The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
This is your brain on art.
Many of the challenges people face can be rooted in traumatic experiences or stressful life events that were beyond their control. The arts can help us feel empowered to overcome these obstacles. At Creative Healing Art Therapy, LLC, we specialize in treating trauma related disorders via methods rooted in both neuroscience and the arts.
The Practice
Welcome to Creative Healing Art therapY!
This practice is a collective of creative therapists with experience in trauma and attachment work. We understand that for us to live fully, we need to connect fully.
Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso
Art is Powerful
How do we use art in therapy?
There are many ways to process emotions and connect with our stories. For some, this is through conversation, venting, poetry or analysis.
For some, emotions are experienced through color, movement, form or play. A typical art therapy session will include access to art materials and processes that may help bring comfort, relief and relaxation.
This may include watercolor painting, scribbling with oil pastels, molding clay, weaving, collage, splatter painting and more.
Creative spaces also provide a safe place for exploring what brings discomfort.
Engaged and connected.
Through all of these creative forms we stay connected to what needs to be witnessed, until the emotions are heard fully and the story is told.
Where do we begin?
Our therapists are skilled in understanding a full spectrum of unique mental health related needs. We offer consultations at no charge to learn about your specific experience and identify services that may be a good fit for you!
Our Team
Karli Johnson
Art Therapy & Clinical Supervisor
ATR LCPC, License 180.011489
*Karli is currently not accepting new clients
Karli Johnson is an Art Therapist and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. She graduated from Mount Mary College with her Master’s in Art Therapy in 2008 and worked with local agencies for ten years before starting Creative Healing Art Therapy, LLC. Karli works alongside individuals of all ages, using the creative process to help her clients connect with and address their emotional needs. Karli believes that art has survived in this world so that we can too. Her growing practice has a mission to share about the profession of Art Therapy so that youth of all backgrounds have access to the career path.
Mackenzie Jones
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor , Clinical Supervisor
MA LCPC ITR-CTT, License 180.015102
*Waitlist only.
MacKenzie Jones is a Licensed Professional Counselor. She has been working in the mental health field for 6 years and received her Master's Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Bradley University. MacKenzie provides services to individuals of all ages to support them as they overcome trauma and other distressing life events.
MacKenzie incorporates expressive arts, play, attachment work, and talk therapy into her practice; however, she prides herself on being flexible and tailoring her style to her clients’ needs. MacKenzie puts a great deal of effort and time into creating a relationship with her clients because she believes that a strong and honest relationship is the best foundation for progress and improvement.
MacKenzie has a mission to help her clients process difficult experiences in a safe environment, so they can grow, heal, and start to feel like themselves again.
MacKenzie is a provider for BCBS, Health Alliance and Humana insurance plans.
Kristina Murukurthy
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
LCPC PhD, License 178.007162
*Krissy is accepting new clients for in person sessions at her office in Glenview, IL. She is also accepting telehealth clients in Illinois.
Kristina (Krissy) is a licensed professional counselor with a passion for helping children feel confident and capable of living their best lives. She loves incorporating neuroscience and conflict resolution skills into her clinical practice. She is a certified integrative medicine for mental health provider and incorporates alternative/wholistic approaches into practice to enable mind-body balance.
Krissy received her Master’s in clinical-counseling psychology from Illinois State University and a PhD in conflict resolution from Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. She has over 15 years of experience working with children who present with behavioral disorders, developmental disorders, ADHD, and who are on the autism spectrum. She also has experience treating a variety of mental health issues including anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, and substance abuse. She also has experience with group counseling and works from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
Beyond clinical practice, Krissy is an experienced mediator who has facilitated the resolution of numerous types of conflict situations including interpersonal conflicts, family conflicts, and divorces. She can help individuals build assertive communication skills via conflict coaching, help families find more effective ways to engage with conflict within the family system, and help those who need it navigate a more peaceful divorce. She is also familiar with making parenting plans.
Krissy values the therapeutic relationship and feels the most important thing she can offer is a trusting, genuine, and accepting space where individuals can be themselves and be truly heard.
*Krissy is accepting new clients in the Chicago area. Krissy is a provider for Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Jennifer Carlock
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW, License 149.013728
Jennifer Carlock is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and received her Master of Social Work degree from Illinois State University in 2004.
Jennifer has experience across settings and populations, which speaks to her insatiable thirst for knowledge, understanding and service provision. She has experience working with toddlers, children and adolescents, college students, and adults and uses a variety of frameworks and modalities to meet her clients’ needs.
Jennifer has certifications and specializations in multiple areas, including Theraplay, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC), Critical Incident and Stress Debriefing (CISD), Solution-Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing (MI), Sensory Processing and Emotional Regulation, Mental Health First Aid, Trauma, Domestic Violence, Emotional Intelligence, Title IX and is a Real Colors Facilitator.
Additionally, Jennifer has held leadership roles at various organizations, demonstrated data-driven effectiveness in promoting productivity and engagement, managed psychiatric disability on a national scale, and is an international presenter. She provides clinical supervision and is dedicated to enhancing both her own skillset and acting as a resource to her colleagues.
