East Bay Art Therapy, 55 Santa Clara Avenue Suite 220, Oakland, CA (2025)

11/18/2025

🖌️Creating Art Can Be a Powerful Way to Reflect & Gain Insight

EBAT Owner and Art Therapist Tonia Herrero recently facilitated an Arts-Based Clinical Group Supervision for the clinicians of Peralta Colleges at Laney College in Oakland, CA.

🫟Through hands-on art making, clinicians explored both their clients’ experiences and their own internal responses in the therapeutic relationship, including moments of countertransference.

🎨Creativity opened a space for deeper understanding, reflection, and professional growth.

🖼️During this supervision, clinicians engaged in two powerful directives:

1. Sculpting a character that represents themselves and their strengths as clinicians, a process that helped them embody their roles, values, and inner resources.

2. Processing a difficult work day through deconstruction + reconstruction, using oil pastels to create a drawing, tearing or cutting it apart, and transforming it into something new on fresh paper.

This art therapy directive offered a new lens on challenging moments, encouraging flexibility, resilience, and perspective-shifting.

Arts-Based Clinical Supervision allows clinicians to process the emotional weight of the work in a safe, creative, and grounding way.

When clinicians feel supported, their clients benefit too.

👉 If your team or organization is interested in experiential, Arts-Based Clinical Supervision or training, EBAT offers tailored professional development for mental health providers.

Link in bio or contact us to hire us to facilitate this for your team!!

https://eastbayarttherapy.com

11/13/2025

“Art is my cure to all this madness, sadness, & loss of belonging in the world & through it I’ll walk myself home.” - Nikki Rowe, Author

In art therapy, creativity becomes a bridge back to the self. When words can’t hold what you feel, the canvas can.

🎨 Through color, movement, and reflection, art invites you to release what’s been carried, make meaning from the chaos, and rediscover your inner belonging.

We work with adults, adolescents, children, and families, creating a safe space for expression, healing, and growth at every stage of life.

Whether you’re navigating stress, anxiety, grief, burnout, or disconnection, art therapy helps you reconnect to your emotions and inner truth. ✨

In-person sessions available in San Jose and Oakland, CA
Virtual sessions available

Your healing begins the moment you pick up the brush with an EBAT Art Therapist. 🧑🎨

🩷 Book a Free consultation {Link in bio] to explore how art therapy can support your journey back to balance and inner peace.

https://eastbayarttherapy.com

11/11/2025

A Creative Workshop at Stanford Medicine 🏥🖍️

EBAT Owner & Art Therapist Tonia Herrero recently guided Stanford University School of Medicine Mental Health clinicians through her Therapeutic Art Making in Clinical Practice for Non-Art Therapists training in Palo Alto, CA.

It was an inspiring day of creativity, connection, and learning as Mental Health clinicians explored how art can deepen emotional expression and support somatic awareness in their clients.

🎨 About the Training:

If you are a mental health clinician seeking to bring ethical, intentional Therapeutic Art into your sessions, this training is for you.

Creative expression can open pathways that talk therapy alone may not reach, offering clients a safer and more embodied way to communicate.

You will:
🖌 Learn key art therapy history and the psychology behind creativity
🖌 Explore case examples showing the impact of art-based interventions
🖌 Engage in guided therapeutic art making to experience the process yourself

This training will not certify you as an Art Therapist, but it will equip you with creative interventions and session-ready activities that strengthen rapport & support client well-being.

Next Training is January 24th, 11 am-3 pm Pacific. Attend in person in Oakland, CA, with materials provided, or join virtually with a supply list.

If your agency is seeking experiential creative professional development, we are now booking trainings for organizations in 2026.

➡️ Reserve your spot {link in bio} or email tonia@eastbayarttherapy.com

If your agency is seeking experiential creative professional development, we are now booking trainings for organizations in 2026.

