Wendy Caldwell

**Wendy is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Nationally Certified Counselor Certified in Expressive Arts. She offers mental health services and healing arts workshops, virtually and in person. Dear Prospective Client, If you are here, it means you are interested in finding a therapist to help you with something that is coming up in your life. Maybe there’s a stressful situation, you’re feeling imbalanced, or you’re trying to figure out what is feeling off. Maybe something big in your life is happening like a loss, a major life change, or you’re feeling the effects of a traumatic event, past or present. I believe it is natural as a human to need an emotional tune-up from time to time in our lives. Having the support to do it with direction and reflection from a helping professional reassures us that we’re making progress. As your therapist, I won't just provide therapeutic care during your session. I will research topics related to your case outside of appointments, spend time reflecting on your world to identify what interventions might help you make progress, and send resources, articles, videos, podcasts, quotes or memes that I think would add to your therapeutic work. I want to encourage you to stay focused on your wellness. Through empathy, compassion, congruence, and humor I will work with you to generate insight that can lead to increased healthy coping or personal change. I consider it a great honor to hold space for people dedicated to working on themselves and wanting the most out of their lives. My approach to therapy is client-centered with an emphasis on the mind-body connection. I combine traditional talk therapy with mindfulness, creative expression, CBT, and DBT skills to support you in your treatment. I am trained in EMDR to desensitize traumatic events, and teach my clients how to build regulatory skills through bilateral movement, breathing, visualization, and strategies to raise emotional awareness and build distress tolerance. I use the Internal Family Systems framework in my sessions to talk about protective parts, wounds, and how to engage your most authentic self. In addition to these techniques, I offer Polyvagal Theory interventions, Emotional Freedom Tapping practicing and psychoeducation on neuroscience to help you better understand how your brain responds to stress and emotions. I often enhance these interventions with process-focused art activities to encourage self-awareness, foster mental flexibility, and allow for shifts in perspective. My experience includes delivering SEL programming within various school systems, providing social skills training for differently-abled populations, and responsive services for crisis events. I have a history of working with military populations within schools, transition services, and nonprofit organizations attending to various stressors relevant to the military lifestyle and life after military service. My clinical experience includes inpatient, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, and outpatient services with various populations ranging from children to older adults. I trained with the Person-Centered Expressive Arts Institute in California to become certified in using expressive arts in individual sessions as well as facilitating the process in groups. My healing arts workshops incorporate mindfulness, meditation, music, movement, art-making, and writing. Through this process, we create a Creative Connection that allows participants to delve deep into their subconscious state and explore their inner worlds. I formerly served as an executive team member of The Veteran’s Spouse Project, where I created the Made For You Workshop Program based in this principle. This program delivered free, in person and virtual sessions to spouses of veterans to help this population connect to themselves and each other through creativity done in community. In addition to private practice, I facilitate DBT/Expressive Arts groups at The McNew Mental Health Hospital using this approach and offer workshops as a contractor with various organizations. I have worked with the US Army chaplaincy to offer expressive arts workshops to facilitate exploration of female veteran stories through their Band of Sisters program, and held sessions at the Army marriage retreat program, Strong Bonds. I host these events through the Create 2 Connect program branch of my business and will work with you to develop a theme/prompt to facilitate the goals of your group. Contact me for more information on how I can help you or your organization facilitate personal development or team-building through Create 2 CONNECT. Fun fact: When I'm not in the office, you can find me hiking in the mountains! My favorite hike so far has been on Mt. Rainier during a through hike trip on the Wonderland Trail. I also love camping, traveling, and being with nature. Although I was born and bred on the East Coast, I have lived in multiple places, including Europe, Alaska, and Hawaii. Thank you for stopping by to working with me. I would be happy to connect with you further to discuss what you are looking for and how I can help.If therapy with me speaks to you, I am happy to schedule a consultation call to explore fit. Feel free to message me, send an email to wendy.creativeisight@gmail.com or call my office at 443-782-5440. Warmly, Wendy