I Light LLC

02/02/2023

It is an honor to be asked to be the featured art therapist on behalf of the with all the gratitude I can hold- thank you. Link for more:

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Art-Therapist-in-the-Spotlight-Interview-with-Leara-Glinzak-.html?soid=1132888434127&aid=5HEfeCCdWIQ

01/15/2023

Pair of art therapy students receive national recognition

I love seeing previous students I taught out their doing awesome things and being recipients of awards- heck yes way to go

https://www.pennwest.edu/news/pair-of-art-therapy-students-receive-recognition?fbclid=IwAR1xvjMHjkNOuZ40q3wMUZcFEaNbs7XhejrKmBF0iflxBXVd3hAr4HIdsuw

Two students in PennWest University’s counseling program received national recognition with their research and presentations in art therapy.

12/30/2022

TATP presents, "research Reframed: Elevating Your Story as Evidence" with Leara Glinzak, Ian Kwok, and Jill McNutt

For those interested in a CE course regarding research I will be co-facilitating this 2 hour course end of January.

*This workshop facilitated by Leara Glinzak, ATR-BC, MSAT; Ian Kwok, MD; and Jill McNutt, PhD, LPC, ATR-BC, ATRL, ATCS, provides 2 hours of continuing education credits for LCATs, LCSWs, LMSWs, and LPs.  Common assumptions about research and its academic hierarchy can often feel overwhelming. This...

11/30/2022

Things don’t always go to plan and art is one of the spaces that reminds us of that. Perhaps if we hang in there long enough and work through the uncertainty, frustrations, and we see it through the end we notice there was a method to the madness. And at the end we might fall in love with how things transpired and it might be better than expected.

11/17/2022

Just because you haven’t seen it before doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist - message from the little sea creature

11/16/2022

This article was officially released to access for free for the next 50 days from today in the journal of pain and symptom management. If you ever wondered what art therapy can look like you can read this article about a person I had the honor of working with.
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Either click the link in the bio or access it with this link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1g5b739K9ypFdA

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11/16/2022

Integrating Art Therapy into Palliative Care: Man's Identity Exploration in Tattoo Preservation

If you want to know what art therapy can look like at times you can read a case example here about art therapy with a patient I had the honor of working with who went through a hemicoporectomy due to cancer (short-term: an amputation from the waist down). For those who don't know when you submit to publish in academic journals there are different categories one is "accepted as is" I have heard of this category and I have never known anyone who has been accepted as is- I can confirm this category exists and was in shock when I found out it was accepted as is. I’m incredibly Thankful for the three co-authors to help me revise my manuscript before submission and it is accessible for free up to 50 days from today:

Journal of Pain and Symptom ManagementAvailable online 27 October 2022In Press, Corrected ProofWhat are Corrected Proof articles?LetterIntegrating Art Therapy into Palliative Care: Man's Identity Exploration in Tattoo PreservationAuthor links open overlay panelLearaGlinzakATR-BC12SarahYazdianLCAT, A...

11/15/2022

While I connected with several folks I couldn’t leave without a picture of the fellow faculty I get to work alongside with at PennWest University

11/14/2022

While playing around with various markers on yupo at the 2022 AATA marketplace I shared how these creatures reminded me of what those might look like from the Mesozoic Era and a fellow art therapist and friend thought they were animals from the future so if that’s the case we can anticipate some vibrant colored metamorphosing creatures

11/14/2022

2022 AATA conference is a wrap. #arttherapist

11/01/2022

Incredibly grateful to have been teaching virtually here for 1.5 years now and if you’re attending AATA and are from the Edinboro/PennWest alumni folks it would be great to connect with you in person

