Psychotherapy
- Couples
In Person Art Therapy
Kristrinah Ayala, MS. LCPC
Psychotherapist and Art Therapist
For the last twenty three years I have taught, facilitated, encouraged, and assisted others to grow personally as well as expressively. I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Art Therapist, and Visual Artist. I am board licensed in the State of Maryland, and have over twenty three years of clinical counseling experience.
I have lived both in and out of the United States and have been greatly influenced by other cultures. I have discovered that no matter what the culture, we are basically more alike than different. I have created a professional career as a psychotherapist in private practice with a very diverse population. I believe my career as a psychotherapist has taught me how to be accepting, tolerant, compassionate, and respectful of others.
In 1993, I left a full-time job as a psychotherapist to pursue my dream of having a private practice that would combine traditional psychotherapy with Jungian based art therapy. The art therapy piece would provide opportunities for individuals to express not just from their intellect, but from their total mind-body.
I have brought my dream of having a successful psychotherapy private practice, one that used art therapy into reality. I have also with great pride brought the benefits of art therapy into mainstream culture. Art therapy has traditionally been used with individuals who are chronically mentally ill, suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, and/or developmentally or emotionally disabled.
I have facilitated art therapy workshops for The Hirshhorn Museum, Americans for the Arts, Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, Women Business Organization of Washington, DC, ThyCa –Thyroid Cancer Survivors, Women Business Owners of Montgomery County, Washington Society for Jungian Psychology, Montgomery County Women’s Fair, Montgomery County Schools, Maryland Photographers Association, and The Guild of Body Psychotherapy.
I have trained social workers, psychologists, and counselors, on how to incorporate art therapy into traditional psychotherapy at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Bowie University, The University of Wisconsin as well as other higher education institutions and organizations. I helped in facilitating an "alternative approach to healing" class for medical students at George Washington University, where art therapy was included. I have written proposals and have been awarded grants from Target Stores and the U.S. Government for projects that help to reduce the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress within the Latino population using art therapy.
And, finally, I was featured twice in the Washington Post, interviewed on Maryland Public television's Artworks, written about in common Boundary and ADDvance magazines, and reviewed in numerous local news-letters and journals. My art therapy articles have appeared in many professional publications.
If you are interested in growing personally through the services I provide, please contact me at,
(301)935-5595 or email me at, Kayala@center4creativity.com
