Hi, I’m Jess

I actually happened upon art therapy. I was on a totally different path, but when I saw how special it was, I changed the direction I was headed.

I’ve came to love the way art therapy brings together creativity and helping others. Especially the way it gets us out of our heads and allows us to experience things differently.

However, what I love most about art therapy is the process.

You start with something. It can be the smallest of things. Such as a feeling, an idea, a blank page and you begin. Things can layer and build and sometimes turn into something beautiful.

And sometimes they don’t and that’s okay!

Sometimes what we make isn’t what we expected at all. There can be something meaningful in letting go of the idea that everything has to turn out a certain way. That’s what makes art therapy so powerful.

It gets us out of our heads.

We spend so much time thinking, analyzing, replaying, and trying to make sense of things. Making art gives us another way to process. It brings some of that work into the body and gives those emotions somewhere to go.

More then anything, I want my clients to feel safe when they come into my office. You don’t need to arrive with everything figured out and there is nothing you need to prove. I want people to leave with some hope, to know they are good as they are, even when they are working through things they would like to change.

Therapy doesn’t have to be about finding the perfect label or figuring yourself out once and for all. I see it as a process that is always evolving.

We change. Our circumstances change. Sometimes what we need from therapy changes too.

My hope is that my clients experience me as a warm presence alongside them as they navigate whatever has brought them to therapy.

I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t believe therapy is about someone handing you the answers. It’s about having someone there to help you explore, make sense of things and find your way forward.

A little more about me…

I come to you with over 20 years of experience in the field. I am licensed in NY state as a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT). Additionally, I am a Board Certified and Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC®).

Outside of the therapy room I love spending time with my family and dogs, reading, making art, being near the water, enjoying nature and finding any excuse for a vacation somewhere with a beach.

I think those things matter too.

The whole person matters, not just the part that is struggling.