At Art and Soul Art Therapy, working with kids and teens is one of our favorite parts of what we do. Every young person who walks through our doors brings their own story, energy, and spark — and we feel so lucky to be part of their growth. We also know that being a parent in this process can feel tricky sometimes. You want to help your child, you’re investing time and energy into therapy, and yet… you might not always know exactly what’s happening behind the therapy-room doo

Here we go, parents... (cracks knuckles in anticipation of the hate mail)... Ready? The problem with kids these days is the adults in their lives. And society. Which is run, primarily, by adults. Now, before we get started, let me put my disclaimer here: parenting, teaching, hell, even just existing as a human being in this day and age is HARD. I don't sit in a glass house throwing stones. I've been there too. My own child does not have perfect parents. Because there i

This is a fantastic write-up from MAPS that I wanted to share here. Hi friend, With the rise in popularity of Apple TV’s Severance, we couldn’t help but notice the striking parallels between the show’s concept of reintegration and the very real process of integration within the psychedelic community and psychedelic-assisted therapy. While Severance explores the unsettling and often traumatic experience of merging two artificially separated selves, psychedelic integration is

I was speaking with one of my clients* recently, empathizing with her- while she spoke about empathizing with her OWN clients. The more she talked, the more it sounded like she was a therapist, although I knew she worked in finance. As she described the company and program she worked for, I began to get more excited... ***But first, let me clearly state that my excitement is not tied to any sort of "kick-back". Art and Soul gets no benefit from promoting the services outli

Today, I worked with my friend Bec Degnan (who owns Prism Counseling) at a local cat cafe. This place is incredible! I plan to go back again! We hosted an emotional support space for the queer community to wait out the storm of the election. I went to get support as much as to give it. Inside, it was peaceful. The owner, Mark, is an absolute angel of a man. As he initially planned out the colors of his cafe, the contractor working for him told him he should rethink it because

I wanted to share a journal entry that a friend of mine wrote. He sees a different clinician at Art and Soul, and he's been doing The Work of therapy. But he stumbled recently in a big way. We had a very candid talk, and then he shared this journal entry with me. With his permission, I wanted share it with you... because it's so poignant. So well written... and gives voice to the constant, daily struggle we all endure. The Work never really ends, but because of what wor

Let's talk safety in Psychedelic- Assisted Therapy... Did I NEED to go on a ketamine journey today? I did not. And my little girl (inner child) did not like the fact that I was volunteering for it so that my students could learn, and their own clients could be helped. She’s tired of being used as a “ripple generator”- sending out positive ripples for the benefit of others, when it’s not what she wants for herself. I worked to soothe her by giving her voice. I spoke out loud

My name is Briana Benn-Mirandi, LPC, CLAT. When I first got into private practice, I didn’t have the thousands of dollars to get me started in EMDR or similar trainings. But I needed something because I soon learned that everyone comes in with trauma! They may no know it when they complain of anxiety or depression, it at the root? It was trauma and I needed to be able to treat it. My masters program had taught me nothing about this! I didn’t realize how lucky I was whe

At this moment, I sit with my husband as he trusts me and surrenders control to a substance- something he has never, EVER wanted to do. This is my husband who has never been drunk. This is my husband who never tried marijuana. This is my husband who never wanted to try ketamine. “It’s not my thing.” He would say. He would recount examples of family members with substance addictions. When being especially honest, he would confess “I don’t feel comfortable if I’m not in c

You know how on Instagram, you can put different filters on? Some make you look fantastic. Others can make you look ridiculous or hideous. Have you noticed how long you take to admire the “good” filters, and how quickly you swipe away, often with a shudder and sound of disgust, when you see the “bad” filters? This is pretty similar to how we see ourselves as people. Not the physical looks, but the Self. The whole person. We want to see ourselves as good. And sometimes