31: Stairs Stories, EMDR and Guest Jocelyn Fitzgerald
Licensed professional counselors Johanna Dwinells and Sarah Bryski-Hamrick are slowly demystifying and destigmatizing therapy, one episode at a time. Recording and living in the Philadelphia area, Johanna and Sarah work to make therapy feel more accessible, with quirky, sometimes intrusive questions that reveal the human side of healthcare professionals, all while they overcome their own anxieties and internalized stigmas.
TW: Mention of working with traumatized clients
Episode summary: Johanna hates the stairs. Sarah sips and paints. They both discuss the history of EMDR and Art therapy. Guest, Jocelyn Fitzgerald, talks about art therapy and EMDR, group psychotherapy, creativity and so much more!
Guest Bio: As a board-certified art therapist and an EMDR* therapy consultant with a thriving therapy practice, Jocelyn helps her clients and workshop participants work through past trauma using a combination of art therapy and EMDR. Jocelyn directs her clients to tap into their own creativity and healing.
Empowering youth is one of Jocelyn’s greatest passions. She ran a variety of healing-centered group art projects and led guided visualizations on creativity with schools and nonprofits. One of her most transformative experiences centered around training paraprofessionals to help traumatized Eritrean youths in an Ethiopian refugee camp recover using art therapy. Amid the pandemic to help kids find calm using mindfulness and art, Jocelyn coauthored and illustrated “Colorful Place: Mindful Story and Art,” a Kindle bestseller. She co-edited and wrote a chapter for EMDR Creative Art Therapies, a pioneering textbook exploring the healing power when creative art therapy and EMDR are integrated; Routledge is releasing the book summer 2022. A clinical supervisor, Jocelyn also creates art tools that teach mental health concepts, distributed through her Etsy shop, Colorful Therapy Tools.
When she’s not working or creating art, you can find Jocelyn hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest mountains or enjoying dance parties with her little family.
*EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.
Sources for today’s History Lesson: EMDR Institute Inc, emdr.com; wikipedia.org; adelphipsych.sg
Resources: Window of Tolerance by Dan Siegel; jocelynfitzgerald.com; breatheartcalm.com; Jocelyn’s Etsy Store at Colorful Therapy Tools
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