Mental Health Counseling - Expressive Arts - Original Art
Lorena Fernandez, PhD, REACE®
Counseling
Hello, I'm Lorena Fernandez,
I view counseling as a collaborative process that helps people explore their experiences, recognize their strengths, and pursue meaningful change. My goal is to integrate my Expressive Arts experience with comprehensive clinical counseling training to provide compassionate, ethical, and culturally responsive mental health care.
I am an Expressive Arts Therapist and Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate student, building on more than 15 years of experience in expressive arts, education, facilitation, and experiential group work. I hold a PhD in Expressive Arts Therapy from The European Graduate School, where my research explored how expressive arts support decision-making amid complexity and ambiguity. I am also a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator (REACE®) and a certified Person-Centered Expressive Arts Facilitator.
As a group therapist, I facilitate experiential group therapy for adults in trauma groups and other groups addressing anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. My approach emphasizes empathy, emotional safety, connection, and respect for each person's unique process.
My counseling orientation is primarily person-centered, integrating expressive arts and experiential approaches, with additional interests in existential, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. My international experience and bilingual communication in English and Spanish inform my commitment to culturally responsive care.
Clinical Philosophy
My counseling identity is grounded in Person-Centered Counseling and Person-Centered Expressive Arts. I believe that a respectful, empathic, and authentic therapeutic relationship provides an important foundation for self-exploration and meaningful change.
Influenced by humanistic principles, I seek to understand each person's experience without imposing interpretations or assuming that I know what is best for them. Empathy, congruence, unconditional positive regard, and respect for client autonomy are central to the counselor I am working to become.
Person-Centered Expressive Arts offers a natural extension of this philosophy. Creative processes such as drawing, painting, movement, writing, and metaphor can offer additional ways to explore emotions and experiences that may be difficult to express verbally. I view these processes as invitations rather than requirements. The client's experience and meaning-making remain central; artistic ability and a particular finished product are not the goals.
I am also interested in existential perspectives, which invite exploration of meaning, choice, responsibility, uncertainty, and personal values. As my clinical training develops, I am exploring how cognitive-behavioral approaches may complement a person-centered foundation when appropriate to a client's goals and supported by clinical evidence.
My approach is informed by a commitment to ethical practice, cultural humility, and respect for human dignity. I recognize that culture, language, spirituality, family relationships, identity, and social circumstances can shape a person's experience of mental health. I strive to remain curious rather than make assumptions, and to respect each client's own worldview.
My personal spirituality informs my appreciation for the inherent worth of each person, but I believe spirituality should be incorporated into counseling only when it is meaningful to the client. I do not impose personal beliefs.
As a clinician, I understand that compassion and experience must be accompanied by clinical competence, ethical decision-making, appropriate assessment, supervision, and continuing education. I welcome feedback and view professional growth as an ongoing responsibility.
My goal is to practice counseling that combines a strong therapeutic relationship with thoughtful clinical judgment, respect for individual differences, and interventions tailored to each client's needs and preferences.
Counseling Competencies
My professional development combines extensive experience in expressive arts and group facilitation with graduate training in clinical mental health counseling. I view competence as an ongoing process of learning, supervised practice, reflection, and feedback.
Counseling Relationship Skills
I strive to listen attentively, communicate empathy, use open-ended questions, reflect feelings and meaning, and allow clients space to explore their own experiences. I am working to become more comfortable with silence and to trust the client's pace rather than moving too quickly toward solutions.
Group Facilitation
My experience facilitating mental health groups has strengthened my ability to provide clear structure, encourage participation, adapt experiential activities, and foster respectful interaction. I continue developing my clinical judgment regarding group safety, boundaries, participant needs, and appropriate responses to emotional distress.
Expressive and Experiential Approaches
I have extensive experience using creative processes to support reflection, emotional expression, and personal meaning-making. I am continuing to develop my ability to integrate these methods within a broader clinical framework, guided by client preferences, treatment goals, ethical considerations, and appropriate supervision.
Ethical and Reflective Practice
I recognize the importance of confidentiality, informed consent, professional boundaries, documentation, assessment, and consultation. I am committed to seeking supervision when I encounter situations that exceed my current level of competence.
Person Centered Expressive Arts Therapy
In the two photos above are my beloved teachers Dr. Natalie Rogers and Dr. Paolo Knill. I had the privilege of studying directly with Dr. Natalie Rogers and I am associate faculty in Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy. https://www.carlrogersphd.com/partners
I also studied directly with Dr. Paolo Knill, earning my doctorate at the European Graduate School (EGS). My dissertation on the impact of expressive arts on decision-making became the foundation for my book Art and Self-Creation: The Roots of Creativity and Innovation, published by Atropos Press. With the support of EGS and the International Schopenhauer Association, Atropos continues to champion bold and imaginative voices in art and philosophy. Art and Self-Creation: The Roots of Creativity and Innovation — Atropos Press
Currently, I am privileged to bring the healing power of Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy to diverse groups, from high-acuity clients to corporate teams, through leading mental health providers across the United States. I am also a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator, REACE, and serves at the Boad of Directors at the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association IEATA
Articles written by or
about Lorena Fernandez
Houston Chronicle Interview
The Latina Book Club Interview with Artist and Poet Lorena Fernandez
http://www.latinabookclub.com/2013/11/q-with-artist-and-poet-lorena-fernandez.html
Glasstire 2023