Meet & Greet Your Peers: July Art Therapist Spotlight!

MEET KAREN KUEBLER, OUR ART THERAPIST IN THE SPOTLIGHT FOR JULY!

Name: Karen Kuebler

When and where did you receive your degree?
Masters in Art Therapy and Creativity Development from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 2007

What drew you to the field?
I’ve always loved all that involves creativity (drawing, painting, dancing, singing, play, building, poetry) along with the ability to express emotions and ideas through the process. My first career was teaching art in various setting and I started to notice that the adolescents I taught were pouring their hearts out through their art. I wanted to learn more about the psychology of art and started researching masters psychology programs and found Art Therapy!

What kind of work are you doing currently?
I’m the Expressive Arts Therapy Manager and art therapist at Veritas Collaborative's Child and Adolescent Program in Durham. Veritas Collaborative is a specialty hospital system for the treatment of eating disorders.

Are you creating your own art? Favorite media? Inspiration?
Yes! I’ve recently fallen in love with embroidery and the slow, intricate process of creating an image stitch by stitch. I also love watercolor, collage and drawing with stabilo pens. I’m inspired by layers of color and texture, botanical prints, and my 5 years old’s drawings.

What do you like to do in your free time?
Spend time with my family outside

What are your hopes for art therapy in North Carolina?
My hope is that we continue to thrive and grow professionally in NC and be recognized for our valuable contributions to mental health in our state. My wish is to find a North Carolina university that would be open to supporting a graduate level program for Art Therapy.

Anything else? (favorite quote, etc)
This is a poem I discovered recently that aligns well with the therapeutic process- the hard work of therapy can eventually lead to discovering a whole new world:

Oceans
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Translated by Robert Bly

I have a feeling that my boat
has struck, down there in the depths,
against a great thing.
And nothing
happens! Nothing… Silence… Waves…
—Nothing happens? Or has everything happened,
and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?