them and help their unique perspective operate being a neurodivergent person in a world not built for them.

I grew up as the weird kid who missed school due to health issues and struggled greatly due to undiagnosed ADD and I lacked the social skills to fit into my neurotypical surroundings. Don’t worry IT DOES GET BETTER!!! In college, I learned the skills to manage (and embrace) my neurospiciness and move on to graduate and OWN a successful art therapy business. Now I help many people function as a neurospicy individual as a life coach. My clients look to learn how to survive their quirks, build confidence, and embrace their unique individual traits as superpowers.

It’s important to remember that it is out of your control how your quirks come to be, this is my focus with clients in my life coaching program. Your focus should be on what you CAN control, therefore here are 3 steps on how to simplify your life and help you survive this neurotypical world.

1. Study your routine: Observe your day-to-day, grab a notebook, and write down your daily routine (yes I know, lists … remembering to write things down, it’ll be worth it, trust me). Keep this list simple, make check marks, smileys, doodles, stickers, stamps, etc., and make it fun. Whatever helps you to know what works (and what doesn’t) within your routine. Do this for several days, a week, or even two weeks. Make note of the people you interact with, the feelings that are influenced by various interactions or stimuli or tasks, and all barriers to accomplishing what you need to do. Just be certain to keep it detailed.

2. Adjust your routine: Try something new. See where you can trim things down and what can be simplified. It helps to ask yourself some of the following questions: What’s too much? What’s too stressful? What do you absolutely NEED in your schedule? Or what are some things that could change? Would parts of your routine work better in the morning rather than before bed? Set alarms to remind yourself of the changes that you make, including changes made to your job, however that may apply to your personal situation. Different choices made in your routine will influence how you respond to stress and manage to get through each day.

For example, you have a certain medication that you must take daily to just exist as a human being. If it isn’t being taken as prescribed by keeping the medication in your bathroom cabinet, what about moving it to your nightstand? That way it’s one of the first things you see when you wake up and helps you to remember to take the medication, add a post-it note to it to grab your attention. Do this for a few days and evaluate if it makes a difference in your routine. If it doesn’t work then try another solution for a few days.

3. Change your mindset: To be consistent throughout the first two steps, you need to change how you view things, i.e. your perspective. In college, I always thought that I was a bad communicator but a counselor asked me if this was how people made me feel or if that was how I truly felt about my communication strategies. I realized that this was how people made me feel, how they responded and talked to me that I thought that I was doing something wrong. Since then, I have done a lot of my own research on the topic, and depending on what is internally going on with that person’s day will change how they perceive what I am saying. This may not be the case in all situations, maybe you will have to learn new strategies to function in the world better or have better interactions with other people. It’s always good to have feedback on yourself, but if it’s not valid, if it’s truly a “them” problem, then it’s better to make a note of it, accept that you can’t control it, and try not to personalize it. BUT if it is a “you” problem, what can you observe and adjust to improve this mindset.

So how does this help you build confidence and embrace your quirks? By building consistency in your routine, you will feel confident that YOU CAN get things done, or get that medication taken. By changing the mindset you are finding the triggers that may be causing additional stress and learn to recognize this and adjust your viewpoint. All of this will allow your brain to have a break from trying to keep up with all the tasks that need to be accomplished because it is now a habit in your routine, eliminating some stressors under your control. Ultimately helping you feel better about yourself. This alone will begin to help you feel better both physically and mentally. This is exactly what I do to help my clients as a life coach, one step at a time, you can find out more about my program HERE.