Live Softly Art Therapy & Counselling - with Elise Slater

08/12/2023

The wonderful Christmas show is now on at in Paddington, with a few of James’ pieces on show Loving the lemons on plates and Lemons in bag. Love and lemonade 🍋 Hope they find a happy home, and if not dibs they are coming back to mine ☺️

31/05/2023

A few recent meanderings in the art therapy studio, including kintsugi, turning the studio in to a cosy tent safe space, and bilateral drawing…

31/05/2023

A few recent meanderings in the art therapy studio, including kintsugi, turning the studio in to a cosy tent safe space, and expressive drawing…

15/04/2023

Art and about in Sydney ☀️

24/02/2023

Art shed meanderings and painty playfulness 💛💛💛

20/01/2023

Dances with light and colour

18/11/2022

Very grateful to have this cute tin shed here on Gadigal land to play and make and dabble and dance in when I’m not in my art therapy studio. It’s only ever stolen moments here and there, but I’m trying to be an art therapist who also has their own creative practice and doing more what I preach (and believe)! making time for mess and play. I like it best in its messy chaotic colourful state 🎨

23/10/2022

Wow…. Thank you to for bringing together Transpersonal Art Therapists emerging and established and for giving me the honour to speak as a part of this incredible two day conference. There are so many of us doing amazing work out there, which is pretty incredible considering most people I meet don’t know what an Art Therpist is (land a transperonal one at that☺️) but we are finding our way in to the world, in fact the world is asking for this work. So it’s pretty amazing to be a part of that revolution and to be able to gather to support and inspire each other. Im still reeling from trying to put all I’ve learn and experienced In this space in to one presentation, but it was an amazing process to even try to consolidate that. So to our incredible facilitators and the mammoth job they did, Kellie and Jenny, and all of the presenters, Thank You! ✨🙏🏽✨ .wildlife

07/05/2022

Little snippets of colour for a Saturday

07/05/2022

Happy birthday grandma! ✨ 🎂

05/04/2022

Slowing down and Connecting with our Wise selves in Art Therapy today 🦉💕

08/03/2022

A memory that my phone kindly reminded me of, seven years ago on this day I was in India on a trip that changed everything, my sense of self, career, beliefs. India is like that, provocative, and a wonderful teacher and healer. It was here live softly was born, that I met my first art therapist, and so much more. And to these two beings that I got to share a little bit of that India journey with hanging out in a cave by the river Ganges. As someone said in a talk tonight, where I also had to reflect on my journey of coming to where I am, sometimes life only makes sense in reverse, and sometimes only a long time later! 🙏🏽

08/03/2022

A memory that my phone kindly reminded me of, seven years ago on this day I was in India on a trip that changed everything, my sense of self, career, beliefs. India is like that, provocative, and a wonderful teacher and healer. It was here live softly was born, that I met my first art therapist, and so much more. And to these two beings that I got to share a little bit of that India journey with handing out in a cave by the river Ganges. As someone said in a talk tonight, sometimes life only makes sense in reverse 🙏🏽

16/01/2022

Closing 2021 and beginning 2022 with friends and a proper dose of nature to welcome it(and a bout of covid just to keep the balance 🤪). Here’s hoping this year can be one of reconnecting with friends, stronger community, new adventures, reunions with loved ones and some deserved rest for our tireless healthcare professionals! Taking each day as it comes, but putting that wish out in to the ether! ♥️✨

10/12/2021

A piece by David Spector, whose words ring true for me. How helpful has it really been to medicalise the human condition and stigmatise the struggle that is a part of living itself?

I remember reading a book when I was training to become a Clinical Psychologist which recounted André Malraux asking a parish priest, who had listened to confessions for half a century, what he had learned about mankind. The priest pondered for a while and responded with this: “First of all peopl...

08/12/2021

Thanks to everyone who has placed Christmas orders for championing small and ethical business. We 💖 you! Every single time we get an order we do a little happy dance and it means more support for our makers in Nepal. That’s the difference between shopping small and spending with the big multinationals with anonymous supply chains. So here’s wishing for more of that in the new year, and to the change we are seeing today’s small, unique and ethical businesses, we are here for it! 💯♥️💖🌲 And if you are yet to place an order this is your week to ensure it makes the Aussie post dash!

