I try to ground my approach to work, relationships, and daily life generally in:
- anti-oppression
- accessibility & flexibility
- community-building & care
- intuitive and collaborative creation
- curiously experimenting with the possibilities in the resources and knowledge we already have access to – our lived experiences, the people around us, found objects, nature and plant life.
You can learn about how I try to bring these into my therapeutic work here.
Click the headings below to learn about more specific aspects of my work and experience:
Therapeutic work experience
Individual therapy
While it isn’t therapy, my 1-on-1 support work began in peer support for young adults experiencing gender-based violence. Much of what I do is grounded in what I learned in this volunteer position.
Since becoming an art therapy student, my work providing individual therapy has been predominantly with children of diverse backgrounds and experiences, aged 6-12 years old in a school setting. In individual therapy, I try to provide a space where clients feel they have control and autonomy, while ensuring both structure and flexibility for their specific needs.
Group therapy
In group therapy, I work to provide a space:
- where everyone is received as an expert and we are all able to learn from each other
- that is flexible to group members unique goals, needs, and interests
- that is safe, accessible, and stable for clients to engage in both independent and collaborative creative expression.
Groups have been specially oriented toward trans and queer youth and young adults, adults with developmental disabilities, and adults living with mental health challenges.
I have provided therapeutic group programming to diverse communities through Friends of Ruby, St. Michael’s Homes – Our Place Community of Hope, Dundas Valley School of Arts, and West Toronto Keys to Inclusion.
Community-work Experience
I have worked in different community-based social services including migrant and refugee support, community food justice, community education, and peer support for gender-based violence.
I was trained in peer support and workshop facilitation by the Anti-Violence Project (the University of Victoria’s on-campus gender-based violence center). Here, I facilitated workshops on Consent, Supporting Survivors of Gender-based Violence (as well as a modified workshop dedicated to peer support among sex workers), Respect and Disability, Unlearning White Supremacy, and Facilitator training workshops.
Education
I am a candidate for a Professional Diploma in Art Therapy from the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. Currently, I am completing my thesis on anti-carceral crisis and suicidality support, documenting how art therapists can best support clients in crisis without involving systems of coercion (e.x. policing or forced hospitalization).
I have a Masters in Education in Adult Education and Community Development from OISE.
Me, personally
I’m a neurodivergent, queer, genderqueer, mixed race settler of Egyptian and Irish immigrant parents. I create art and music for fun, and I love creating with others.
Contributing to systemic change is important to me, I believe in a future without prisons, policing or borders, where everyone is appropriately fed, housed, safe, and connected to others in ways that feel safe, authentic, and nurturing to them. I believe taking small steps (together and individually) will get us there. I have a very sweet cat and we both love to sit in the sun.
In my own healing work, aside from one really great therapist who I felt truly seen by, I’ve relied on community, growing and observing plants, creative (self-)exploration, and delving into the mysteries and magic in daily life and the world around me.
therapy with yasmine 