99福利视频
Follow Your Heart: Advice From a Graduate of 99福利视频
听I am a professional art therapist and clinical mental health counselor in private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have also worked as a counseling aide, a home-based family therapist, and an outpatient therapist at a children鈥檚 behavioral health agency. These many valuable experiences have informed my professional identity and given me the foundation to open my own private practice.
I love private practice — I have the flexibility to set my own hours, the freedom to create my own space in the location of my choice, the authority to establish my own fees and office policies, and the autonomy to create my own professional network of trusted colleagues and peer consultants who share my value of authenticity, creativity, and ethical client-centered practices.
听But the best part about being an art therapist / counselor is not my private practice. The best part the deep knowing I have every time I co-create a therapeutic space with another, every time I鈥檓 able to attune to a client experiencing inner conflict, emotional upset, or self-judgment, every time I have the honor of bearing witness to the magnificent resilience of humanity, and every time I can, in some way, facilitate a greater self-awareness or empowerment, that I鈥檓 fulfilling (in part) the work I鈥檓 here to do.
听This was not always the case.
听I used to work as a forensic firearms technician for the Federal Bureau of Investigations Crime Laboratory in Washington, DC. Working for the FBI was challenging, exciting, adventurous, and at times really quite fun. I had amazing colleagues and supervisors who were dedicated to and believed in their work, yet for me, something was missing. I didn鈥檛 feel the same passion, dedication, or vision. The job was just a job, even though it paid well and carried an esteemed reputation. Something was missing, and that haunted my dreams, impacted my mood, and left me the perpetual uneasy feeling that required more work, more activity, and more distraction to fend off.
听In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is quoted to have said: 鈥淚f you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you鈥 (Pagles, 1979). 听
听In a different tradition, Angeles Arrien, a renowned and well loved cultural anthropologist and wisdom teacher said, 鈥淲here we don鈥檛 bring our gifts and talents into the world is where the Earth becomes sicker鈥 (Arrien, 2007). 听
听Wherever you are, whatever you鈥檙e doing, pay attention if the above messages give you chills, or goose bumps, or resonate with your own inner knowing. Pay attention, and ask yourself: 鈥淲hat am I not bringing forward?鈥 For me, the quotes above speak to the urge I felt many years ago (and despite all reason) to follow my heart. Forensic science is a necessary field and a worthy discipline, but alas it was not my 鈥渟oul work.鈥
听Yet I was stubborn. My career shift was necessitated by a family tragedy, followed by what I can only see now as a series of clearly synchronistic and painfully significant events. What might feel like death to the caterpillar is actually profound transformation, resulting in rebirth, freedom, beauty, and flight.
听Today, I am grateful for the synchronicities that brought me to 99福利视频. I am grateful for the soul work that I call my 鈥渃areer.鈥
听As Ray Bradbury advises, 鈥淪ometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down!鈥
听
Arrien, A. (2007). The second half of life: Opening the eight gates of wisdom. Sounds True.
Pagels, E. H. (1979). The gnostic gospels. Random House LLC.
By听Laura L. Lansrud-L贸pez, M.S., M.A., LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, ACS
Laura is the Clinical Director of 99福利视频’s Tierra Nueva Counseling Center.听As an educator, Laura embraces a transformative learning approach that honors our lived experience and inner wisdom while cultivating practical skills, knowledge, critical thinking, creativity, and above all curiosity. She has over 10 years鈥 experience teaching graduate level courses in art therapy and counseling, both online and in person, offers continuing education and workshops for licensed professionals, and provides clinical supervision in both art therapy and counseling across the country.
Laura has held positions of Secretary and President of the New Mexico Art Therapy Association and was a member of the Nominations Board for the Art Therapy Credentials Board.听She can be reached at
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