Episode 54: Making Art From Anxiety With Megan Mitts
“I like to give people as many choices as possible, and I always want to make sure that you feel like you’re in control,” explains Megan Mitts, registered art therapist and founder of Art From Anxiety LLC. Megan created her art therapy business as a way to share low risk, high reward therapeutic art activities in a more accessible way that focuses on an artists’ success while also aiming to improve their mental health. The methods she shares are safe for anyone to do on their own and to share with others, and they help people gain more tools for being able to cope with difficult emotions like grief. Today, Megan discusses her professional journey and shares how she uses art therapy to make art from anxiety.
Art therapy is a fantastic method for coping with difficult emotions and regulating mental health.
One of Megan’s go-to methods to redirect people and give them a reprieve from their emotions is called mega-grounding. For this she asks people to name an animal, an action, and a place. The answers can be rather silly and help take people out of their distressing mental state. Megan chooses her art tools based on emotional need, such as using more rigid tools for a sense of control when overwhelmed and making reconstructive art when dealing with grief.
Channeling anxiety into art is a constructive way of redirecting emotions. Through art therapy, people can learn coping mechanisms that empower them to take control over their own mental health.
About Megan Mitts, Registered Art Therapist, Master of Arts in Art Therapy:
Megan’s professional experience as a Registered Art Therapist includes providing social-emotional learning and resilience-based strategies for students, families, and individuals of all ages in a multitude of settings including residential facilities, community centers, schools, and online. In recent years, Megan noticed a need for more affordable, accessible, and adaptable ways to support a spectrum of needs and abilities to promote autonomy, validation, and emotional well-being. Megan developed Art From Anxiety, LLC to share low-risk, high-reward therapeutic art activities with the artists’ success in mind, while focusing on the values necessary for recovery, self-healing, and maintenance such as resourcefulness, perspective, awareness, acceptance, boundaries, and mindfulness.
In This Episode We're Talking About:
- The difference between art therapy (clinical setting, graduate level practitioner) and therapeutic art (coping, self-soothing, mindfulness)
- How to use art making to safely support oneself, especially to support learning outcomes from -or time between- therapy
- How you don’t have to be an “artist” to make art and feel better
Quotes:
- “There’s a caterpillar dancing in Egypt. Like, oh, okay. It’s silly, but it’s okay, and these little tools of using our brain in different ways are what can be so helpful in the moment.” (9:15-9:27 | Dr. Lara)
- “Ultimately, my goal is just to help people make art and feel better.” (15:54-15:57 | Megan)
- “I like to give people as many choices as possible, and I always wanna make sure that you feel like you’re in control.” (17:31-17:36 | Megan)
- “A lot of people think that grief is something that you only experience when you do lose someone, but a lot of times it is a change in your role. It’s a change in someone else’s role.” (29:53-30:04 | Megan)
Links for this Episode:
Connect with Megan Mitts:
Website: ArtFromAnxiety.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@art_from_anxiety
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@art_from_anxiety
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_from_anxiety/
Connect with Dr. Lara Salyer:
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Catalyst Kit: https://rightbrainrescue.com/p/catalyst_kit
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
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About The Catalyst Host, Dr. Lara Salyer:
I worked as a family physician for 15 years until burnout changed the trajectory of my career. I realized I wanted to start a holistic functional medicine practice in my rural hometown and made it happen. In addition to practicing functional medicine, I now mentor practitioners who are looking to change their paths in healthcare by using what I refer to as the “Catalyst Roadmap”. I share each step of this framework with listeners so that they may apply it to their careers, relationships, personal goals, and projects.
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