Holding Space

While reflecting on the past three weeks working with common art, Café Emmanuel and the Art and Spirituality group at the Suffolk county corrections facility I noticed that I have been doing a lot of listening. Holding space is something we talk about often in my courses at Lesley. We talk about holding space in a therapeutic context yet I feel it is applicable in everyday life. For me holding space means engaging on a body level, using my posture to communicate attentiveness and support, and bringing myself into a group and participating cognitively through listening and responding when appropriate. I find that when I am holding space I am receiving so much from others who are given an opportunity to be and express themselves in an authentic way. Continue reading

Welcome our Expressive-Art Interns!

My name is Rebekah Woolf and I will be spending the next 9 months with you all at Emmanuel Church as an intern from Lesley University. Currently, I am in my second of three years in my master’s program where I am studying to become an Expressive Art Therapist and Mental Health Counselor.

Originally, I hail from Central Pennsylvania and am a recent transplant to the greater Boston area as of last year. I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to have the arts in my life since an early age and have been creating and expressing myself via art ever since. I have been interested in understanding personhood and have participated in community service for as long as I can remember. Thus, the desire to serve others as well as combining my love to art and psychology has brought me to this incredible experience. I am very much looking forward to getting to know the Emmanuel Church community and the people you serve. Continue reading