The Artful Healing Center was created by Emily Skelton (she/her), LMFT, Board Certified Art Therapist, and gender affirming therapist. When Emily first moved to the Santa Clarita area she quickly realized that resources and support for LGBTQ+ folks were very few and far between. Having grown up in Texas, and after spending many years exploring and accepting her own Pansexual identity (which included, but was not limited to: internalized homophopia, biphobia, coming out to self multiple times, denial, imposters syndrome, coming out to self again, wash, rinse, repeat,) she decided that enough was enough and that she wanted to start an affirming private practice. In 2022 Emily expanded her practice and founded The Artful Healing Center, with a mission to supervise and train gender affirming therapists, and to grow LGBTQ+ mental health services in the Santa Clarita and greater LA area. Emily is dedicated in providing inclusive, affirming, and creative counseling. With a focus rooted in the power of expression, neuroscience and the mind-body connection, Emily has trained with the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy in Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing, and received her training in Eye movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with the Institute of Creative Mindfulness. Emily is a professional member of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) and attends monthly consultations with other Gender Affirming clinicians across the country. In addition to her clinical and supervisory work at The Artful Healing Center, Emily is also a contracted Art Therapist with Valley Recovery Center and The Hart School District, where she provides weekly Art Therapy and Expressive Arts groups. Emily received her Bachelors in Psychology from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and then went on to complete her Masters of Arts in Psychology from Phillips Graduate Institute with a concentration in Marriage and Family Therapy and Art Therapy. Emily is committed to keeping up to date with the latest evidenced based treatments, and is certified in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Depression Treatment Quality Improvement, and has been trained in EMDR. Emily identifies as pansexual and has lived experience with internalized homophobia, coming out to self and others, imposters syndrome, etc. Emily acknowledges that she is a cisgender white person with cisgender and white privilege, and even though she work with trans clients, she does not assume that she is an expert or truly understands what it is like to be trans, gender diverse, or BIPOC. To Learn more about The Artful Healing Center, please go to: https://theartfulhealingcenter.com/