Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Patch.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I truly believe I started my path to becoming an art therapist in childhood. I was exposed to visual art as an early age because my father was an artist, as well as an art teach. My creativity was encouraged and it was something that I received external validation for early on. I took my first more formal art class during middle school and through this course developed the skills to cope through creative expression, as well as obtained support through a safe adult relationship via my middle school art teacher. This process continued through high school, which was a difficult time for me, so having a safe place where I thrived without judgement was extremely valuable. As a young adult, I struggled to find my path forward and reason to continue in higher education until I committed to art education. I make a joke that I colored my way through college, but in actuality this is kinda the truth. I received my BA in Art Education from SFSU and after that, I taught community art classes to young children in various settings through out the city. I also began to seek creativity through food/cooking and the restaurant industry. It was during this time that I was introduced the concept of Art Therapy through various people in my community and it seemed to keep popping up. I finally decided to start the process of completing requirements for grad school. I moved to LA for grad school in 2011 and the rest was history. I’ve been an art therapist for over a decade and I believe that these experiences, my work ethic, and creativity have led me to become the business owner that I am today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’m not sure anyone’s path is ever completely smooth or straight. I went a very round about way to finding this outcome and yet, I ended up going back to my roots to some respect. I think the more challenging part I’ve overcome is how to navigate my own neurodivergence. I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and I had already gone through grad school and gotten my marriage and family therapist license. Two things were always true during my education journey, 1. I liked school and I was good at it. and 2. I had a hard time with specific tasks/situations, especially when my natural intelligence wasn’t enough to get me through it. I realized that the majority of the settings that I was successful in were fast past, multi-location and very interactive/collaborative. When I got my first desk job as a therapist, I plummeted into burnout and didn’t think I was cut out for this profession due to administrative requirement. Once I got diagnosed with ADHD several years later, I was validated for all the struggles I had learned to mask throughout my life and why certain things were so much more challenging and took me much longer. Knowing this, I can now build my business and how I work with clients around skills and strategies that can help me succeed and still take care of myself.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I started my solo private practice 8 years ago and it has transformed to fit the various stages in my adult life. In July 2022, I incorporated and hired my first employee in January of 2023. Patch Counseling is a small group therapy practice in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego that consists of a team of marriage and family therapists and art therapists. We specialize in working with high achieving individual that are on their way to burnout from teens through adulthood. We also support families in navigating various life transitions, specifically, parents of teenagers and how to support them through this developmental stage. I think what sets us apart is that we are all graduated from Loyola Marymount University with combined degree of marital and family therapy with a specialization in art therapy. This heavily influences our approach and how we work as a team, as well as how we collaborate with our clients. We provide individual and family therapy for teens and adults. I recently started a monthly art therapy consultation group for therapists and one of our clinicians, Brittany Benjamin Amante is in the process of launching a teen drop-in art studio.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I’m an audio book fan..I wouldn’t get as much in without it. I love Armchair Expert Pod for a mix of humor and education. As a recovering people pleaser, I appreciate the knowledge that Nedra Tawwab imparts in “Set Boundaries, Find Peace.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.patchcounseling.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Patch-Counseling/61559617173867/#
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-patch-lmft-atr-bb9396128/
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/allison-patch-san-diego-ca/207133
