START Creative Arts Therapy

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West Islip, NY
START Creative Arts Therapy

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Offering in-person, telehealth therapy services across NY state. Your mental health journey STARTS here!

Our West Islip office is home to a dedicated group of licensed clinicians now accepting new clients.

10/30/2026

Our hearts are with West Babylon, and with every student, family, teacher and friend grieving the loss of a young member of our community this week.

These past few years have asked so much of this community. Grief that builds over time can feel heavy, confusing, or even numb, and each of those reactions makes sense. Whatever you are feeling right now is allowed.

Parents: check in, even when your teen says they're "fine." Simple words are enough. Sitting together, listening, and reminding them they can always come to you matters more than having the right answers.

Teens: reach out to someone you trust, like a friend, a parent, a coach or a school counselor. Your feelings deserve to be heard.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 (Su***de & Crisis Lifeline). You can also text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line. Both are free and available 24/7.

Our door is open. When words are hard to find, creative arts therapy gives grief a place to go. If your family could use support, reach out to us at https://www.startcreativearts.com.
and

With care,
The START team

10/14/2026

There's a specific kind of exhale that happens when the pieces finally click.

The overreaction that wasn't really an overreaction. The exhaustion that made no sense. The pattern you couldn't seem to break no matter how hard you tried.

Turns out you weren't broken. You were responding to something real. A nervous system doing exactly what it was trained to do. A story you inherited that was never yours to carry.

Understanding isn't the whole healing. But it's the moment you stop being at war with yourself.

You are not the problem. You never were.

10/08/2026

Codependency doesn't look scary from the outside. It looks generous. Selfless. Devoted.

But underneath the caretaking is usually one quiet thought: if I don't hold this together, everything falls apart.

That's not love. That's fear wearing love's clothes.

Real connection has room for two whole people. Not one person managing the other. Not you shrinking so someone else can feel bigger.

You are allowed to take up space in your own relationships.

09/29/2026

Calling all creative arts therapists, mental health pros, and anyone seeking meaningful CEUs.

Our workshop "Creating Safety, Stability, and Hope Through Creative Arts Therapy" is coming up, and it's exactly what it sounds like.

Walk away with practical tools for grounding clients, building therapeutic safety through creative modalities, and holding hope even when the work gets heavy. Plus CEUs. Because we know you need those too.

Register here: https://www.startcreativearts.com/ceu-workshops/p/creating-safety-stability-hope-through-creative-arts-therapy

09/26/2026

Your anxious brain isn't broken. It's just really good at running the same loop on repeat.

Thought. Feeling. Behavior. Thought again, but louder.

CBT interrupts the spiral by putting a pause between the trigger and the reaction. Not to make you "think positive." To help you catch the story your brain is spinning and decide if you actually believe it.

You don't have to white-knuckle your way through another one. You can learn the exit ramp.

09/10/2026

Fellow creative arts therapists, this one's for you.

Art + Astrology: Creativity Written in the Stars returns for its autumn session, and the theme is release.

Join us for a 3-hour experiential workshop exploring how cosmic and earthly cycles shape your inner emotional landscape. Hands-on art making. Seasonal reflection. Archetypal exploration. Real tools you can carry into your own practice.

No astrology background needed. Adults 21+. Small group of 5 to 12 for real depth.

Saturday, September 19. 6 to 9 PM. $120.

Save your spot: https://www.startcreativearts.com/ceu-workshops/p/art-astrology-creativity-written-in-the-stars-autumn-session

09/08/2026

DBT wasn't built for people with "manageable" feelings.

It was built for the people who kept getting called too much. Too intense. Too reactive. The people therapy tried, and it still wasn't enough.

Marsha Linehan created it because the tools that existed weren't working for the people who needed them most. So she built new ones.

Skills for emotions that hit like tidal waves. Skills for relationships that swing hot to cold. Skills for the moments when everything is too much.

You are not too much. You are not a lost cause. You are, quite possibly, someone who never got the right therapy.

That's a completely different starting point.

09/06/2026

Someone asked what you thought of your piece. You said it was "fine." They said, "yeah, I could tell." And your whole chest caved in.

Because it wasn't "just a piece." It was the thing you made when words ran out. The thing that finally felt like the truth.

For artists, the work isn't a separate object. It's the language you use when words fail you. It's how you metabolize what happened to you. It's you, filtered through your hands.

That's not a flaw. That's the whole reason the work matters.

You're allowed to make things that feel this personal.

09/04/2026

"Your feelings make sense. AND you can still choose a different response."

So much of what we're told about emotions is either/or. Either your feelings are valid, so the reaction is justified. Or the reaction was wrong, so your feelings must be wrong too.

Both of those are exhausting. And neither is honest.

Your anger makes sense. AND you don't have to send the text. Your grief is real. AND you can still get out of bed today. Your shutdown is protective. AND you can practice something new next time.

Two things. Both true. That's the point.

You're not broken. You're not "too emotional." You're a full human.

08/12/2026

Looking fine and being fine are not the same thing.

Some of the most exhausted people you know are the ones who never miss a deadline. Never cancel plans. Never let their voice crack in front of anyone. They've mastered the performance of okay so thoroughly that even the people closest to them believe it.

Then they come home, sit in the car for twenty minutes, and cry.

You are allowed to fall apart in front of someone. You are allowed to say "actually, no, I'm not okay" when someone asks.

Address

248 Higbie Lane
West Islip, NY
11795

Telephone

+16318672501

Website

https://www.startcreativearts.com/

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