We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christina E. Westbrook a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina, thanks for joining us today. Can you share an anecdote or story from your schooling/training that you feel illustrates what the overall experience was like?

After experiencing a life threatening accident while attending her first semester at Illinois State University, Christina went back to to school with a newfound determination. She took advantage of TRIO, an advisory resource provided through the school for first generation students who need help adjusting or keeping up through the academic disparities.

Through her TRIO advisor, Angel Howard, Christina learned of the School of Art institute in Chicago and was determined to go there for graduate school despite her school not offering the required Art Therapy undergraduate major. Fontenelle built her own Art Therapy major through preexisting classes.

In the end, despite not meeting all the requirements, Christina was accepted into their graduate program and not only got here masters, but also graduated from the 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s alternate route dance and movement therapy program in New York.

Christina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Christina initially planned to study towards being a doctor when she first started her undergrad at Illinois State. After struggling through required classes, she chose to give Art a chance by taking an art class and making a deal with God, promising to switch over to Art if she were to get an A. Despite not meeting the goal, Christina reached out to her advisors at TRIO to see what her options were, giving little information about her the plan she didn’t actually have yet other than, ‘I like art, helping people, and psychology.’

After being matched with the Art Institute’s Art Therapy graduate program and eventually graduating, Christina was called to write Aligning Your Inner Self Meditation Journal to raise awareness about mental health. At the time, she was experiencing homeless after moving to Miami. The journal is meant to help readers get in tune with their emotional needs, especially while working through trauma. These experiences helped Christina develop such inclusive courses for all identities and ages.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Absolutely. Christina says she feels as if this is the path that she was meant to be on. She gets to help people in creative ways and help heal the mind through the body.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Fontenelle always imagined her path would be similar to others in the sense that once she was done with her education, she’d find a full-time job in her field. That wasn’t the case though since there was many opportunities available that focused enough or at all in art and movement therapy. Because of this, Christina chose to start Fontenelle Art LLC based in Chicago.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fontenelleart.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/fontenelleart/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fontenelleart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fontenelle-art-llc/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FontenelleArt