Blog is officially moving to website

 Hello! 

I will be moving to my website www.peaceincolor.org as i now have learned how to use the built in blog. I have transferred over all of my posts from here to make them easily accessible to you if you want to view older posts.  

other updates

Starting february i will be offering a monthly anxiety and depression support group for both teens and adults!  Teens will be the second thursday , adults will be the 4th thursday. The craft night / open studio for mindfulness and stress support ( not a therapy group). will continue to be first and third friday ( including this upcoming friday the 17th!).   

For those interested, i will have a keurig available with a selection of cocoa, cider and coffees.  At this time im not planning to have food or snacks due to health and safety with the unknown of covid-19 and pre registration is preferred to help with social distancing - but you may stop by without pre registering if thats easiest.

New Location

 Hello all!

I am officially in my new location! Thanks to the Bounce Back Wisconsin Grant I was able to expand into this new glorious space,  incorporate some new supplies into sessions and can offer groups.  

New location is 4650 W Spencer St Ste 15, (inside Pamco Properties llc ) Appleton Wi 54914 

Down the street from Fox River Mall, behind Officemax.  

I am super excited all!  Tonight i had my first open studio "craft night".  (It was more of a rehearsal as i had some personal crisis the last few weeks and was delayed sending out flyers and letting places know the group exists- oops)

I would post the image however I am having technical difficulty, so heres the information instead - Community Craft night, open to all - age 12 and under require an adult to stay ,  Pre registration preferred to assist with social distancing but not required - here is the link Craft night Pre registration. Craft night is $7 and can be paid at the door or ahead of time with paypal.   I provide supplies, however you can bring your own project and its come when you can / leave when you want.  My hope is to start an Anxiety group in the new year, but for now craft night is planned for first and third friday each month moving forward.  

I have also fixed my website issues ( hopefully).  www.peaceincolor.org for more information, you can also follow me on facebook.com/shanson.atpy and instagram at peace_in_colorful_dynamics!

Another new update is i have become an independent publisher through kindle, and created a variety journal / notebooks, mood tracker and soon to come -coloring books! Check out my author page and have fun journaling, doodling, coloring or mood tracking to assist with anxiety or stressors this holiday season.

**disclaimer- i do make a percentage off each sale of book**

My Independently Published books!

I am terrible at this - but here are some updates!

 Hello followers!  I apologize, I am terrible at keeping up with this blog.  I have improved with my social media however, I found an amazing program called "cinchshare" and every few weeks spend a few hours finding material that I hope is interesting to share and schedule them for facebook and instagram / twitter. Maybe i can connect this to it as well.   

Anyway! Updates: 

my website is finally up and running, www.peaceincolor.org ! I had to switch servers and try to figure out technical stuff and work with their support team and wait for updates to kick in, and needless to say it took alot longer then expected.  

My office will have a new location soon!  I am moving closer to the fox valley mall to a- one level, no stairs, large group space, large office and plenty of window- building ! I am super excited for this change, and will post pictures after the office is ready for me to move in, with my name on the space and directory board.  

I am also planning groups, my hope is for an #openstudio -no “therapy”- art as healing , maybe meet others and do art together or on your own. offering lessons for knitting, painting or otherwise. An #anxiety or #depression 6 week group, assist with support and validation, learning coping skills together to handle stress or fatigue, the weighted down feeling of darkness. I will also be offering "lunch and learns" for other professionals who want to learn what art therapy is or to do art-therapy on their lunch hour to destress from the work week.

Other themes individually or included in the above could include, #trauma, #selfesteem, #divorce,#pain #chronic #illness #isolation - am looking to collaborate with others and offer #yoga or #dance /#drama therapy options as well. Until now, while i have truly enjoyed my current space and the other independents ive gotten to know i have not had an appropriately sized space to offer art groups and since i can id love to have both talk and art to offer to others. I can offer a non art group however, and the option is always up to the client as to what they want to do or not do. To assist with social distancing, videoing into the group will always be an option. Once i get started recruiting, i will put out flyers and a google ad! When the group fills ( say 10 people) a wait list will be started for the next session. Open studio will be on going , anyone can join at any time.

More info to come on these updates including fees! i am looking into insurance as in the past insurance does not typically cover groups so it would be out of pocket, and i accept cash card or paypal.