07/12/2021

A helpful article for addressing unhelpful discussions around diets and body image this Christmas...

You know when someone declares something like, "I'm on this new diet, it's very effective. I don't eat anything, and when I feel like I'm about to faint, I eat a cube of cheese." Except you never asked, and it leads to yucky body feelings for you? Here's how to deal.

03/12/2021

On international day of people with disability (and all days) we would like to highlight the work of the incredible artists at Celebrating and ensuring diversity in the art world, Studio A create pathways for artists with disability - and stand alone mind-blowing art at that! We loved working with Studio A on our felt puppet project, linking artists at Studio A with marginalised artisans in Nepal to create unique handmade puppets 💖 I also get the immense pleasure of working as an art therapist with neurodiverse clients and those with disability and their unique creativity blows me away daily. here’s to a future of inclusivity with more opportunities in art and all fields for people with disability 🌼 🎬Video 🌼

03/12/2021

Our first art therapy group back in person after a long hiatus! The workshop theme was Regeneration - inviting in the possibility of new growth after loss or damage… after the bushfires, after covid, after this last two years…. Going slow, exploring metaphor and the unknown places where new undreamt possibilities lie… and using collage to explore what is emerging for us from this time. We found inspiration in these words: ‘Be slow. Let this distract you. Let it change how you think and how you see the world. Because the world is our work. And so, may this tragedy tear down all our faulty assumptions and give us the courage of bold new ideas’ - Aisha S Ahmad, professor of political science at the University of Toronto

30/09/2021

Thank you to the amazing women at Art Pharmacy for being advocates for art therapy and the arts in Sydney. I loved being interviewed for this article about the potential of Transpersonal Art Therapy featuring Live Softly Art Therapy & Counselling - with Elise Slater

Public art consultant, art strategy and culture strategy agency based in Sydney, Australia. Buy art online from our online gallery.

20/07/2021

What Your Therapist Really Thinks About You
By Dr David Spektor
'We think about you outside of the therapy room. When we are having lunch, taking a walk, and even silently to ourselves at the dinner table. We wonder how you are doing at various moments in the day, and we think about ways in which we can help you further. A wonderful teacher of mine once said “what was harmed in a relationship must be healed in a relationship” and I like to think of this as also meaning, “what was damaged in love must be healed in love.” Love is a strange word in the therapeutic relationship, but I think fully appropriate. As I am invited into the lives of my clients, and fortunate enough to be trusted to hear their hurt, a deep sense of care, appreciation and love develops for them. This is a healthy love, and a necessary love to do the work we do. It is not a love that requests anything in return, it’s just a human sitting with another human, who has been allowed into another person’s life and feels connected. Within this space, healing can occur, as pain can be wit(h)nessed in a loving environment. This is often the very thing that was missing in my client’s upbringing in the first place.'

https://psychologycare.com.au/what-your-therapist-really-thinks-about-you/

As I sit in my therapist’s chair, I have often wondered what does my client think I am thinking. A lot of the time, I don’t have to wonder and clients will say to me things like “you must hear this all the time,” or “your other clients probably have bigger problems than me,” or “I am p...

06/07/2021

Exploring bilateral drawing for healing...

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/arts-and-health/201509/bilateral-drawing-self-regulation-trauma-reparation%3famp

Let’s draw on the power of both hands to modulate stress.

24/03/2021

Creativity is one way to complete the stress response, and dance (we could not agree more!)... you can read more in this article:

This is such important information.
It is empowering to know ways in which we can be responsible for managing our own stress.
It’s always helpful to have practical strategies - so read on!

“In their book, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, sisters Emily (PhD) and Amelia (DMA) Nagoski outline how we often experience the end of a stressful event, but our bodies and brain still need to complete the “stress cycle”. In other words, the difficult thing we went through ends but we still need to finish feeling the feelings so that we can move forward in a positive way.

