Calgary Art Therapist, Suzanne Styles
Suzanne Styles (she/her) is a certified Professional Art Therapist registered with the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA—#51900298), and with the Association of Counselling Therapies of Alberta (ACTA #2749). She also holds an M.A. in Leadership and a B.A. in Psychology.
Hi, I’m Suzanne (she/her),
Using Art Therapy, I will support you to process your emotions, explore the experiences and feelings of your inner and outer worlds, work through difficulties to meet your goals and thrive.
How did I get here?
Since I was a teenager I have been inspired by stories of courageous individuals, supported by counsellors and social workers, finding hope and doing the hard work of healing. I thought my dream of working in that way had come to an end when I was teaching English and then started a student sponsorship program in a remote and poor part of China, But then students started coming to me, pouring out their hearts. What followed was many years of more informal or unofficial counselling and training for youth and young adults in the local community. There were programs and services related to healing, like grief support groups, as well as many aimed at supporting others to find and grow in their strengths.
In my own personal journey, I’ve sometimes found the words and thoughts were not always enough to work through the thing with which I was struggling. I have had a few significant times when it was only by picking up pencil crayons, or by drawing with an ink pen, that insight, clarity and healing came.
Today, I am excited to be offering Art Therapy back in the city and country of my roots. My experiences living cross-culturally and interacting with and supporting different aged individuals have revealed again and again—people are amazing. I enjoy getting to know people—different ages, demographics, ethnicities, orientations—I learn so much from each one, even while offering support and facilitating a growth and healing process.
Check out my Art Therapy offerings to find what best meets your needs.
Receive the support you need to meet your goals and thrive.
Why “Resilient You”?
“Resilience” is a word that seems to capture well a beautiful capacity I see in each person to keep reaching for and towards hope and health, and to find ways to get there.
Let me make clear that I’m not talking about or advocating some ideas presented as “resilience.” Some see it as the ability to bounce back quickly, or to take a hit without flinching, or to be unaffected by the difficulties and traumas of our life. No! That’s NOT what I’m talking about.
The resilience I speak of, and to which I aspire takes a great deal of inspiration from nature. (I expect I’ll be blogging a fair bit about trees.) Nature takes time to grow and heal. Nature’s resilience sometimes looks like nothing is happening—think winter. It is our resilience that led us to do whatever was needed to survive, to cope with what we experienced, and it is our resilience that leads us to, when we are ready and when it is safe, reach for and learn better ways or heal.
It is a concept that became personally powerful for me in the counselling I received as part of my midlife transition back to Canada and after some traumatic events. My counsellor helped me see my resilience, and have hope that I would get through, even if the process felt messy.
I believe in your resilience. I believe in your capacity to rest, to heal, to learn, to grow. The journey takes time and is often messy.
I’m looking forward to journeying with you, supporting your resilience, whatever that looks like.
“Suzanne is very helpful, she went above and beyond to communicate with me about my particular concerns. The drop-in sessions and facilitated groups are rejuvenating and energizing. Suzanne is supportive and insightful, and the community she creates is so welcoming.”
— L.E. Google Review
Ready to dive in?
Fun Facts about me
2. I love plants
Yes, I do. I love learning about the different ones, what they need, how to propagate them. They teach me much about life and resilience. And each one needs different optimal conditions for life and healthAnd, sometimes, honestly, things get a little out of control, and then I need to reduce. When I mentioned the idea of being a “Crazy Plant Lady,” a good friend of mine laughed real loud, seemed to think it might be an apt description.
1. I speak Mandarin
It is impossible to overstate the impact of my years and the wonderful people I came to know and work with in China on my life. It was a great joy to have former sponsored students become my teammates and colleagues in the programs we were running. It was also wonderful to have students from my first years, become, with their spouses and children, friends in later years. And Mandarin, well, yes, sometimes I still think in Mandarin, or Mandarin has the best words and expression for what I want to say.
More than anything I wish to spend my life supporting healing, growth and goodness in this world.
This applies to my own personal life and to the work I do.
P.S. Feel free to ask me what I’ve been learning lately.