The wonderful thing about expanding your professional team is that they bring to the table quirks, insights, and interests you don’t have. This makes for creative exchanges over how to make mental health supports more accessible to our communities. How do we meet people at their comfort level with trauma treatment? How can we integrate play and curiosity – both important Self traits - into the healing process? Enter crochet therapy.
The benefits of Crochet therapy have been summarized by the American Counseling Association and the Association for Creativity in Counseling to include reductions in depression and anxiety, improvements in self-esteem through project completion, and an increase in practical skills and productivity. Several studies have also shown that knitting and crocheting postpone cognitive decline in aging populations and can lead to improved sleep.
The experience of crocheting in therapeutic settings is that a skilled counselor can facilitate group members’ insights about themselves through the process. Crochet lends itself to the metaphor of healing which often involves the closing up of wounds stitch by stitch, or the piecing together of parts of ourselves like an Afghan blanket. We are thrilled that the expansion of our counseling staff at Outdoor Therapeutics allows us to provide crochet therapy on Tuesday nights beginning in April 2023. For more information about the program, visit us at: www.outdoortherapeutics.com/crochettherapy
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