Our work and our mission is to redefine therapy and our conversations are about the art and practice of healing. This blog was launched in May 2018 by Dr. Jamie Marich, affiliates, and friends.
Originally published on the Dancing Mindfulness Expressive Arts Therapy Blog, 5/4/2017 If you’ve followed Dancing Mindfulness and other projects connected to my Institute for Creative Mindfulness work, you’ve likely encountered the hashtag #redefinetherapy. What started as a book chapter and a hashtag is quickly turning into a movement that you
Could it be that we’ve gone too far in stripping the spirit and soul out of therapy and have created a new altar of empirical science at which to worship? Last week, several of my friends texted me to see if I’d read the “takedown” article of Internal Family Systems
The announcement that I am about to make will come as a surprise to many of you, yet not to those of you who know me and my process well. While so much of my professional identity is connected to my work in EMDR Therapy, I am making the official
DISCLAIMER: I write this from a perspective shaped by both privilege and adversity. I’ve benefited from access to education and hold a professional title that carries weight in clinical spaces. These aspects of my identity afford me certain advantages, and I acknowledge that they influence how I see and speak
Tears filled my eyes when I took to the podium for my presentation at the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) Annual Conference on Sunday, September 14 in Anaheim, California. Six years ago, in this same city, I mounted a similar stage to give a talk where I formally came out to
As EMDR therapists working with clients who have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or complex dissociative systems, Phase II resourcing isn’t just a step—it’s the foundation. While the “calm safe place” is a staple in EMDR prep work, it often falls short for clients who live with dissociative systems shaped by
When I was in sixth grade, my cousin and I went to a Lady Gaga concert in Detroit. It was, in many ways, a queer awakening (though I wouldn’t have used those words then). I remember feeling something in the room before the music even started. The bass was loud,
During the last six weeks of his life on this earth, I brought my Baba all the ice cream that he wanted. One night in mid-May during an important discussion with Baba, a man I grew to see as my father over the last decade, Joey (another member of my
I couldn’t scream. Yet, there were those inside that wished they did. A little girl who wanted to scream But instead was still. Frozen with terror under a pink gingham comforter. A teen who wanted to scream But instead was silent and good. Starved and disappearing into black coffee and
One of the loveliest practices I ever learned for my own self-care is to make a two column list. In one column, I write down what is nourishing me right now. In the other column, I note what is depleting me right now. I encourage you to go ahead and