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Some of you may have noticed, the website has changed and seen the announcement on social media that Samantha now offers coaching and consulting services alongside therapy. If you are new here, welcome! Samantha is working to be more proactive with posting about her services to better service existing and potential clients as well as general public who comes across her page looking to read something interesting.

Samantha has provided mental health therapy for several years to varying ages from children to adults, ranging from general anxiety to significant trauma. Samantha has decided to offer coaching services as a way to help others who may not have a clinical need, but could still benefit from having an individual to work with in meeting their goals. While this means Samantha will designate hours toward coaching clients and lower the amount available for future therapy clients, she has decided that this is the best long term goal, to avoid personal burnout.

Samantha is also partnering with outside organizations such as Oneida Nation Art Community to provide open studio groups during conferences and helping out with local behavioral health facilities to share what art therapy is and how it can be beneficial alongside other treatments. If you or your organization would be interested in hearing more regarding hosting groups and or formal lunch and learns, feel free to reach out.

So lets talk Coaching – What is it?

First, the idea of seeking help for personal growth with a focus on the transformative power of coaching services! Coaching is a proactive and goal-oriented type of assistance. There are clear objectives, a structured framework for progress. This dynamic interaction distinguishes coaching from the more introspective nature of therapy. Coaching has realistic tangible, and measurable objectives, creating a roadmap for personal and professional development. This goal-oriented focus fosters a sense of purpose and direction in the client’s journey. Coaches empower clients to take actionable steps, fostering a sense of self-efficacy and personal responsibility.

Some examples of coaching goals include

Career Development:

• Goal: Secure a Leadership Position in the Next 12 Months
  • Action Steps: Develop leadership skills, enhance decision-making abilities, and create a strategic career plan.
• Goal: Transition to a New Career Field
  • Action Steps: Identify transferable skills, explore relevant education or training, and create a job search strategy.

Health and Fitness:

• Goal: Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Weight
  • Action Steps: Create a sustainable nutrition plan, establish a regular exercise routine, and track progress.
• Goal: Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Well-being
  • Action Steps: Incorporate mindfulness practices, establish healthy coping mechanisms, and identify sources of stress.

Academic and Learning Goals:

• Goal: Complete a Professional Certification Program
  • Action Steps: Research suitable programs, create a study plan, and allocate dedicated time for coursework.
• Goal: Improve Time Management for Academic Success
  • Action Steps: Create a study schedule, prioritize tasks, and develop effective time-management habits.

While therapy often explores past experiences and emotions to promote healing, coaching is primarily future-oriented. It concentrates on setting and achieving specific goals, developing skills, and enhancing performance. While therapy is more about resolving emotional issues, coaching is about unlocking potential and optimizing performance.

The coach-client relationship is collaborative, with the coach acting as a facilitator for the client’s growth. Coaches use powerful questioning, active listening, and feedback to help clients gain clarity, set goals, and take actionable steps toward their objectives. This partnership is built on trust and a shared commitment to the client’s success.

Therapy has Emphasis on Emotional Processing,Past Experiences and Clients are accountable for working on self-awareness, implementing coping strategies, and participating in therapeutic exercises to promote psychological well-being.

Coaching has concrete actionable plans, external accountability partners are encouraged, measurable benchmarks and milestones with clients, milestone checkins to make sure client is on track with their tangible goals , intentional choices without being in a situation where the past is preventing them from moving forward.

Finding the right coach is a crucial step in the personal development journey! As when choosing a therapist it is recommended you request a consult or discovery call to make sure you both align with your needs and goals. Here are different topics to keep in mind when choosing a coach and or coaching program:

• Have clear goals in mind
• Research Coach Specializations
• Consider Coaching Styles
• Review Credentials and Experience
• Seek Personal Compatibility
• Check for Alignment of Values
• Ask About Coaching Approach and Techniques
• Discuss Accountability Structures
• Explore Flexibility and Accessibility
• Review Cost and Investment
• Ask for References or Testimonials

Remember, finding the right coach is a personalized process, and it’s okay to take the time needed to make an informed decision. Whether it is Therapy or Coaching, The goal is to establish a professional relationship that empowers you to achieve your personal and professional needs.

This is enough for now, but feel free to check back in for more on my “what is coaching?” series!

Parenting, like adulting or any stage of life, does not come with an instruction booklet.

Being a “furbaby” parent to my dogs and cats, the dozen or so dogs i fostered, has been an experience. From a professional side as a pediatric therapist to the human children i have worked with , has also been an experience. Both experiences make me have gratitude for my quiet time.

We grow up in different environments, with different experiences- socially, emotionally, physically. Like in sessions- I can have ten clients with a General Anxiety diagnoses and they can each present in ten different ways. With these experiences, they shape our world view and how we interact with the world, influence the choices we make and the habits we form.

When an individual has grown up in an environment it will influence their parenting, just like how their parents grew up in certain environment and their parents before them. The world has changed so much over the last few decades, going from closed off to extremely open in a relativly “short” period of time, and as we all know change is hard.

