Context 

​

Mental health practitioners often rely on talk-based interventions that don’t work for all clients, especially youth or individuals who struggle to verbalize emotions. I observed this firsthand while volunteering with youth at SafeSpace, where peer community forums and mental health outreach often failed to fully engage participants.

​

Insight

​

Through conversations with therapists and mental health practitioners, I learned that structured creative prompts can lower the barrier to participation by giving clients a nonverbal entry point into emotional expression. However, many practices lacked accessible, repeatable tools that could be easily shared across sessions and settings.​

​

Project

​​

To explore how these insights could translate into practice, I collaborated with a licensed art therapist to understand how therapeutic goals are embedded in creative activities. Drawing on this guidance, I designed a 42-page guided art journal that translated practitioner goals into prompts and visuals. I piloted early versions of the journal with youth participants at SafeSpace, using feedback to refine prompts and pacing.

​​​

Impact 

​

I organized outreach and distributed the journal to 15+ schools, hospitals, mental health organizations, private practices, and community organizations. While initially designed for youth group settings, the journal was also adopted independently by therapists in one-on-one clinical practice.

​

“I started using the book with a couple of clients and they love it.” — Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

​