Sandra Cruz art exhibits enhanced my communication

and interpersonal skills. As an art therapist

Registered Associate Marriage and Family
Therapist / Art Therapist
AMFT109902
sandracruz.amft@outlook.com
(818) 213-1315
trainee and associate, I have experience with
two populations, adults with drug and
alcohol addiction and elementary school
children ages 6 -11 years of age.

Breathe. Create. Transform.

Hello, my name is Sandra Cruz. Originally, I
am from Brazil, so I speak Portuguese, as
well as, fluent English and conversational
Spanish. Art is my passion and forte as I
have personal and professional experience in
this area. I hold a BA in Fine Arts
specializing in photography. For several
years I worked as a professional
photographer and had the opportunity to
exhibit my art in galleries in Los Angeles,
New York, Italy, Japan and Brazil. Also, my
photography was published in magazines,
brochures and books in Los Angeles, Brazil
and Portugal. In addition, I worked as a
curator with other accomplished artists from
all over the globe who worked with a variety
of media, from sculpting to drawing to
painting and live art performances. Curating
Revealing and Transforming
Consciousness Through Art
As an art therapist, I offer the creative
process to help clients to express
themselves, gain insight and awareness and
to build coping skills. The process of art
making can help one feel more relaxed and
can reduce stress on the nervous system. Art
created by the clients might offer insight and
awareness that was hidden from their
conscious mind and ultimately help them
connect to their authentic self and to others.
My goal is to assist clients to become the
best version of themselves regardless of
their external circumstances and art is a
powerful tool for building self-awareness,
communicating feelings and emotions and
bringing homeostasis.
Utilizing Art to Enhance Lives
One at a Time
To achieve this goal, I utilize art directives
with materials such as paint, scented
markers, gel pens, oil pastels, yarn, fabrics
and clay along with behavior therapy
techniques to provide support with life
transitions, and interpersonal and academic
challenges. As a creative art therapist, I
attempt to reach my clients at a place of
imagination. In the elementary schools,
individualized treatment goals and
objectives were implemented to enhance
student responsibility, accountability,
independence and self-esteem. An example
of an art directive that I used with the
elementary school children is the Mask. The
goal of this intervention is for the clients to
express themselves through the use of
colors, textures and words using a life-size
mask. This intervention allows the client to
express the feelings and emotions that they
have inside them but do not share with the
world by decorating the outside of the mask
with artistic representations of those feelings
and emotions. On the inside of the mask,
they write words that describe feelings or
emotions that they would like to have.
At the rehab facility, I provided therapy to
clients struggling with bipolar disorder,
generalized anxiety disorders, major
depressive disorder, and other co-occurring
disorders. I used an intervention that I called
Rocks. The client would gather two stones
from the site. On one stone, they would
write something that they wanted to release
(addiction, pain, bad habits, suffering, etc.),
then we would go to the stream on the
property and they threw the stone into the
stream, symbolically releasing the negative
attribute. Then, we would discuss what they
would like to replace that negative attribute
with, and they would write that attribute
(patience, love, inner peace, etc.) on the
second stone, which they kept as a reminder.
At both sites, I maintained progress notes for
all clients to ensure proper documentation of
session content and art interventions.
BBS Registered Marriage and Family
Therapy Associate eager to collaborate with
other mental health professionals to provide
comprehensive and holistic treatment to
clients struggling with pervasive disorders.
Capable of assessing, measuring client’s
status, formulating an art therapy program,
charting progress and making projections.
• Experience working in a school-based
program
• Experience working in a rehabilitation
facility
• Skills in creating and implementing
effective and individualized treatment plans.
• Experience with Department of Mental
Health standards and paperwork.
• Foundational coursework and training in
Cognitive-Behavioral and Family Systems
Therapy.
Supervisor:
Rochelle Bloom, M.A., LMFT, ATR
LMFT49431