Portland Therapy Center
Shannon Garcia

Shannon Garcia (she/her)

Art Therapist

MA, ATR-P, Professional Counseling Associate

Supervisor: Kara Kazembe, LCSW and Jillynn Garcia, MA, LCAT, LMFT, ATR-BC

I am a person-centered somatic art therapist passionate about using creativity and body attunement to support growth and wellness.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

971-377-7640

239 NE Lincoln Street

Hillsboro, 97124

Email Website Schedule Now

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $165

Provides free initial consultation

Practicing Since: 2023

Languages: English

Services

  • Individual
  • Group
  • Teen

Insurances Accepted

  • Out of Pocket
  • Aetna
  • PacificSource
  • Providence Health Plan
  • Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield

My Ideal Client

Feeling messy, overwhelmed, lost, questioning or stuck? Need somewhere safe enough to be seen as a raw and imperfect human? Come as you are! I’m here for it! I’m passionate about supporting clients (age 14 - elder) in navigating life transitions, neurodiversity, grief, trauma, anxiety, depression, identity and chronic illness in the context of their individual experience and backgrounds. I am LGBTQ+ affirming and practice body positivity. I work with all levels of ability and access needs.

My Background and Approach

As a former art educator, I have supported creativity for over a decade. I went back to school to become an art therapist because I saw how powerful it was to use creativity to understand and support ourselves. Therapeutically, I have worked with adolescents through adults who experience life through various lenses related to ability, access and identity. As an identity based therapist, I support people by using creativity, somatic work and EMDR and by showing up authentically to support a person in their becoming. I am LGBT2S+ affirming. I have a MA in Art Therapy from Lewis & Clark, and undergraduate degrees from the Institute of American Indian Arts and Pacific Northwest College of Art. I also have a Soul Based Somatic Trauma Training Certificate from the Somatic Nature Therapy Institute, and I carry a Wilderness First Responder certificate. My path to art therapy was routed through art education and an artistic career.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

Therapy is relational work, and I believe that my biggest job is to create spaces for healing that feel safe enough to address your goals, and support humans in integrating experiences that live within our bodies that are holding us back, slowing us down, or otherwise keeping us from living full and healthful lives. I do that by using art processes, mindfulness, and body attunement to process deep work, create space in our minds for stress and anxiety reduction, and to honor experiences and perspectives with intention, compassion and warmth.

Techniques I Use

Specialties

  • Art Therapy External link

    I hold an MA in Art Therapy from Lewis & Clark and have worked for 2 years in a cancer healing center as well as 1 year in an academic setting for students a few steps out of general education who need mental health supports in an academic setting. I have worked with clients with chronic illness, trauma, anxiety and depression, neurodiversity, aging, legacy, and grief.

  • Somatic Therapy (Body Centered) External link

    I have a Soul-Based Somatic Trauma Training Certificate from the Somatic Nature Therapy Institute. This is a 9-month training that centers the body and the felt sense of experiences to explore and work with resourcing, trauma, attachment, and soul-based interventions. I have integrated this work into my art therapy practice with cancer patients and with adolescents at a social emotional focus alternative school.

  • EMDR External link

    I am EMDR level 1 trained and will complete level 2 in November. Please reach out for a consult to see if this treatment may support you.

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • Cancer External link

    I have supported people in their cancer experiences for 2 years at a local cancer healing center. From a transpersonal oriented program, I companioned people in their experience, created curriculum to support stress and anxiety relief, and to expand opportunities to LGBTQ+ folks who at that time did not have any group offerings at local cancer centers. I worked with many experiences that tend to coincide with major life and health transitions: trauma, divorce, parenting, caregiving, and grief.

  • Loss or Grief External link

    Grief is one of the most human experiences, and it is meant to be experienced in community, rather than in isolation. The thing about grief is that when it's bump up against, other grief comes up to be tended as well. Beyond the loss of someone or something loved, grief can be ambiguous, anticipatory, complicated, disenfranchised, traumatic and more. I have tended grief in community through grief groups, and as community in individual work.

  • Anxiety External link

    Everyone experiences anxiety on some level from time to time. When anxiety affects day to day functioning, or when you want to change how you relate to it, it's time for some support. I have worked with folks across most of the life span to create space to lessen the severity of anxiety through art therapy and somatically.

  • Autism External link

    As an intern at a social emotional alternative school, I worked with students with autism and comorbid diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, suicidality, bipolar and chronic illness. Our goals centered student needs and social emotional development in context of their lived lives, by centering them as wonderful and rich experts of themselves, integrating their special interests and co-creating our work to best support their development.

Contact Shannon

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