Today we’d like to introduce you to Shaye Mueller.
Hi Shaye, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey to art therapy began as an artist myself. My mom was a big crafter and she had a designated crafting room in the house growing up. My grandparents were also avid art collectors, so I was surrounded by creativity, color, and beautiful things my entire life. When I was in college, I originally wanted to be an art teacher- well I thought I wanted to be an art teacher. But it wasn’t the right fit for me. I fell in love with art history, psychology, and neuroscience. Discovering the art therapy profession felt like divine intervention. And in a weird cosmic alignment of events, I signed up to begin therapy, unknowingly, with an art therapist around that time. In all honestly, I was just desperate to talk to someone and found a therapist with the first opening. She turned out to be an art therapist, and thus began years of personal work on the client side of the experience. On top of a therapist, she became a sort of encouraging mentor in my process of graduate school applications and career advice. After obtaining my MA in counseling and art therapy, I began my training to become independently licensed, as well as to rack up some training credentials.
I found a special interest in somatic therapy. I now have over 2 years of experience in a post graduate training program Somatic Experiencing (and I’m not stopping), which is a body-focused approach to healing trauma and nervous system dysregulation. Somewhere along the timeline, opened my own private practice that I now run and operate myself. I’d describe my practice as a little sanctuary for those who need to do more than just talk about their trauma. We’re weird, messy, goofy, creative, and soft here. We paint, we feel, we move our bodies. It’s holistic, expressive, experiential therapy, which I think the psychology field as a whole is moving towards.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being a therapist is a weird and wonderful job. On top of the bureaucracy of higher academia, licensure, state boards, the IRS, and business ownership, I often feel like I am living the lives of 30 people. I feel a lot of privilege to be trusted by my clients, to learn from their lives, wins, mistakes, and everything in between. It is an honor to be trusted by my clients- one that I do not take lightly. Of course there were hurdles along the way because MY LIFE has hurdles. Being a therapist means you have to put your stuff aside to be with this person. Your beliefs, political affiliations, hurts, traumas, mental health, experiences, and anything else that could influence or raise bias. We walk on a tightrope between guidance and support, always checking ourselves to not misstep. It is a selfless job that requires you to give up your time, feelings, and opinions to center others’ hearts. Which is fine and dandy to do for your friends at dinner or a family gathering. But every day, multiple hours a day… Think about that for a moment. Seriously. The giving of yourself. The pouring of yourself to others. That is why it is a calling as much as it is a job. Because you can’t fake it- people can tell if your heart isn’t in it.
I believe that there is nothing more healing and magical than someone who sincerely, truly, whole-heartedly believes in you. The love and attunement I pour into people… it’s medicine. It’s the antidote to the pain, abuse, neglect, and suffering they have endured. And you can’t fake that. It needs to be authentic.
More than any of my career upsets, job failures, or business mistakes, the biggest challenge along the way has been being a messy human with my own “stuff” and doing this job. Doing it tired, recently heartbroken by some guy, grief-stricken by loss, no sleep, triggered, whatever state of mind. Doing it anyway. Doing it without getting to say that someone you love died last week. Or some asshole broke your heart last night. Or my depression came back again too. And holding that professional line gracefully anyways- always. Because it is my job to be the anchor of strength and confidently hold space for someone so that they feel safe enough to crumble.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I own and operate Cactus Counseling & Art Therapy PLLC, a woman owned private practice offering outpatient mental health services. On top of being a Licensed Professional Counselor, I am also a Registered Art Therapist and somatically trained trauma therapist.
My clients are mainly women in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s, but all who are interested in somatic art therapy are welcome to reach out. I often support creatives/artists, women in major life transitions, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and people touched by trauma. I have a special interest in supporting women who are or have endured pregnancy and infant loss, or struggle with infertility.
What sets me apart from others? I am one of less than an estimated a thousand art therapists in the entire state! And of those, I am trained in Somatic Experiencing (of which I personally only know of 4 others in Texas who do both). To narrow it down even further, I take insurance because I believe in increasing accessibility to art therapy and holistic mental healthcare.
My office is a fusion of art-studio-meets-traditional-therapy-office. We laugh and play just as much as we cry and express. My practice is a place for people to let loose and express themselves in more than just words, but with color, shape, movement, sound, poetry, whatever they feel is right. There are no wrong answers! My only ulterior motive is to help you feel free enough to create on the outside what you are feeling on the inside.
Brand wise, I can’t tell you that I’m over the moon proud of anything I’ve done. I did a Forbes interview, which was surreal. Cool resume booster I suppose. But what I AM proud of are my clients. The ones who got better, the ones who feel stuck but still show up, the ones who keep trying. The ones who originally told me they can only draw a stick figure, but now cover canvases in emotion. I am most proud of the precious, special work that you will never get to see. It humbles me to witness it. I wish you could see it. The hope, resilience, triumph that my clients conjure up… it is magic.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson that I have learned along the way has been to take care of myself too.
Pricing:
- Individual Psychotherapy $150
- Art Therapy $150
- Somatic Experiencing $150
Contact Info:
- Website: cactusarttherapy.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cactusarttherapy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Cactus-Counseling-Art-Therapy-PLLC/61560826701162/?_rdr
Image Credits
Snapped by Holly Kapp (the main photo) the others were taken by a friend!