Is “change is hard” a “good enough” excuse? No, not by any means. Food for thought however- when one has not had any instruction book, or someone to guide them in choice making, adapting choices, seeing situations in other perspectives, how are they to know other ways exist? Its important to remember not everyone has the same experiences, and to some extent have empathy.

What we have in our control when coming across individuals or different styles (for example parenting styles) is offer perspective, suggestions, be mindful of feelings and how it might be taken, offer support, be a listening ear, ask how you can help, what might they need to help them pending the situation and circumstances?

In some cases, you may not have any of these options and may just need to walk away, and take care of you knowing you have no options and it is not helpful or healthy to focus on what you cannot control.

I understand This is a hot topic, and my intention is to not cause anger or grief, and by no means am i professional on parenting, i can only offer a perspective , and we may not agree and thats ok. I hope that we both can find a way to take care of ourselves knowing there is only so much we can control in our lives and how much we can influence others.

Did you know……

By the time you notice headaches your body is already in beginning stages of dehydration? Not drinking enpugh water can cause headaches, stomach cramps, muscle cramps, dizzyness, and so many other things. Your body is made up majority of water and you use alot of during the day just by sweating, urinating, breathing, and talking. For many adults its good to drink 8 -8oz cups or 64 ounces of water throughout the day. If one is active more water is good. Sipping throughout the day or minimum cup of water when waking, eating and sleeping is better then none at all.

The biggest thing many clients complain about are headaches and difficulty sleeping. The biggest factor in common is not drinking water. If you experience headaches and dont have any known medicao condition, try Incorporating a few cups of water throughout your day and see if that makes a difference.

How many choices do you make in a day? Hundreds probably if you really think about it. Each of those choices will take you in a direction which will influence how the rest of your day goes. This can influence your emotions, behaviors, thoughts, about all future choices and the people you come in contact with and their emotions behaviors and thoughts – and the list goes on! (Who would have thought a choice could have such an impact??- like glitter… the love spreads and never ends)

So choices, habits- what are some choices that you do every day in certain routines that then influence the rest of the day? how does your morning look, or the beginning of your work day, or evening, night time? Mine has been a hot mess honestly. Trouble sleeping, trouble waking, rushed alot, disorganized house, poor diet, the list goes on.

Lately however, im changing my habits. I started the nutrition program, (i attempted the gym and other movement strategies but no time or energy led to stopping) and low and behold the nutrition changes have made all the difference. I have a schedule and as long as i follow the food schedule i notice more energy, no bloating, can be more productive , and i can do things outside of work including changing my habits to make my days easier.

Im sleeping better at night, im getting paperwork done easier, posting more on social media personally and professionally, reconnecting with people and making new friends (omg people!! ). And i even started a private fb group for my “peace in color “ followers! Its private so we can have discussions and share more then my regular page or this website allows. I also have shared my new “Walk and Talk Fox cities Meetup Group on Meetup https://meetu.ps/c/51FZT/l3LGs/a” to encourage walkin, socializing, and making friends!

Food for thought- What habits or choices do you make that could use a change to influence your life in some other way?

Evening everyone! We are officially into 2023.  Have you created any new years resolutions? or maybe general plans of what you want to do differently this year as opposed to last year? Some people want to try new things in general and set goals of one new thing a month / a week / a day pending their work/life balance schedule.

For me, last year was all about trying to become healthier. In december 2021 i tried on a pair of jeans and realized they didn’t fit! my yoga pants had deceived me into stretching with me and helping me believe i hadn’t gained much weight.   So determined to fit back into my old clothes, I tried different stepping challenges, made it to my chiropractor regularly , and started a new nutrition program. Im quite pleased with the latest results, and its re-sparking my interest to take a class on nutrition or functional medicine!

My growth over these last few months alone has felt amazing, and i’m so proud of myself for sticking to this program despite its ups and downs ( although it really isn’t that difficult). I have more energy and am down quite a bit of weight with more to go. Im not going to say what this program is, as i don’t want you to go immediately to doctor google and brush it off because of the meal plan price.    I was just ready when it was offered to me, it was offered by an old friend i grew up with and she had checked in with me for two years before i finally was ready.  Work was in a good place, im in charge of my own schedule and able to take time for myself,  and it replaced my normal meal budget so i figured what the heck give it a try.  Needless to say im about 3 months in and so glad i did it. im learning to eat better, its easy prepackaged meals so im not calculating carbs.  has a variety of things and encourages cooking.  As i said im learning so many new things and loving where this is going. But i definitely had to be in the ready mindset and willing to be told what to do and how to do it and try something new with the hope of it working, try somone elses way without letting myself get in the way.

