Author: Heather Maritano
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From therapist to cinematographer; enhancing virtual connections
As the COVID 19 crisis continues to alter every aspect of our lives, mental health providers are getting up to speed on telehealth formats for service provision. There have been some amazing resources popping up that address various aspects of the transition such as technical platforms, HIPPA, and billing codes as well as specific ways…
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Using Sandtray in Clinical Consultation
Once a month I facilitate a consultation group for play therapists. Last year we shared a process over a series of months that illustrated many complex dynamics within supervisory/ consultation relationships, as well as the ones between clinician and client. The evolution and outcome of that process, what it indicated about our group community and the individuals within…
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Therapy Practice = Spiritual Practice
Is sorrow the true wild? And if it is-and if we join them-your wild to mine-what’s that? For joining, too, is a kind of annihilation. What if we joined our sorrows, I’m saying. I’m saying: What if that is joy? -Excerpt from Ross Gay’s Book of Delights Earlier this year, I was on my porch swing…
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between the hours, a moment held
As hour ends we stand side by side noting the green-gold shimmer of leaves against the brilliant blue, October sky Evokes sorrow, which we both acknowledge and then hold, briefly, in awkward silence Shared stillness in the midst of the 2:30 shuffle wanting to linger… Abruptly pulled from resonant trance Like the impact of a…
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Monarch Morning
Today in the garden of my mind, exist a plethora of ideas for writing, yet I am having difficulty navigating the energy necessary to release them into the world. Some are still in the caterpillar stages, voraciously chomping little bits as they go from small black dots to fat, juicy bands of bright green and…
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The Bird’s Nest
A client of mine best engages in therapy while sitting at the table making layered paper cutout scenes or ink and watercolor pictures – hands flying freely, with what appears to be no concentration or plan, creating intricate and delightful images while delving into the realms of identity, purpose, values, attachment patterns, and childhood adverse…
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Tree Mémoires
Once a month, 3 colleagues and I meet to practice leading one another in various forms of expressive process that we might want to use in our clinical work. Ultimately its an exploration of creativity, hence, vulnerability. Which is also what this blog is for me. A very public showing up with eclectic offerings, in…
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Dream Visit to the Dying
My mother and I left Haight Ashbury on a grey, cold morning in January of 1973. We took the Amtrak train across the country headed for Indiana with not much more than the clothes we were wearing. We left in desperation, only intending to stay for the winter while my mother re-grouped. I was almost…
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Lone Tear Lingers
Often I am witness to tender, intimate moments beckoning to be explored more fully in some other form. It is regretfully rare that I take the time to actively engage the creative process toward a tangible manifestation of what so often moves through me. The offerings in this post are not made to illustrate artistic…
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Navigating developmental transitions, experiences of episodic grief
Author note: This essay is from 7 years ago, sitting unread by anyone since July 2012. Last week my tango instructor pulled me aside to dance. He had noticed something. We began with familiar steps and then he added more challenging moves. After a few minutes, he stopped and said quietly, “What I notice is that you…
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Receptivity in Clinical Practice: Canvas Waits, a poem falls into being
“Golden Boy, as he came to be known in a later part of our work, entered his first therapy session with earnest vulnerability, desperation and resolve. The session time ended quickly, he asked if he could return the next day. It was as if having begun, he could not risk losing momentum. At the top…
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The Land of Make Believe
A place to escape; a place lost, & magically rediscovered; a place of expanded understandings In 2nd grade The Land of Make Believe, an antique mounted poster dated 1930, was gifted to me by my father. He sent this treasure from California to Indiana in a big box with a few other things. My mother…
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Should I Take Insurance In My Private Practice?
Should I take insurance in my private practice? There are many ways to explore this question. At the surface the question is often posed as a query about financial viability, “can I make a living if I only work fee for service? Do I have to take insurance in order to have a sustainable income?”…