📥Send Tonia an email to learn more and schedule with your organization/agency.

med

11/07/2025

Art Therapy for Tech Burnout! 🤖

In tech, burnout doesn’t always look like crashing.

It looks like over-delivering while feeling under-connected.

🎨 Art Therapy gives high-performing professionals space to recalibrate to thrive!

Through art therapy, you’ll learn to:

• Reconnect with your body’s natural rhythm (so focus feels effortless again)

• Build emotional and energetic boundaries to prevent “always-on” fatigue

• Transform perfectionism into curiosity and rediscover creativity without pressure

• Rebuild intrinsic motivation (beyond metrics or performance reviews)

• Reconnect with your purpose and emotional clarity

Because clarity fuels performance, and creativity keeps it alive. So that you are not only high-performing but also feeling satisfied and content with your professional role.

💡 Burnout isn’t a weakness; it’s a signal for recalibration.

🖌️ Work with an EBAT Art Therapist helping Silicon Valley professionals restore focus, performance, and emotional balance.

Tap on the link in bio to begin your Art Therapy journey by scheduling a free consultation.

In-person sessions available in San Jose and Oakland. Plus, Virtual sessions are available.

11/04/2025

🎨 Destress with a touch of creative mystery mindfulness!

EBAT Owner and Art Therapist Tonia Herrero was invited to lead a mindful art therapy session for college students, offering a moment to pause, reflect, and de-stress through creativity.

The directive, called “Mystery Mixed Media,” guided students in a mixed media drawing using white oil pastel on watercolor paper then revealing their hidden designs with vibrant watercolor washes.

🎨This process activated the reward center of the brain, sparked joyful surprise, and created a truly rewarding and fun experience for everyone involved.

At East Bay Art Therapy, we’re passionate about bringing art therapy to schools, campuses, and organizations to promote emotional wellbeing and creative connection.

✨Hire us to share the powerful effects of art therapy.

💗Send a message to get in touch with Tonia to learn more of how you can bring this experience to your organization.

10/30/2025

Yes! We are HIRING! 💃

East Bay Art Therapy is excited to announce an open position for an Art Therapist! ✨

🎨 This Art Therapist position offers a wonderful opportunity to work both in a private practice setting and in facilitating school-based groups in San Jose, CA.

👉 If you are a passionate Art Therapist in the South Bay who desires to grow and expand with us to bring more creative arts therapy services to youth, adults, and families in need, apply today!

Relocation bonus for individuals relocating from out of state!

Read the full job description at eastbayarttherapy.com/careers

📩 To Apply, send your resume and cover letter to Tonia@eastbayarttherapy.com

10/28/2025

Community Update! 🤝 EBAT Owner and Art Therapist Tonia Herrero, along with EBAT Student Intern Sara Umbro, represented East Bay Art Therapy at a wellness event in Orinda, CA!

They proudly promoted art therapy awareness and our services to the community. This event was organized by the Pushing for Peace organization.

🧑‍🎨Tonia Herrero, is also an fine artist. She was invited to showcase pieces from her personal fine art practice at the event.

At EBAT, we love getting involved in community-based events.

💗Follow us for Art Therapy inspiration, community updates, and creative wellness tools that support emotional healing and self-expression

10/23/2025

At East Bay Art Therapy, we support clients in exploring a wide range of challenges from anxiety and trauma to self-esteem, relationships, and identity.

🍭We’re highlighting one area of our work: helping clients heal their relationship with their bodies and with food.

Our work is rooted in the principles of Health at Every Size and body neutrality, helping clients reject diet culture, unlearn harmful narratives about thinness, and quiet the inner food police that labels foods as “good” or “bad.”

🎨 Through art therapy, we create space to be messy, expressive, and free.

Here, you can take up the space you deserve, release perfectionism, and begin to relate to your body with compassion instead of criticism.

Healing through creativity allows you to reconnect with your inner wisdom, the part of you that already knows you are worthy, whole, and enough exactly as you are.