Paul Thompson
Licensed Social Worker
LSW, License 150.107647
Paul Thompson is a Licensed Social Worker. He has been working in the mental health field with children and adolescence for 10 years after receiving his Master's Degree in School Social Work from Illinois State University. Paul has experience working in residential treatment, family support services, and public schools as a school social worker. Paul believes that building rapport and a trusting relationship with his clients is the most important building block to begin the journey of personal improvement. Paul uses the client’s personal interests, experience, and background to guide each session. This may include play, art, music, or just talking. Paul’s background working in mental health, using a trauma informed approach, allows him to individualize services and support his clients in whatever they are experiencing.
Becca Taylor
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC, License 178.018302
*Becca is currently accepting clients at her office in West Peoria .
Becca received her MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Becca has a lifelong interest in the healing power of art. She is currently pursuing a post-graduate certification in combining art techniques with mental health counseling. Becca believes that the therapeutic process is a collaborative alliance between the client and the counselor, with the goals of increasing insight, removing roadblocks to growth, and reframing perceptions. She emphasizes the creativity of human beings and their striving to live balanced, meaningful lives. Becca’s approach to therapy is practical and outcome-oriented, using expressive art interventions to help clients externalize their feelings, improve their sense of control, explore relationship patterns, and connect with the present.
Laura Tepen
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC, License 178.018944
Laura received her Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. She is currently pursuing her LCPC licensure. Laura received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Laura believes that a strong therapeutic relationship is the foundation of mental health counseling. She approaches her clients with the belief that every person deserves respect and empathy and is capable of growth. Her approach is grounded in neuroscience and evidence-based practice. Laura is interested in trauma processing, creative therapies, and working with children and families. She is excited to be a companion on her clients’ journeys towards recovery, growth, and self-actualization.
Andrea Coston, LSW
Licensed Social Worker
LSW, License 150.111370
Andrea is a trauma trained licensed therapist who specialized in working with Foster Youth, Adoptees, and their families. Andrea received her undergrad in Intercultural Studies and Master of Social Work from Indiana Wesleyan University . She is trauma trained through Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk's Intensive Trauma Treatment Course as well as in TF-CBT and Sand Tray,. She is an adoption competent therapist via NTI and am currently in the Center for Adoption Support and Education’s TAC training.
Andrea strives to create an environment that creates felt safety for her clients of all ages through a client-centered, strengths-based trauma lens. Andrea incorporates social-emotional learning, trauma and identity processing, regulation and co-regulation skills using play, arts and crafts, sand tray, mindfulness techniques, narrative therapy, and psychoeducation. She places an emphasis on family inclusive therapy when working with child and adolescents.
Finally, Andrea’s goal is to help you understand how our bodies react to, change, adapt, and heal from traumatic experiences. She know how difficult it can be to feel at home within our bodies and our minds. Her goal is to help clients come to terms with their past traumas, become able to fully live in the present, and gain control over their own life journey.
Danielle King
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC, License 150.105053
Danielle graduated from Bradley University in Peoria, IL with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2019 and went on to complete her master’s degree at Bradley in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in August 2022. She has a variety of experience in the mental health field ranging from internships at detox units, residential facilities, and crisis counseling in emergency departments. Danielle also has experience working in inpatient psychiatric units, school counseling settings, outpatient practices, as well as equine and animal assisted therapy.
Through this array of training and experience, Danielle has worked with a wide range of ages, but with a greater focus with teenage and young adult clients. She also has experience with a variety of different disorders and mental health struggles but with a strong focus on trauma with the help of using Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.
Danielle is passionate about making the conversation of mental health a regular part of everyday interactions and promoting the idea of incorporating physical and mental health as a more essential part of everyone’s health and wellness journey.
Jennifer Lanning, MS
Master’s Level Art Therapist
*Jennifer is currently not accepting clients.
Jennifer received her masters within Art Therapy at St. Mary’s of the Woods in Indiana and is currently pursuing LPC licensure and ATR registration. Jen’s experiences include individual and group art therapy for all ages, K-12 grade students in alternative learning environments, and adults in hospital settings.
Jen graduated with her Bachelor’s degree from MacMurry College, where she majored in Art and Psychology. Jen is excited to work with those who wish to start their journey in art therapy.
Janet Sgro
Graduate Art Therapy Intern
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Janet Sgro graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree. She is the founder and curator of The Pharmacy Gallery & Art Space in Springfield, Illinois, which is a Non-profit 501c3 art group. This award-winning gallery & art space focuses on community based outreach efforts and is expanding with a future in art therapy. Janet has taught art to children for many years and will continue to do so with art therapy.
Janet is currently pursuing her Master's in art therapy from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. She plans to focus on helping children with unprocessed trauma through somatic and sensorimotor art therapy. "I’ve always looked at the world through curious eyes of awe and wonder. The visual play of color, light and shadow fills my soul with creative energy to make art." By learning to heal her own past trauma through the art-making process, she discovered the healing power of art therapy. Her artwork has manifested a spiritual growth and evolution leading her closer to God and into the art therapy profession.
