Sometimes this work is heavy. Really heavy. And holding all that it brings can feel like a lot. I had to do a suicide intervention this week with a client who is just a young girl, only 14 years old. I hadn’t needed to support an actively suicidal client since beginning my career in Expressive Arts Therapy; it’s been over two years and I’d honestly forgotten how hard it is. I invited my client to hold a piece of clay as we talked. Somehow having something to hold and shape while talking about her plan to kill herself made it a little easier — for her and for me. Her piece transformed into something so full of life which was fascinating and ironic in some ways. Mine ended up being a tiny dish with lots of imperfections; misshaped, cracked. But the dish held the mess for us while we navigated the darkness and found tiny specks of light. Before I started my training as an Expressive Arts Therapist, my focus was on suicide and crisis intervention. It’s where I felt most confident and comfortable. This was my first time using Expressive Arts as a part of the intervention process and for the first time I didn’t feel like I was holding it all on my own. 🎨