Reflect

Trust, Change, and Honoring the Season We’re In

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through the year, a natural pause that invites us all to check in, notice what’s shifting, and reconnect to what truly matters.

At START Creative Arts Therapy Services, we believe real growth happens in the quieter spaces between what’s behind us and what’s still to come. Some goals are celebrated, some evolve, some are set down for something new. None of this is failure, it’s what being human looks like.

This halfway mark finds many of us in unexpected places, somewhere between light and shadow, the living and the dying. For me, this year holds both. I’m preparing for loss in ways I never have before. Some moments draw on every resource I’ve built, personally and professionally, rituals, therapy models, music, art, and the community that holds me up. Other moments keep me awake at night, wondering what life will feel like without my youngest close by, or what life will become when we lose our family’s eldest. I feel sandwiched between two uniquely different truths, holding tight to the living, preparing to release what must go, and finding the courage to stay present for both.

We see this same courage every day at START. Our community, clients, families, artists, helpers, holds space for each other through seasons of grief, growth, joy, and change. We see people arrive longing to be truly seen and known. We see how the creative arts open a door when words alone aren’t enough. We see how being heard and witnessed brings a soft landing for what we carry.

This is why we created A Place to Be Seen, a living art installation in our office anchored by a guiding poem. It invites everyone who steps inside to pause, reflect, and choose a small mirror to place on the wall. It’s not about labels or boxes. It’s about remembering yourself, every messy, bright, shadowed, still-changing part. The mirrors remind us that how we see ourselves, how others see us, and how we choose to show up all matter. Some days we glow alone. Some days we glow alongside others. It’s all part of being fully human.

“A Place to Be Seen
This is not about boxes.
This is not about picking a lane.
This is about remembering yourself,
all the messy, bright, quiet, brave, still-changing parts of you.

The words on the wall,
they’re not rules.
They’re mirrors.

You might see yourself in one.
You might see yourself in many.
You might not know yet, and that’s okay too.

This is a space for honesty.
For almosts. For used-to-bes.
For the parts of you still becoming.

Choose what feels right right now.
Not forever. Just today.

Leave a mark.
Stick your truth up there.
See what glows back at you.
Maybe you’ll notice someone else glowing too.

Because this is what happens
in a place made to hold you...
just as you are,
and just as you’re becoming.

You belong here.
All of you.”

Seasons like this ask us to lean on what we know helps. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps untangle thoughts that spiral at 2 AM. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches us to hold two truths at once, that we can accept what is now, and believe in what’s still possible. Internal Family Systems (IFS) reminds us that every part, grieving, hopeful, strong, scared, belongs. EMDR helps us let go of old pain so we can live more freely today. Narrative Therapy reminds us the story is ours to write, again and again.

And always, we come back to the arts.

For me, it’s music right now, the truest language I have for what I’m carrying. Some days it’s quiet chords that steady the room, or voices that rise in harmony and bring tears when tears are what’s needed. Some days it’s humming to myself, or watching someone I love return to an instrument that shaped their story long before I knew them. Music, for me, is a place to cry, celebrate, settle, and remember.

At START, we see this same healing in so many forms. For some, it’s the gentle rhythm of painting or collage. For some, it’s stepping into a new role or story, trying on words, actions, or scenes that help safely explore feelings too big to hold alone. For some, it’s drumming, humming, or sitting with silence until what needs to rise finds its voice. It’s not about perfection, it’s about truth.

Halfway through the year, we honor that each person stands somewhere different. Some are welcoming new beginnings. Some are letting go. Some are daring to name big dreams for the first time. Some are learning how to stay rooted while things shift all around them. We honor it all.

So wherever you are in your halfway mark, whatever you’re celebrating, grieving, tending, or imagining, know you’re not alone. A Place to Be Seen isn’t just art on the wall, it’s a promise that you belong here, with your light and your shadow, your living and your letting go, your voice and your silence. We’re here to hold it with you.

May the next six months bring rest, hope, adventure, connection, and the courage to notice yourself fully. May you find the people, practices, and creative spaces that help you keep going. May you remember that what we create together can carry us further than we ever thought possible.

We all hold light and shadow, grief and hope. Our halfway-year reflection invites you to pause, notice where you are, and remember there’s a place here for all of you.