I have a confession to make: My Instagram lies.  I live one of those lives where everything looks great online but in truth, my life doesn’t match up.  Wondering what I mean?  I’ve been doing a lot of arts and crafts activities with the children and teenagers I see in my Davie office.  It’s a lot of fun and I enjoy it but here’s my confession: I’m not a crafty therapist.  Like all good women who push themselves outside of their comfort zones to do things for children, that isn’t in their normal repertoire, I have made several trips to Michaels, Target, Amazon and Dollar Tree to set my office up for the best therapy a mother can buy for their children.

Today, I am going to outline my latest and greatest attempts at being a cool, art therapist.  While I did not fail miserably, my first attempt could easily have become a meme for “expectation” versus “reality” of trying a project from Pinterest.   In my excited state of mind, I decided to create those cool Sensory Glitter Bottles.

After reading a blogpost from Pinterest on how to do this, I decided to follow their directions.  I ordered snazzy Voss water bottles from Amazon.  Who else remembers when this water first came out and it was $10 a bottle?  I am happy to report that the cost of a water bottle has gone down drastically.  I also purchased the glitter from Amazon.  From Target, I got the glue and a bunch of other things I didn’t really need because the bulls-eye always get me.  I skipped over the food coloring because they only had gel food coloring.  Since that trip, I’ve quickly learned that gel food coloring is pretty much the only food coloring around.  Within a week, I had everything I needed: Voss water bottles, gel food coloring, Elmer’s glue and glitter.  It was time to get this show on the road.

With the help of an assistant, I carefully followed the instructions.  The glitter bottles were hard as heck to open and we poured too much glitter the first time.  And we poured way too much glue in and the water because like sludge.  Our glitter barely moved.  My sensory bottle looked like a smoothie or atomic waste.  If fish ate this stuff, they would grow two heads like in the Simpsons.

I was ready to hang up my art therapy hat and go back to regular, old Freudian psychoanalysis when my assistant said “Let’s try it again”.  This was a great reminder to me that even when I fail, I can just try again.  So that we did!  The results are below.  The second round came out much better than the first.  Art therapy hat back on!

In working with children and teens, I have found that I have to be on my toes at all times and provide a variety of ways to engage them as clients.  Since then, I’ve been inspired to pin a bunch of activities to do with my clients.  Even though arts and crafts aren’t my forte, I can still explore, have fun and educate my clients.   Keep a lookout on my IG for my latest and greatest projects.

Amanda Patterson, LMHC, CAP , Mental Health Counselor of the Year by the Florida Mental Health Counseling Association,  decided to become a therapist while attending Nova Southeastern University. She saw the need to help people achieve the life they wanted to live, while creating a life of her own. She completed her master’s in Mental Health Counseling and started a career in the juvenile justice arena. Amanda has been a therapist for ten years and has a private practice in Wellington, Florida, specializing in depression, anxiety, relationship issues, and substance abuse in teenagers and young adults. Amanda is a believer in holistic treatment and she practices veganism, meditation and yoga in her life. Find out more about her practice here.

To schedule an appointment, call or text Amanda at 954-378-5381 or email her at amanda@amandapattersonlmhc.com.