10/28/2022

While reflecting on all the art therapists I get to see at the AATA conference soon I can’t help but think of those I won’t see. Recently I tried to reach an art therapist who I clinically supervised. They just finished the work hours with me right before I moved to Texas and we celebrated their accomplishment over breakfast. When I moved to Texas and they stayed in touch a bit. Then I moved to Colorado and had a referral in their area. After emailing, texting, calling, and no response it seemed odd. After searching a bit I came across the persons obituary and they died a few months ago. Talking to their alumni office informing them of a recent alumni death felt so strange. Thankfully I got bereavement leave from the hospital. It was the second bereavement leave this year. Earlier I went to Utah on my first bereavement leave and I ended up getting in a car accident- I was involved in three accidents in three weeks (1 a week) none I was at fault but I decided to stay in CO for this one. I hiked two 14ers and the remainder of the time I slept on my couch. Then I got sick- my body must have said enough. And then I did art -this one took a while it’s one of the 14ers and I can’t help but see how controlled and stiff my hand is for this one. And how long it took- like grief this one took time. I did not rush this one or felt the need to complete it and get it finished. It wasn’t until after I did some plein air art in RMNP I saw the change in style. I’m adjusting to getting more loose, light, flexible, and embracing the moment again instead of being overwhelmed by all the curveballs that came my way. Swipe to see the style change.

10/12/2022

Had the pleasure to present the research and clinical day of Palliative Care Days this year

10/01/2022

Little work in progress update

10/01/2022

Voices - 3D virtual exhibition by Colorado Art Therapy Association

This year’s COATA art show is live and virtual you can check out the virtual version here:

View the Exhibition: Voices. Created by Colorado Art Therapy Association. As we continue to collectively navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, global climate change, and sociopolitical engagements around the world, the Colorado Art Therapy Association (COATA) encouraged its members and the community at la...

09/23/2022

09/19/2022

09/09/2022

been working on this one slowly for about a month now. Of course whenever I engage in art there is reflection. Usually I feel the need to complete something quickly but between this one and the painting I have going on simultaneously I noticed the pattern that I slowed down- I do 10-20 minutes here and there and it’s slowly coming together. Just another reminder to slow down be present and not rush it will come together in its time.

08/05/2022

What a wild adventure life has been: my co workers surprised me with a Leara Appreciation Day and I totally cried. Plus there was enough food brought in for everyone for the entire week. Someone showed me in their calendar they dubbed is International Leara Day 🥹 I’m still shocked even though it was earlier this week life might be crazy at times and moments like this give it balance I feel like one of the lucky ones.

06/27/2022

Hey all it’s been a while since I’ve shown my face so good to see you and welcome to my kitchen in Colorado. So many people ask about how therapists respond differently and it was brought to my attention I’ve never introduced my grounding theoretical orientation and what that means. Take a listen here and know I’m grounded in a space that invites you to come as you are.

06/15/2022

Doing this presentation was a good reminder to myself how much I love this field.

06/10/2022

Little art check in from teaching this evening:
Soft light
Comfort
Safe
Bed of clouds
Guardian
Protected
Warm

04/29/2022

EDPP WK11
(A few weeks behind posting)
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Village
Community
Connection
Rebuilding
Coming together
Belonging
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04/16/2022

Did a little organizing (as a distraction from homework naturally) and I got side tracked looking at the patterns in my visual journals of mountains over the last few years

04/16/2022

Someone asked me once if I’m always making art and I responded: “if I ever stop making art ….if I ever stop creating there’s a problem.”
Made this one 20 minutes here 10 minutes there until it felt completed.
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04/04/2022

I call making art and being creative perseverance and a practice.
It can be easy to get caught up in an outcome and product especially with a mentality that if there isn’t an outcome is it worth doing- and this process challenges that. This process is what’s important. I started with ink- no pencil it forces me to slow down and pay attention to what I see even when I think the shadow or line can’t possibly be right but I trust my eye and the way the shapes form anyways. As I continue my hand loosens and I become less tense. This practice helps me to not let what I think I know take over and stay grounded even when I am unsure. It keeps me practicing understanding, presence, and listening to what I see and hear not what I think. This practice helps me to foster connection to myself, others, and the world around me. It has always been about perseverance and a practice - I just never stopped the practice and I never stopped creating pulling all nighters no one witnessed besides the art itself that makes it disguised as talent. In the end it was just scribbles and lines anyways.