They explain further, “The stress itself will kill you faster than the stressor will, unless you do something to complete the stress response cycle.” The stressor is the event or task that activates the stress response. Completing a project for work, a medical diagnosis, or the recent loss of a loved one are all examples. Stress is the response that follows, which could include: irritation, agitation, exhaustion, insomnia, sadness, crying spells, and more.

Have you ever had the experience of pushing through a difficult project and immediately after it finished you got sick and needed to stay in bed for a couple of days? This is evidence that the stressor may have ended, but our bodies are still responding to the stress.

So how do we manage stress in the moment, in order to negate the potential consequences of long-term stress? The Nagoski sisters outline the following techniques to complete the stress cycle:”

Click here to find these techniques - https://covenantfamilysolutions.com/stress-relief/im-definitely-not-stressed/

Another great article exploring the Nagoski sisters’ work can be found here: https://styleblueprint.com/everyday/7-ways-to-complete-your-stress-cycle/
It includes some Brene Brown input.

And Brene interviews Emily and Amelia in her ‘The Unlocking Us’ podcast which can be found here: http://spoti.fi/DareToLead

24/03/2021

Dr Joe Dispenza’s book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself is a fascinating read.
The description notes: “Dr. Joe bridges the gap between the sciences of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics to show you what is truly possible. Not only will you be given the necessary knowledge to change any aspect of yourself, but you will be taught the step-by-step tools to apply what you learn to make measurable changes in any area of your life.”

You can get an idea of his work from the quote in the image and this excerpt from the linked interview (see below).

“People wake up in the morning, they begin to think about their problems. Those problems are circuits, memories in the brain. Each one of those memories are connected to people and things at certain times and places. And if the brain is a record of the past, the moment they start their day, they’re already thinking in the past.

Each one of those memories has an emotion. Emotions are the end product of past experiences. So the moment they recall those memories of their problems, they all of a sudden feel unhappy, they feel sad, they feel pain. Now, how you think and how you feel creates your state of being. So the person’s entire state of being when they start their day is in the past. So what does that mean?

The familiar past will sooner or later be predictable future. So if you believe that your thoughts have something to do with your destiny, and you can’t think greater than how you feel or feelings have become the means of thinking, by very definition of emotions you’re thinking in the past. And for the most part you’re going to keep creating the same life.

So then people grab their cell phone, they check their WhatsApp, they check their texts, they check their emails, they check Facebook, they take a picture of their feet, they post it on Facebook, they tweet something, they do Instagram, they check the news, and now they feel really connected to everything that’s known in their life. And then they go through a series of routine behaviors. They get out of bed on the same side, they go to the toilet, they get a cup of coffee, they take a shower, they get dressed, they drive to work the same way.

They do the same things, They see the same people that push the same emotional buttons, and that becomes the routine and it becomes like a program. So now they’ve lost their free will to a program and there’s no unseen hand doing it to them. So when it comes time to change, the redundancy of that cycle becomes a subconscious program. So, now 95% of who we are by the time we’re 35 years old is a memorized set of behaviors, emotional reactions, unconscious habits, hardwired attitudes, beliefs and perceptions that function like a computer program.

So then a person can say with 5% of their conscious mind, “I want to be healthy, I want to be happy, I want to be free.” But the body’s on a whole different program. So then how do you begin to make those changes? Well, you have to get beyond the analytical mind, because what separates the conscious mind from the subconscious mind is the analytical mind. And that’s where meditation comes in, because you can teach people through practice how to change their brainwaves, slow them down. And when they do that properly, they do enter the operating system where they can begin to make some really important changes.”

(From: https://www.fearlessmotivation.com/2019/11/07/joe-dispenza-on-how-to-reprogram-your-subconscious-mind/)

You can check out ‘Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself’ here: https://drjoedispenza.com/collections/books/products/breaking-the-habit-of-being-yourself-by-dr-joe-dispenza-paperback-book?variant=35489832501409

Thanks to Waratah for the reminder of Dr. Joe’s work.