A little about me
Hi there - I working with soul and the inner spirit. I also love art and illustration, and storytelling and nature. I have many qualifications which include a professional Art Therapist /Counsellor and Sandplay Practitioner who specialises in transforming the effects of grief, trauma and life events.
Based in Australia in the beautiful Blue Mountains.
Healing the inner child
I focus on healing the inner child. When loss or grief remains hidden or unhealed, it holds us back or prevents us seeing things clearly, which can prevent us being able to go forward.
Lasting change and transformation comes from within
I believe that true and long-lasting change comes from within. My goal is to help guide my clients towards a better understanding of themselves and the stuff they carry, whether it be their own experiences or those of their ancestors. I'm here to support anyone who's experienced loss of any kind, and help them find a way to move forward in a healthy way. I will work with you to uncover and change unhelpful beliefs about yourself, so that you can live a more fulfilling life.
Clientele
I work with women and children approx 7+ who are ready to make some change from the inside out. Who need help to inner heal or to transform the effects of grief or bullying or life events.
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In my work with children and teens, I find the creative therapies help them to release their worries and support them to find solutions that are age appropriate. The processes nurture their own inner light and gives them possibilities and the freedom to dream of who they can become. Young people love being able to connect with nature in the beautiful garden as well when they attend a studio session.
You are so much more than you imagine!
- Karen Curran
Background
My work uses creative therapies to help my clients (women, teens and children 7+) to inner heal and allow their own inner light to shine.
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I am of senior years. Born in 1956, my work life and ongoing studies encompasses many decades from matriculation HSC in 1974 to the current year, and includes operating my own solo businesses.
Formerly, I worked 40 years in graphic design and illustration combined with 20 years part-time teaching of adults and young people over 20 years.
And since 2017 I have been practising as a qualified therapist/counsellor combining all my prior and lived experience and my latest studies - still using creative processes.
Inner child specialist
As the inner child specialist, I have a special interest in Grief or Loss and Trauma, with Inner Child Work - and my professional development studies continue to expand on that knowledge and application. I have lived experience of both and have travelled the inner journey from both sides. This allows me to hold space for my clients in a way that helps them to release their own grief and stories, in order to heal from the inside out.
Clients gently go further within, exploring a Soul Journey by using inner or visual journeying to help them heal the broken or missing parts within.
Each client is an individual. And always, safety and inner calm/peace is the priority.
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Spiritual healing processes through inner visual journeys
For some clients, if appropriate, I use rhythmic inner visual journeys (accompanied by a repetitious drum), to explore their inner landscape. Deep inner healing requires the soul to be sober - not influenced by drugs or alcohol. I work with spiritual inner healing but I do not call myself a shaman, although I am qualified as a Practitioner in Shamanic Transformational Mask, which is about the many masks we all wear and how to identify and transform them through creative processes and journey drumming. My Christian background includes a deep inner faith and experience of God although I no longer affiliate myself with anything. My DNA blood family heritage has a great deal of Irish Celtic connection;. I love the writings of the great mystic Irish poet John O'Donohue - a great man of God.
Learning to live in the present, not the remembered past or the projected future.
I am a surviver, former victim of child sexual abuse by persons known to the family but in authority. The church is included in that. Hence my journey is remarkable in that I have kept a deep inner faith of God, who I felt I knew before I was three years old. I believe my faith was what kept me going despite my initial disassociation from all the horrendous experiences, and despite the horrors I later remembered as it was not intended that I live. My faith prevented me somehow of relying on artificial substances. My own experience facing my life and journey through healing of the effects of trauma, did not begin until my late fifties after falling very ill from no physical cause and going into therapy of my own. So, yes - I do know what it is like to be both client and therapist. My lived experience and inner faith now help me to hold space for the women and children who come to me with a desire for inner change, inner healing. Learning to live in the present.
A spiritual landscape
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Each person has a spiritual inner landscape, regardless of their faith. A person may have a deep inner faith in God or another religious faith, but inner journeying - which is a form of mindful meditation as an altered state of consciousness without drugs - can offer opportunities for healing on emotional, spiritual and physical levels, helping to address past traumas, release negative energies, cultivate inner balance and harmony and restore parts of themselves that feel lost or hidden. These short inner journeys are always done sober by both myself and the client.
History shares that in the traditions of Celtic Shamanism, for example, the ancient and most effective way to journey was by drumming or rattling. This creates a meditative and relaxed state that is also alert and aware. The person themselves are in full control. Safe and gentle. As the drumming carries the journeyer’s mind into an altered mindful state, some cultures refer to the shamanic drum as ‘the horse on which they ride on’. I like that.
Many parts of us
There are many parts to all of us. And sometimes parts get lost, or hidden or put into safe keeping, as protective measures by us when we are very young. Many times healing has come from the inside when someone journeys to their inner landscape. Accessing their own inner wisdom, knowledge and taking back one's power result in helping the person restore the fragmented parts. John O'Donohue talks about the restoration of the parts of the soul in a very natural way. I, too, work very naturally and always in a safe way. Helping others to heal their soul and the inner child is a passion and calling for me.
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MY PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS INCLUDE
Dip Clinical and Educational Art Therapy CECAT
Dip in Counselling AIPC
Practitioner Sandplay incl. Master Subjects SANDPLAY AUSTRALIA
Practitioner Shamanism & Transformational Mask CIRCALORE
Advanced Practitioner Australian Bush Flower Essences
Cert Trauma Informed Coach - THE CENTRE FOR HEALING
Cert Trauma-Informed Manifestation Coach - THE CENTRE FOR HEALING
Cert The Root Cause Practice Full Program - Tracey Stevens - THE HEALING POINT
Dip in Visual Art, Graphic Arts, Typography & Communication SCHOOL OF VISUAL ART East Sydney
Matriculated HSC 1974 ST GEORGE GIRLS HIGH
Major Study Grief Counselling AIPC
Other
Cert IV Training and Assessment TAFE
BMI Teaching Certificate TAFE
Cert Art Life Coach - EFFICIENT COACH
Cert CAREER AS A JOURNEY OF SOUL
(An Introduction to the Depth Psychology of Vocation) - Dr SUZANNE CREMEN
Professional Development Studies in Grief and Trauma, Root Cause
and the connection to the Emotions include (not in order)
Cert The Root Cause Practice Full Program - Tracey Stevens - THE HEALING POINT
Certificate Level I/II Reconnective Healing - ERIC PEARL
Certificate Healing With the Arts MARY ROCKFORD LANE
Sandra Ingerman Shamanic Studies
Michael Stone - WELL OF LIGHT
Jane Burns ~ Celtic Shamanism - THE SHIFT NETWORK
Gabby Bernstein
Marie Forleo - B-SCHOOL
Dr Edith Eger - Unlocking Your Potential - YOUR SOUL SEARCH
Dr Edith Eger - Forgiveness - YOUR SOUL SEARCH
WWWC (Working With Children) Approval
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FAVOURITE AUTHORS include
John O’Donohue
Mary Oliver
David Whyte
Gabby Bernstein
Dr Edith Eger
Cathy Malchiodi
Mary Rockford Lane
Peter A Levine
Richard C Schwartz
Louise L Hay
David Michie
Robert Moss
Sandra Ingerman
Jane Burns
Lise Borbeau
Professional MEMBER of the International Institute for Complementary Therapists ICCT
Current Working With Children clearance