When the light turns green, you go.
When the light turns red, you stop.
But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?
- Shel Silverstein
Life is complicated. The choices and experiences that come with it are rarely straight-forward. There's some good in the bad, some bad in the good. Creativity in the face of complexity is essential. Approaching therapy creatively acknowledges that and meets challenges with flexibility and delight.
The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.
- Thomas Merton
In approaching therapy creatively, we work together to find the best approach for you.
An Integrative Approach
Expressive Arts
As a Drama Therapist, I bring creative and embodied interventions to the work. As an improvisor, I bring the joy of spontaneity and in-the-moment discovery. As an artist, I incorporate many forms of creative expression: visual art, writing, dance, music... I explore forms of expression that work for you personally, so that the sometimes difficult work of self-discovery and expansion may be done so in a way that goes beyond verbal and cognitive insight.
Trauma-Informed
Personal, historical, systematic trauma all play a part in how we navigate the world around us. A singular trauma might be forefront of mind and lead each life decision, or many scattered and less obvious traumas may be running in the background, like apps we haven't closed on our phones, taking up space, and slowing us down without us even knowing it.
Mindfulness
& DBT
As a central philosophy and tool, I use mindfulness to bring patient understanding to the work that we will do. I believe that long-term healing comes not only from cognitive understanding but also bodily integration, practice, and generational wisdom. I appreciate and use DBT as it offers structure, activities, and science-focused explanations for largely mindfulness-inspired understandings.
Client-Centered
I encourage clients to enter therapy with a sense of ownership. I am here to guide and offer input but you are the expert in you. Together we will design, and subsequently adjust, a strategy for achieving your therapy goals.
Humanistic & Existential
Internal clarity often brings about external clarity. If we're able to make decisions that come from a place of deep understanding and acceptance, those decisions lead to actions, and those actions build an external life that feels aligned with that internal life. This alignment brings with it peace and vitality.
You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.
- Eckhart Tolle
Adults
Approaching therapy creatively is about helping you engage with life in a way that feels fulfilling, joyful, natural and new. It is about changing the narrative that you have set so far. It's about discovering parts of yourself that you may have ignored or cast aside. And it's about celebrating your strengths and maximizing their offerings.
Teenagers
You are negotiating a complex transition from who you've been, to who you want to become. You have so many voices telling you to do this, to do that. It can be hard to hear your own voice. Let's find it!
Kids
Kids are naturally fluent in creativity. Creating worlds out of nothing, speaking made-up languages, taking liberties with social norms, they are not as beholden to the rules and expectations society will soon impress upon them. When therapy is able to tap into this natural state of creativity, the work is more enjoyable, effective, and fast.
Communication is to relationships what breath is to life.
- Virginia Satir
I am...
...many things!
(Just like you)
I graduated from the California
Institute of Integral Studies with
an MA in Counseling Psychology,
and a concentration in Drama Therapy.
I've been practicing for over 10 years now.
Before training as a therapist, I was an improvisational theater coach, an ESL teacher at a refugee resettlement center, and a visual artist focused on painting and photography.
Since then, I've worked at in-patient and out-patient medical institutions, at a K-12 school, and at non-profit organizations.
I enjoy fixing and riding motorcycles, supporting Liverpool F.C., upholstering furniture, and exploring new cities by foot.
Approaching therapy creatively includes all aspects of therapy, including the location, the payment structure, and the way it's provided.
when
I can work with you to find a time that works for both of us!
As more of a night owl than morning person, I schedule sessions as late as 9pm which can be helpful for some work schedules.
Sessions are usually 50 min/week unless we design something else that makes more sense for your needs.
If you want to meet once every other week, I start with a weekly assessment period.
where
I meet most clients over videoconferencing and telephone.
I also embrace 'creativity' in how we meet which could mean we meet for walks, at your home (great for kids), or in another space.
I'm also open to incorporating text and email. How we meet will be part of our initial (free) conversation.
How much
'Creativity' also applies to my rate. Let's have a conversation about what you can afford. The rate should make you feel a little stretched but not overly stressed. I generally don't go above $200 or below $100. Rates will be higher for couples or families, and lower if you are an individual, or are attending a group offering.
I offer a free 20-minute consultation phone call. In this call we'll go over your presenting concern, whether we're a good match for each other and details around scheduling and the rate.
Text or leave me a message at: 805-947-0399
Email me at: DanielSmithMFT@gmail.com
Or use the form below: