Blog
Katrina and 9/11 Memorials: The Use of Group Art Therapy for Collective Trauma
Memorials as Group Art Therapy. Just blocks from my NYC art therapy office stands the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. In the 13 years it took to complete the memorial, there has been a lot of debate and criticism regarding what was planned, how long it was taking to complete, and how costly it was. One such piece of concern is expressed here by the New York Times' Michael Kimmelman,…
Apr 19, 2016
Breaking the strata: Diversity of group therapy in NYC
Group therapy in NYC: The 4-train in therapy. Group therapy is my favorite way to help people. I love how unpredictable it is. Not unlike New York itself.I sometimes feel that NYC is a less of a city than a collection of cities piled on top of one another--it's a wild place to practice therapy. At times we can experiences this almost literally, as in where we find ourselves at a vantage point…
Apr 12, 2016
Depression or a broken spirit: Therapy for either
Therapy for depression, or.... Contemplate with me, for a moment, the significance of this fact: With the overwhelming dominance of the construct of depression, both in therapy offices and in everyday conversation, we have reduced an entire wing of the spectrum of emotional experiences to one word: Depressed.Language matters. As a therapist, when a patient presents seeking therapy for depression,…
Apr 06, 2016
Dog Whisperer, Parenting Guru
A great model for parenting. Often when I talk to parents in my NYC therapy practice, I reference Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. Yes, the Dog Whisperer. I know kids are not dogs and, no, I do not condone the use of those terrible child leashes. Yet it has shocked me, just from watching a few "Dog Whisperer" reruns here and there, how many of his tips ring true for kids and families.Raising a…
Nov 24, 2015
Art as Therapy: The Shame to Pride Project
Art and art therapy. Artist Stephanie Calvert is using her own art as therapy in creating work using materials from her childhood home and I find it inspiring in my work as an art therapist. The Huffington Post's Katherine Brooks features Ms. Calvert in her piece, "One Daughter is Turning Her Hoarding Parents' Belongings into Beautiful Art". Stephanie's home from ages 11 to 18 years was not a…
Nov 17, 2015
Time-Release Therapy
As a therapist, I often wonder how to maximize the work I do with people. Forty five minutes a week of therapy is not much. You might get the initial “hit” of enlightenment, closeness, catharsis, empowerment, and so on but in order for those 45 minutes of therapy to really work their magic, the work needs to be continual. When you leave the space and hit the streets of NYC, what happens? When…
Sep 22, 2015
Group Shaming in the Internet Age: The 21st Century Bystander Effect
The Effect of Groups on Our Capacity to Help. I distinctly remember the first time I learned about social psychology--I was sitting in a large auditorium when my dry Psychology 101 professor clicked his slideshow to an image of NYC in the 60's. As I doodled in the margins of my notebook, my professor began to speak about Kitty Genovese, a woman who was brutally attacked and killed near her home…
Sep 15, 2015
I'd Like to be Asleep for This: There's No Anesthesia in Therapy
I got a letter in the mail recently from an insurance company asking for more information regarding the anesthesia therapy I provided. Hm, that’s odd. I know I sure as hell don’t do anything with anesthesia in my NYC therapy office. It turns out that the CPT code, a type of code insurance companies use to keep track of what medical services folks receive, was off by one digit. Therefore, instead…
Sep 08, 2015
Outsider Art and the Challenge in Labeling
Labeling artists and concretely defining art movements has long been a challenge. Criteria often includes inspiration, influence, training, and proximity but there is plenty of room for gray area and interpretation. Priscilla Frank’s article, “What is the meaning of outsider art?”, highlights why those in the "outsider artist" category are even more challenging to designate than the typical art…
Sep 01, 2015They don't call 'em pain killers for nothin': Staten Island, NYC's heroin problem
Overdose prevention, drug abuse treatment in NYC and the work that remains. One of the great hazards of drug use and abuse is the danger of overdose. The New Yorker looks at the problem of heroin use on Staten Island, NYC and the state of drug abuse treatment in NYC.The New Yorker writes about drug addiction and the heroin epidemic that has saturated Staten Island, NYC's least populous borough.…
Aug 31, 2015
The Art of Therapy: An Uncertain Process
Art therapy and art making: A process of discovery. Early in my art therapy career, I asked a mentor how long it would take to be a "good" therapist. She laughed and rolled her eyes a little bit, as my question in itself negated what "good" therapy truly is. For therapists and therapy patients alike, we are all constantly evolving, changing, and in flux. You cannot always plan what growth or…
Aug 25, 2015The first rule of fight club: On trauma therapy and denial
Two kinds of trauma: trauma therapy and the problem of denial. We might say there are two sorts of trauma that present themselves in trauma therapy: trauma that is acknowledged, overtly expressed, laid bare; and trauma that is unacknowledged or ignored. In either instance, the pain of the trauma--the traumatic effect--is damaging. It leaves a sort of scar on the nervous system of the person…
Aug 24, 2015Browse all Tribeca Therapy topics
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