“Come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving, it doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times.
Come, come again, come.”
~ Rumi
- I believe in the power of the arts to heal for I have used the arts to heal myself.
- I believe mental health professionals have a unique calling to help reverse the wheel of oppression, heal personal and collective trauma and do our own personal work along the way.
- I believe that a person has to be willing to heal when they are ready to heal.
- I believe that people deserve the support and resources to take a time-out in their lives to pause, reflect and reconsider their beliefs, behaviors and relationships.
- I believe that when people have been cut off from their own creative well-springs through trauma, disrupted attachment and oppression, they can be re-connected to their sources of power through expressive arts practices that focus on process over product.
- I believe that change is possible whenever someone is open to change. Some people are born with more resilience factors than others. Those of us who are more resilient have a duty to help those with less resilience overcome their challenges.
- I am committed to being humble in my competence and continually willing to examine myself, my motivations, my beliefs and my intentions. I am willing to put my own ego needs aside to put my clients at the center of their journey.
- I believe each person has a responsibility to care for themselves as a member of humanity and this includes myself.
- I promise to step down from my role as a mental health professional if I become incapacitated by my own trauma and counter transference.
- I believe the Earth is a school and we come here to learn about love and the right use of power. I believe we are creative beings who come here to make mistakes, experience forgiveness and healing. I believe in reincarnation and the everlasting life of the soul.
- I have faith in the mystery of life and I believe that we are all watched over and guided from benign beings in the heavenly realms.
- I reserve the right to update and revise this manifesto as I continue to evolve on my professional journey of becoming a licensed expressive arts therapist.
Ase, Aho, Amen and so it is for the benefit of all beings.