04/02/2022

Notes, letters, poetry…. a persons penmanship and words I believe is one of the most under appreciated lost art treasures in this world. Every person’s writing portrays something unique and special like someone’s fingerprint no writing is the exact same. Looking at cards from people who have crossed to the other side before me and seeing along with touching their words makes me feel closer in some way. Friday started with a handwritten surprise card on my desk and it has always been the little things that are the big things and the things that require time- one of the worlds most precious gifts that have always meant so much to me.

04/01/2022

EDPP WK10
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After a week of staring at the pieces I thought they were mountains. The more I tried to piece them together the more I noticed they were homes.

Home.

As I shared EDPP will be reflective of a constant transformation being an art therapist in the medical setting, a teacher, and a post grad supervisor. So during this process a home showed up- I have not been home in more than two years and I won’t delve into this because there is a lot there- of course I miss home- the familiar the people, family, friends, and especially hugs. It has been hard and I have been blest along this journey too.
May be this entire journey was not only taking me to the mountains may be it is leading me to expanding my community, my connections, loving my neighbors, and guiding me home.
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03/31/2022

EDPP WK9
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Fall apart
Pieces
Breaking the frame you were stretched within
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03/18/2022

EDPP WK8
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Surrender
Reconstructed
Building
Building
Building
Building
Rebuilt,
Keys to rise again
Simplification
Each wing has its own staircase
Successfully devised for a specific purpose.
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03/14/2022

Grand Rapids Dominican Sisters say goodbye to their home of 100 years

A peer encouraged me to write a proposal and reach out to The Dominican Center ...this was the first place that gave me a shot-after sharing a proposal, and offering a free workshop, the seed to developing my own practice took root. I created a close connection here, led workshops, programs, group therapy sessions, community events, retreats, and even had a solo art show here. The St. Francis garden became a sacred space for some group therapy sessions and one time for my own heart ache after a tough break up. The day before leaving for Texas I returned back to meet with one of the Sisters who lent me a book that quickly turned into a favorite, these grounds and the Sisters will hold a special space in my heart and I hope the move is smooth.

The Dominican Sisters have packed up and moved to their new home near their old one.

03/05/2022

Grateful to have had a chance to share about some of my passions today at MD Anderson’s Collective Soul Symposium.

03/04/2022

Wk6 EDPP
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Bumps in the clean slate
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03/03/2022

While I have done virtual presentations throughout the pandemic live felt like quite a transition again. Back on the big screen and even a stage to ring in presenting live for the first time since pre pandemic in the community.

03/02/2022

WK5 EDPP
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I had no idea what was going on for about a week with this one. All I knew was for some reason I needed to tear up and crinkle tissue paper. After sitting with it for almost a week -tonight it hit me- I get it.
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Tissues
So many tissues
Falling to the floor
Collecting
Like translucent spirits drifting into an unknown
Pulling, ripping, crinkling tissues
Piles of tissues on the floor
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The amount of tissues and masks filled with snot and tears is not anything I would have predicted especially over the last two years. Plastic doesn’t absorb tears so I tend to watch tears face down my ppe gown. I have been on the floor more with people amongst the tissues in the last two years than I could imagine. At one point I even had a pile of my own crinkled up tissues on the floor of my car. I sat with this piece and not until I could take a picture of it did I think “tissues- look at all those tissues” and it clicked. There have been a lot more tissues used than I have given them credit for.
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02/20/2022

I cannot travel without a visual journal and some art materials.
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Mesa Arch at sunrise
Canyonlands National Park
Watercolors in visual journal
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Creating art with the world deepens my appreciation - I’m forced to look at the lines, colors, shape, negative, and positive space. I didn’t realize how much ultramarine and violet were in these red rocks until I spent more time observing.

02/19/2022

Surprise mail from Edinboro University- so glad to be part of the graduate art therapy team

02/18/2022

WK4 EDPP
It got dark quick
It got darker than I expected
I didn’t plan on it getting this dark
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02/17/2022

WK3 EDPP
Protection
Secure
Warmth
Heavy
Shaky stability
Strong
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02/17/2022

WK2 EDPP
Sustenance:
Creativity moving from mind to action
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