Trace

A path or trail made by continual passage. To find someone or something that is lost.  

Welcome to Blackbird Trace

Do you know the places of deepest loneliness. Have you walked on the path of pain and discouragement. Has existing from one day to the next become the norm? Is trying to make sense of the world through toxic memories that won’t go away sapping what little energy you have left?

I get it. I know that pain and darkness. Intimately. I had walked that road, without fully seeing it, for years.

And then, I discovered a passage that lead out of the trauma, loneliness and confusion. It opened my life to a world of peace, focus and purpose. That passage was art.

 I found that art, created at specific times, with simple materials, would stop the looping of thoughts, and remove the mind numbing fight, flight or freeze frenzie. I gained the confidence to reenter the world and watched loneliness slowly subside as I created with these simple techniques in the privacy of my home. These techniques I then shared with small groups and watched friendships form, acceptance embraced, eyes brighten and hearts begin to open. 

Blackbird Trace is created from this.

It’s common knowledge art has the ability to heal painful emotional experiences. Art has been scientifically proven to support the healing processes of those with PTSD, CPTSD, trauma related to war, abuse and compassion fatigue. Art even has the ability to lead the lonely out of despair and fear. The healing abilities of art are discussed in medical journals, peer reviewed journal abstracts and all over the internet. The information is there and is a huge leap forward for healing the mind, brain, heart and soul.

I found many lovely online art classes for exploring art techniques and others for supporting healing through art.  I was searching for a way to connect and inspire others with the support and healing I had experienced using these simple techniques. I wanted these practices to be available to anyone. This was the desire that lead me to create Blackbird Trace

The medical fields of psychology and psychiatry provide enormous support and help to their clients. EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and other types of therapies are making huge contributions to those dealing with trauma. As empowering as these practices are they are not always readily available or affordable. 

 I experienced this healing through art that, even as an artist, I had yet to discover. I’m sharing these neuro science based processes, applications, simple techniques and time factors that have healed and continue to heal. 

Join us for an in person seminar

 Blackbird Trace offers in person seminars and art clinics and will in the near future offer online clinics as well. Support for healing from emotional traumas and difficulties like PTSD, CPTSD, compassion fatigue and loneliness is more than a one time encounter. Ongoing art experiences, much like physical therapy, strengthen neural pathways in the brain. Much like a well worn path through a field, the more the “art” path in the brain is traveled, the more natural the pathway becomes.

 Art healing happens in small group settings, personal environments, such as online classes and in larger group spaces. There is no one way when experiencing healing with art. There are many ways to engage in healing through expressive arts. Journaling, painting, collage work, and asemic writing are just a few of the expressive arts shared at Blackbird Trace.

The one variable that is constant is-     

 Only you can do the work to heal but you don’t have to do it by yourself.