Upcming Events!

 Hello!

Art as Healing Group Dates are coming! TBA! Please check back soon!  If you would like to attend via Zoom please pre-register for the event ( link coming soon)

        Group Activity Options : TyeDye (ill supply the socks you bring what white clothes you have!)

                                                  Resin Pressed Flower Pendants

                                                  Diamond Painting -small scale projects

I will host group in Menasha , and Oshkosh!

I will be attending a vender event with other small / local businesses on the weekend of May 8/9th, the small business hosting us will most likely be having a brat fry.  Come say hi and #shopsmall #staylocal. More info to come! (Flyer, address, other businesses in attendance)

2021 here we go

 Hi all, so sorry for the delay.  Had some personal problems occur since the last post.  My dog deedee ( the big brown one who has appeared in instagram and such), started having more arthritis problems so we were in and out of the vet for a few months getting scans and trying medication.  unfortunately with her falls, she ended up having an underlying medical condition that she passed away from mid january. It was a shock and between fostering dogs and working, i slipped a bit with posting.

I am excited to announce that one of the dogs i was fostering was a 7-9 week old boxer mix and i have since adopted him! We will start training this summer in hopes he( and maybe jimmy the other dog)  will be pet therapy buddies in future sessions.

A few work changes; the website is under construction, getting some redesigning to create a more user friendly experience.  I am also excited to announce that i am getting close to having a waitlist for incoming clients! I am working on balancing my virtual platforms with my incoming private practice clients so that i still have room but by my year mark in july there will be a wait, hopefully not a long wait and if there is i have been networking so i will have referral options to keep the wait low.

Time flies

 Hello everyone!!!!!!! I am so excited to be here, and I promise I will be posting way more often!  This summer has been filled with all the feelings!   

My first week was a success and has continued through the fall. I am now paneled ( in network) on two insurances- (Medicaid and UHC) possibly three but waiting on the official letter.  I hired a helper to make sure insurance was done right and she is amazing! She checks insurance cards and submits claims, and takes a huge load of stress off of me! ( you've had to deal with insurance on the patient end, its even worse on the provider end!).   

I have such amazing community y'all. My friends have helped me recreate my logo, redesign my website, given me resources to learn how to use technology and save my sanity.  I recently did a self care bag drawing when my facebook page reached 300 followers!! I am learning so much about social media, computers in general, and the adventures of running my own business while being the main provider in a business.  

I am excited to continue sharing with you, my next big technology venture is my virtual office that will provide resources on how to handle COVID-19, General Anxiety, Adhd, Mindfulness and more, as well as fun games to play if you need a break ( including chess, checkers, mancala, pictionary, more to come) 

I also plan to "Go Live" more frequently on facebook! ( or even instagram), please comment if there are specific topics you would like me to discuss!

First week in!! my OWN agency

So excited! ALL the feels everybody.  Fear and excitement, nervous and contentment.  I am one week into my clinic, and it is so weird not being fully busy with things to do and a full client load to see.  I have plenty to do and had a productive week, but it isn't like being at the old clinic.  Here I am the boss, I get to approve my releases, policies, documents, set up billing, figure out insurance, marketing, referrals, waitlists and so much more!  This week I was able to get my billing system set up to my new portal, documents with digital signature sent to clients who followed me, signed a few people including a new client up for sessions and saw people for sessions!!!  I also did a bunch of online teaching classes with Qkids and Cambly, and did with with my BetterHelp clients!!!  I will also be a new member of Talkspace after i complete orientation. Talk space and Betterhelp are Online Telehealth clinics to help supplement until i build a steady client load through my regular clinic.

I seriously dislike insurance, just gonna throw that out there! However, i am willing to go through the difficulty for clients old and new.  I have been accepted into the Optum Panel which is a string of UHC .the "behavioral health side of UBH". So that is super exciting! I am working on Forward / Medicaid and hope to get that soon. The trouble with insurance is i have to fill out applications with all my special numbers, and wait.... and wait... and wait.. and hope it was filled out correctly or not missing anything like a check mark a document that should have been uploaded.  insurance can take 3=6 months or up to a year to approve providers to be on panels.  I am learning alot, and have a friend whos helping me between her own work.  I have so many supportive people in my life that i am thankful for!!!