In 2022, I applied to be a registered expressive arts therapist. As part of the application process, I was required to submit an 10 page Expressive Arts Therapy Philosophy Statement. I am choosing to share a selection of that statement, in which I explored, “Who Owns Art as a Healing…

Dear COVID, You’ve been in our lives for over two years now. You contributed to the death of my niece. You’ve caused the deaths of the family members of my clients. You killed my therapist’s dad. You took the boss and two employees of my brother-in-law. You’ve created a lot…

I started my 36th year of life pretty sad. I’ll spare you the details. The important part is that I listened to that sadness. One day at a time, I pursued what did feel good. I attended to me and followed my energy — what I was excited to do. …

In December 2022, I pursued a formal diagnosis for autism. I was self-identified up until that point, but because I was considering more graduate education, I wanted an official diagnosis so I could have accommodations in school if I decided to pursue that. I paid out of pocket and researched…

This is the 27th interview in my series Interviewing Late-Identified Autistics. Gwen is a late-identified autistic. My questions are in bold and Gwen’s responses follow in regular typeface. What name and pronouns do you use? Gwen Murphy, she/her/hers a/k/a “Autistic Arjuna” How old were you when you learned you were…

This is a letter in my series where I write letters to the emotions that show up in my life. Dear Mercy, Guess how I decided to write to you? …

For my 36th year of life, I wrote 360 essays. I started the challenge 1/4th the way into my birthday year, so it was quite the whirlwind of writing. I originally wanted to write because my head felt so full of thoughts. There was so much I wanted to say…

“Ouch, can you not squeeze my hand so tight?” “Oh, sorry. Is this better?” “Yes. It’s like you were suddenly pinching me or something.” “I was actually squeezing your hand with the same pressure you told me you liked before. I think it might be you in this case.” “Oh.” …

This is a letter in my series where I write to common emotions in my life. Dear Love, I am begrudgingly writing this letter to you. Everyone one writes to you or about you. Everyone likes to pontificate on your meaning and this and that. Wait a minute, do you…