About me : Cherie Menzies

I have been a visual arts teacher in schools for twenty years. I have two children, now adults and raised them as a single mum in Bondi, Sydney. Now, at 60, I am living in the South Coast of NSW and on this journey sharing the benefits of Holistic Art Therapy as a practitioner.

As a child I always loved to draw, and continued throughout my life. I have personally found that art for me has been a meditative and healing place.

In 2020 I was very affected by life and work stresses, and needed to take a break from teaching in schools. Over the next few years I made changes and adapted, with some plans going well and others .. awry. Then I rediscovered the healing benefits of creativity. I made the decision to study holistic creative arts therapies with the HICAT course (Holistic Integrated Creative Arts Therapy practitioner) and am now re-inspired and motivated to share. I am following on from this with further holistic art therapy study, and a counselling qualification .. because I am passionate about offering well-informed and relevant holistic art therapy informed services.

I feel that for my life art and playfulness, mindfulness, meditation and gratitude are safe and attainable ways to find joy and healing. Perhaps it is simply the way art allows us to be playful, to find our inner child, and access our creative thinking part of our brain.

It is important to note that holistic art therapy is a complementary therapy with wellbeing benefits. It is an holistic counselling approach, and not a replacement for psychologist services where they have been recommended.

Qualifications:
B.Art.Ed and M.Ed (incl). I have qualifications for teaching Visual Arts and children with learning support needs.

I am a member of IICT - International Institute of Complementary Therapists

and Holistic Integrated Creative Art Therapists Association

.