Meet Mary How | Inspirational artist, board certified art therapist, creativity coach, author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mary How and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Art was always my passion. I loved drawing, painting and creating all sorts of things as a child. I remember digging tunnels in the dirt and making things out of the red clay on the banks of a pond near my childhood home. On more than one occasion I used construction paper and tape to create elaborate houses, characters and furniture to occupy myself. Deciding to major in art for my undergraduate degree was an easy decision. Starting out, I thought I would pursue art education, but in just the first week of school as a college freshman, I overheard someone in my art class talking about art therapy. My decision to pursue art therapy was made in that moment.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Create MORE with Mary How offers products and services combining a unique mix of cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, and art to help people create MORE peace and love and joy in their lives. My Create MORE programs and workbooks focus on skills I’ve developed over a 25 year career as a board-certified art therapist in mental health. My background includes work in a well-known practice in the therapy world called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). The programs and products I’ve created combine practical DBT skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance with art exercises to help people understand and integrate these valuable skills.

MORE is an acronym outlining the 4-step foundation for creating MORE peace and love and joy in your life:
1. Motivation to break the rules (safely and purposefully)
2. Own your ability to create the life you want
3. Radically accept life on life’s terms
4. Embrace the present

Services offered through my business include:
• Individual creativity and life coaching offered remotely and in-person
• Educational/Therapeutic Classes, Workshops and Groups for Businesses, Schools and Organizations

Products offered through my business included:
• Inspirational art products
• Books and journals:
-Create MORE: Four-step Foundational Workbook for Art as Inner-work
-Create MORE Emotional Intelligence Workbook: Art as Inner-work for Emotional Health
-Create MORE Mindfulness and Intuition Workbook: Art as Inner-work for Mindfulness and Intuition
-Mandalas & Mindfulness: Journal for Mindful Mandala Making
-Mystical Artist: Oracle Cards for Becoming and Intentional Creator

Whether it’s my work as an art therapist or as an artist what I hope to create most is the ability to empower others to create more peace and love and joy in their lives.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The weather here can get a little hot, but ultimately, it’s a great 4-season city and what I love most is spending time tending to the plants in my backyard garden and learning ways to serve and preserve the treasures we grow. When going out, my favorite thing is to try new places…I don’t have one place that I’d recommend, but I would say go local. Columbia has many really great local restaurants and breweries. One of the greatest (and FREE) things about the local scene are the rivers. Two of my favorites are the Saluda Riverwalk for paddleboarding or launching an innertube for a float down the river and Riverfront park for a long walk or a scenic run.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have several art therapy mentors with whom I have been fortunate to learn from throughout my career. When I started out as a student in 1998, I worked directly under two women at William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute: Betsy Brown and Lucy Lee Collins. They worked together, but offered different perspectives. Betsy was more traditional in her clinical art therapy approach using drawing and painting as her primary tools to help clients work toward their treatment goals. Lucy offered more of a crafts based approach which was helpful in teaching the clients how to manage impulsive behaviors with goal setting and follow through. Learning from these two women who complimented each other well, gave me a solid foundation early in my career. If two amazing mentors weren’t enough, I was afforded the opportunity to learn from a third and equally wonderful art therapy mentor, Lyssa Harvey. Lyssa really taught me about leadership and helped me build confidence in setting professional goals. The field of art therapy is still relatively young and small, so to have these incredible mentors really helped get me off to a great start and am I grateful to have maintained these mentorships throughout my career.

Website: https://maryhow.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maryhow/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullcircleprograms

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2tXX3ckiMiohr7J9rN7kw

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