Ellen ART THERAPY

Taking a client-centered and collaborative approach, Ellen creates a safe and non-judgmental space where clients can explore and identify complex emotions and personal challenges, using art as the mediator to enhance self-expression and communication.

Ellen emphasizes art as a therapeutic tool in sessions, providing a supportive framework for the integration of creativity beyond the session in order to develop coping strategies and promote well-being. Ellen has used this approach with her clients to foster resiliency, contain anxiety, and to encourage mindfulness, as well to redirect self-harm, panic, and eating disorder behaviors. Using art to explore complex challenges provides a space to validate emotions, to increase self-understanding, and to empower clients to reconstruct their personal narrative and healing process.

Ellen Smallwood is a registered art therapist and Canadian certified counsellor (M.A, Art Therapy, ATR, ATPQ, CCC) who works with children, adolescents and adults. She takes a client-centered approach to art therapy; combining attachment and trauma-informed practices with humanistic, mindfulness-based, symbolic processes and sensorimotor art therapy. Ellen meets people where they are at; and uses the art-making process as a way to regulate stress, foster self-compassion/ connection, and to encourage curiosity as people explore their personal narrative and a variety of challenges. Ellen works in private practice and is part of the Pride Therapy Network of Montreal (PTNM). She has worked in diverse settings such as the Jewish General Hospital (in youth service and child psychiatry), and at the English Montreal School Board (at Willingdon and Coronation Schools). She is also part-time faculty in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at Concordia University (teaching research and clinical supervision in art therapy) and the on-site art therapy supervisor at the Centre for the Arts in Human Development at Concordia. Ellen’s work is informed by her commitment and participation in social justice communities and disability advocacy, and she offers an affirming and supportive space to 2SLGBTQIA+ folks, recognizing the negative impact that systemic discrimination has on mental health for BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, and folks with disabilities and neurodiversity.

Ellen has a passion for research and her collaborative study (with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Sheldon Memory Lab at McGill) exploring the psychosocial dimension of epilepsy with art therapy was published in the Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy.  Ellen remains passionate about art therapy as a modality to address stress and foster connections to self and communities; and she looks forward to hearing from you to consult regarding support on your healing journey. She offers a mix of in-person sessions (limited availability) at Resilience Clinic and Connecte Psychology, or online sessions. She can give official tax receipts under naturopathy which some insurance companies may accept or as a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) through the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Please get in touch by email to inquire regarding availability and with further questions.

I am pleased to offer a free art therapy workshop called Connective Clay Experiences: Pathways from Persons to Planet on September 19th at 11:30am-12:30pm as part of Concordia University’s Creative Arts Therapies Department residency at the 4th Space gallery examining the role of the arts in health and wellness. “From September 17 – 27, come to 4^TH SPACE to engage with practitioners-researchers and participate in workshops and demos. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn more about the therapeutic values of creative and performing arts while experiencing first-hand the benefits of Creative Arts Therapies”.

Description: Clay work in art therapy is a powerful experience that incorporates sensorial processes (touch, movement, vision) and engages neurobiological systems (memory, cognition, information processing) to translate complex emotions into creative expression (Lusebrink, 2004, Riley, 2004, Lobban 2014). This can reduce stress and foster the ability to put something abstract into words, enhancing communication and self-discovery via symbolic engagement (Hinz, 2009). Clinically, clay has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression (Lobban, 2014, Nan, 2017), offering an arts-based coping strategy that is key for mental health. Working with clay emulates our primary relational experiences in infancy, recalling the first moments of our existence as well as our connection to the natural world (Sholt & Gavron, 2006).

As collective anxiety rises regarding climate change, this workshop will offer clay-based mindfulness and poetic intentions to reconnect with our planet, fostering motivation to connect with one’s self and the community to promote personal/ social sustainability and wellness. The art therapy clay experiential will be followed by a discussion and a brief overview of clinical, community, and theoretical implications. A live soundscape for the creation component will be provided by music therapist/ violinist Ingrid Wissink, MTA.

Thursday, Sept 19th- 11:30am-12:30pm (1400 de Maisonneuve O., 4th Space, Concordia University, Montreal)- FREE.

References

Hinz, L. D. (2009). Expressive therapies continuum: A framework for using art in therapy. Routledge.

Lobban, J. (2014). The invisible wound: Veterans’ art therapy. International Journal of Art Therapy, 19(1), 3-18.

Lusebrink, V.J. (2004). Art therapy and the brain: An attempt to understand the underlying processes of art expression in therapy. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 21, 125-135.

Nan, J. K., & Ho, R. T. (2017). Effects of clay art therapy on adult outpatients with major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of affective disorders, 217, 237-245.

Riley, S. (2004). The creative mind. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 21, 184-190.

For inquiries or to book an appointment with Ellen at Resilience Clinic or Connecte Psychology, please write her at ellenarttherapy [at] gmail.com