We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rebecca Pappa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rebecca, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I believe that life without risk is a life without growth. So when I feel the desire to dream, or leap, I try as hard as I can to lean into the risk. Two years ago, as covid was fading away, I saw clearly the lessons it gave me. 1. I can work from anywhere. No longer location dependent, I felt free, and also overwhelmed. As the world became our option. 2. My husband and I are highly adaptable individuals. With the loss of his job in New York City, we moved to the Catskills, and he renovated a house with his own two hands. After two years, we also learned that isolation was not what we needed in the long run. So we sold our home, and all of our belongings with it, and moved to Italy with four suitcases, 3 boxes, and two cats. Landing it Italy in search of a more tranquil, art focused life, we were quickly thrown into the reality of living abroad. Learning a language is a full time job, simple things feel like huge wins. For example going grocery shopping, knowing what to say when the delivery man rings your buzzer, and building a new community, are not easy tasks. Yet two years later as I sit in my large art studio with frescoed ceilings, I can see that this risk has gifted us both resiliency. I see in my client work that my life choices have increased my clients understanding of their own capabilities. We often move through life feeling like we have to order off of a five item menu, and when you see someone ordering off the menu, it can gift others the courage to start to write their own story. Regardless of outside opinion. This risk has strengthened my marriage, bolstered my creativity, and has given me a community of people that inspire me daily. It has also increased my clients trust in my ability to hold space for them when they are facing adversity. Bravery witnessed, summons strength to walk the wild untraveled path.

Rebecca, 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?

I am a licensed and board certified Art Therapist, and Creative coach. I work in private practice with clients who struggle with anxiety, depression, PTSD, and those working through life transitions. In my work I weave together a world of holistic healing. Talk therapy, art making, meditation, and at times (if clients ask) some Tarot Cards make an appearance. I believe in fostering individuals intuition and creativity. I see a world where creativity is often scoffed at. Yet, again and again, I witness it is our strongest lifeline in times of struggle. I believe mental health care should be more accessible, so outside of my one on one work I created a course to help individuals, destress and reduce anxiety through the creative process. It is called Creating Calm, and it is one of my great joys to see people from all walks of life reconnecting to, or getting to know their creativity. To see someones creative voice expand is an indescribable thrill.

I see therapy as a sacred container. One where the therapist should act as a mirror reflecting back curiosity. There should be more questions than advice given. It is a place where all of the self can be witnessed and met with compassion and understanding. Unblocking intuition is a core strength of mine, as I believe we are all the masters of ourself. Unearthing your inner knowing through creative expression is an act of rebellion in a world that begs you to consume and numb. I often weave in nature and the elements in my work in order to empower and expand a clients tool kit. I hold free groups that focus on elemental rituals for self development. I hope as I age I step more and more into the identity of the elder healer at the edge of the woods. Or in my case the Piazza.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Authenticity, without a doubt. When I market myself in an authentic way I am always met with clients who I am uniquely equipped to help. I recently worked with a marketing company on a new product, and the scripts they wrote for me felt so NOT me. I cringed while reading them, procrastinated filming them etc. When these ads rolled out the people signing up for my product were not a good match. Ironically the sales were the highest, but so were the refund requests. We redid the marketing, with me writing my own content and the sales took longer to grow, BUT the clients are a perfect match. This leads to referrals, and organic growth. Social media has helped my practice, but Referrals has been my bread and butter from day one. My practice has been full with a waitlist from 2017, three months after I started my practice. This is because I met like minded professionals, doctors, therapists, acupuncturists , etc that spread the word and referred their clients. These clients referred me to people they knew etc. So authenticity and Human connection still remain my number one practice to grow and maintain clientele.

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

Yes, and I wouldn’t change the timeline. This is a second career for me. When I moved to NYC in 2005 I was an actor. I spent many years performing, chasing auditions, and bartending. I had mild success in film and commercial work. However it was bartending that would most equip me in becoming a therapist. I learned so much about people in those years. WOrking the lunch shift in Midtown Manhattan, I grew a regular crowd, and the connections were quite deep. I knew what was going on in their marriages, the changes they wanted to make professionally etc. I talked with them through it all. It was where I learned to hold space. Those years of struggling to “make it” as a performer , taught me the strength of my grit and the strength of human connection.

When I found Art Therapy, and Creative Arts Therapy, it was the perfect melding of my two worlds. The ability to use creativity to help others heal felt like a dream. I had been escaping to write since I was 7 years old. I had a huge field behind my home growing up that I would run into with notebooks, paints, pens etc. I would sit on this large rock in the center of the field when I was upset and draw or write. I was always doing this. I find with clients also, that if we look into our histories and remember what felt most natural to us as children we will see our purpose and unique calling with renewed clarity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nycreativetherapies.com
• Instagram: @REBECCAPAPPA_
• Other: TIKTOK :@the_social_therapist
  Substack : Callingoncorners.substack.com
  Writing website: www.thedreamersdailytonic.com
  Company website : creatingcalm.co

Image Credits

Photos by Alia Chakukova