My professional and somewhat personal goals for this year are to look into some health programs, maybe take a class or two so i can use the knowledge and science behind our bodies and how nutrition impacts it, with the growth i’ve experienced learning about myself ( yes the program requires reading, reflection and journaling) as well as socially ( my coach encourages me to share my story on social media in a private community with others in the program as well as my main profile and engage with people more, build friendships which has been hard for me in the past with my anxiety).  I know everyone has different experience with diets, meal plans, and our bodies are all different as well, so this program gave me no promises.  To me this is a lifestyle change, and now that i have energy, and feel healthy for the first time in most of my life, im truly excited to see what else this year brings with my new habits and tastebuds!

Comment below what some of your 2023 goals are! if you would like to ask questions about my health journey or talk about your own health journey and where you are at, also feel free to comment or submit the “contact us” form on the main page.

Happy Sunday all! Not sure if this poll below me will work all, but here we go!  Due to no requests to join group i am reworking my options.  Currently it is a monthly support group option for teens and adults.    I am changing this to a 6 week series!  The poll will have different “themes” listed and each week would be focused on the theme in a different way.

In the event the poll does not work, here are the themes, i will pick one to start with and as i gain more interest and attendees i will add more options.  I have this poll as I am always interested in hearing what my followers think ( if you comment it does not sign you up) and it can help me determine what material to type / post about in the future!

If you are interested in signing up to attend a group once i get dates please feel free to message me below, or through the business facebook page!

Theme 1 Mindfulness using combined Art Therapy and Talk therapy approach

Theme 2 Social Support to assist with worries or fears.

Theme 3 Bullying in the school environment, improving self confidence and challenging the negativity

Theme 4 Professional Workers Support , Art Therapy to assist with burnout

Other, please comment below to share your thoughts

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I appreciate your patience, i believe the website issues have been fixed! Since officially switching everything to wordpress it appears some editing is needed but at least we are back online. Please let me know if anything seems “off”. Have a great day! Blogs will resume shortly.

I needed this today. Started out stressful but eventually smoothed out. Yes, art therapy can be done virtual! I attended this conference with other art therapists around the world, (not just professionals, a few followers as well). We had mindfulness, art making, breakout rooms with assigned buddies to individually process and then group process at the end. The conductor was kind enough to stay after for a small group of us to finish processing as we hit the end time before everyone was able to speak. (We had about 55 attendees).

Led by Dr isis, who also hosts weekly drop in sessions if you would like to experience this yourself. She is the author of “mindful doodle book” which i love and suggest to everyone! Has approximately 75 doodle directives for self care. Her website is http://www.miamiarttherapy.com , her book can be found on pesi amazon or her website.

It was amazing to hear from her and go through our guided directive. It was four prts- those who know me know i love “part one and part two and sometimes part three” in our sessions (please dont comment here for your confidentiality if you are reading this). I will show you my work and a few from the conference to show yes this can be done virtual!  For confidentiality of the attendees, i have blacked out faces and names. my image and Dr Isis are the only ones viewable, top left!  check facebook for more close up views of the process and let me know in the comments if youd be interested in joining a mindful art therapy directive group.

Picture for effect all, this is so amazing. Ive reached world wide viewers this month!!!!! Up to almost 700 views in my websites stats. I have blog followers, likes, it blows my mind. My fb business bage has nearly doubled since i went on my own a year in a half ago, my insta is growing, im learning tiktok, twitter, its just all so cool. Ive worked so hard to get here so the fact its going well does make me worry about when the other shoe will drop.

Let me give some background, and i apologize in advance but im going to just go with a guant run on paragraph- youve been warned- was a sick child, medicine did not work for me due to recieving so much when young. Then highschool had double bunion removal, extra teeth pulled, thought i was getting jaw surgery due to the angle and length it was growing , braces late in life to prepare. Sick every time someone coughed, in and out of chiropractor, college came with emergency laproscopic procedure for endometriosis, college ended with cancer diagnoses and treatment. Masters/higher ed was stressful but no significant events besides starting anxiety medication and thyroid meds. Then i had a few years of finding work, the joys that come with working with others, then found a good job and my apartment burned down, spent summer in a hotel before finding current home. Then had flooding in the new home but was fixable. Then had my normal “i feel like death”mystery illness throughout that four years (several doctors with no results besides i need to go to the gym but thafs a whole other blog). then the pandemic came and i went out on my own.

Thus brings us back to current day. I have been fitting in therapy appointments (yes. The therapist has a therapist). And i have gotten my meds under control, finding out i have attention deficit has been an eye opener(another blog another day). I have an awesome support system helping me, friends family, a biller /credentialer whos amazing at what she does, understanding clients and constant stream of incoming with different directories. so i know i will be ok. Sometimes that voice gets loud, so i find ways to take care of myself. The one take away today for you, self care. Get sleep, eat right for you, socialise enough with those you care about, have your netflix binges, take up a hobby, join one of my support groups , find a therapist, meditate, iust take care of you and meet your needs. So important. For me, today im excited to have viewers around the world, and im super excited to continue sharing with you!!!