QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor of Nursing (Deakin University)
Diploma of Art Therapy (CECAT)
Australian Community Counselling Association (ACCA)
Karen is an art therapist, counsellor, artist, former nurse, and mother of three. Her work is influenced by positive psychology with a desire to improve wellbeing and fulfilment in life. Drawing on her diverse background, Karen has a special interest in working with children, adolescents, and parents. Karen’s approach to care is highly empathic, holistic, and incorporates evidence-based techniques drawn from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), narrative therapy, and mindfulness-based therapies.
Based on “Good Inside” parenting strategies by Dr Becky Kennedy, Karen advocates for healthy relationships within families, through encouraging thoughtful connection, validation, empathy and boundaries. In itself, the process of artmaking is therapeutic. It is playful, expressive, and brings about feel-good chemicals in the brain like serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. But in an art therapy setting, this is just the beginning.
Art has been used for communication and storytelling for tens of thousands of years. When we express ourselves through creativity (be that art, play, music, dance, etc.) our unconscious beliefs and emotions always come along for the ride. Through the artworks created, Karen gently supports clients to discover these inner thoughts, emotions, deeply-held beliefs and stories which drive every aspect of how we show up in life.
Karen is available for individual and group art therapy sessions, and sees private clients as well as plan-managed and self-managed NDIS clients.
“I can draw it, a dreamer would often say, but I don’t know how to say it.”
Sigmund Freud