If you’re seeking liberation from society’s oppressive body ideals and want to find peace through the creative process, we’d love to support you.

🩷 Book your free consultation (Link in Bio) with a registered art therapist to get started today towards body peace and self-liberation.

We offer in-person sessions in Oakland & San Jose California + virtual sessions.

10/21/2025

Watercolor Flow: An Art Therapy Exploration

This watercolor piece emerged through a free-flow process, inviting the body, not the mind, to lead. The act of using watercolor became a somatic release, allowing flow to guide rather than control.

Once dry, the artwork became a mirror for reflection, an exploration of inner balance, structure, & the natural cycles of growth.

The artwork represents navigating professional responsibilities, daily demands, & the delicate balance between chaos & flow.

Watercolor, as a medium, offers a powerful metaphor for life. Whether you use liquid watercolors or with a brush.

You can guide it, but you can’t control where it flows on the paper. The watercolor moves on its own, inviting you to let go, to give in to the process, & to allow what unfolds.

Colors merge and move unpredictably, reminding us to trust the process, build resilience, and find beauty in imperfection.
Through this practice, we learn to surrender, to let go of rigid control, & to strengthen self-trust as life unfolds in its own rhythm.

Have you ever played with watercolor? Drop a 🎨!

Try it out & notice what happens when you let go of control and simply let the colors move.

🩷 If you’d like to explore how art can support your emotional well-being and personal growth, reach out for a free consultation with a Registered Art Therapist at East Bay Art Therapy.

We offer in-person + virtual sessions in Oakland & San Jose, California.

📸 Sophia Stutes, EBAT Art Therapist

10/09/2025

🎨 What Does an Art Therapy Session Actually Look Like?

Art therapy is a mental health profession that blends psychology and creative expression to help people process emotions, release stress to cope in new ways, and heal to live higher-functioning lives.

Your art therapist isn’t just someone who loves art, they are a trained clinician who understands human psychology, trauma, development, and more!

At East Bay Art Therapy, we work with all populations:

💚Kids & teens learning to regulate emotions

💜Adults moving through burnout, loss, or big transitions

💚Couples wanting a deeper connection

💜Families working to strengthen communication and harmony

💚Individuals seeking purpose & ready for real change

No art skills needed — just curiosity and openness.

💚💜East Bay Art Therapy — where creativity meets real talk.

📍 Serving the Bay Area, In-person (Oakland, San Jose) + virtual sessions available.

👉 Learn more or book through the link in bio.

10/07/2025

Missed our Sold Out Therapeutic Art Making Training for Non-Art Therapists? 😢

We got you!

Our next workshop is scheduled for early 2026! Join our waitlist now!

Here is a recap of what Tonia, founder of EBAT, taught in this fun & informative Workshop for Mental Health clinicians.

In this training, participants gained the following:

🖌️An understanding of the history of art therapy & the psychology behind the creative process

🖌️Explored case examples that show how art can deepen therapeutic client work

🖌️Got hands-on experience with art-making directives (yes, and created their own)!

The mental health clinicians who attended didn’t leave the training becoming an Art Therapist (That is a long process!). 😅

However, they did learn practical skills and activities to incorporate in their practice, to support building rapport and enriching their therapeutic relationships. 🙌

We are excited to continue to offer this training, as we know that, as Art Therapists, expressing yourself in words can be difficult, and art making can become a more accessible and safer way to express for clients.

So, if you are a mental health clinician, curious about how to bring art into your sessions ethically and effectively… then this is for you!

Leave the guesswork and discomfort on what to do behind!

👉Join our waitlist for your next workshop, before this one sells out too!

📍Attend in person (Oakland, CA) with all materials provided OR join virtually (Zoom) with a supply list sent in advance.

🎨Visit eastbayarttherapy.com/training to read the full training description and view pricing.

👉Email Tonia (Tonia@eastbayarttherapy.com) to get signed up to expand your therapeutic toolbox!

East Bay Art Therapy

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