There is a unique healing power in creating art.  Myriam Reynolds began realizing this phenomenon in college, releasing her emotions onto a canvas.

    “Anything that I was feeling just came out, and then I felt better,” Reynolds says. “It’s a little bit of a meditative process for me, when I paint. It’s when I’m quiet. It’s when I listen.” Following her instinct and personal experience, Reynolds graduated art school and pursued a career in art therapy. Today, she uses her talent and expertise to help troubled children and teenagers. 

   
    After completing her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of North Texas, Reynolds began working at a treatment center where many kids had been abused and neglected.  She bought them art supplies and watched the magic unfold. “It was just amazing what happened.  It didn’t necessarily heal everything, but it gave them a break. A much needed break,” she says.

    These severely troubled kids were able to silence their negative behaviors long enough to create artwork.  The success encouraged Reynolds to apply to graduate school. 

    She obtained a master’s degree in art therapy from Naropa University, and now works with the Juvenile Diversion Program in Arapahoe County.  The program provides juvenile offenders an alternative to traditional court proceedings. “Our treatment belief is, ‘one size fits no one,’ particularly with kids,” says Shelley Dodd, director of the Juvenile Diversion Program.  Unlike traditional talk therapy, art therapy is a unique counseling method. “All kids don’t speak the same language,” Dodd says. “Our job is to figure out what the most appropriate way is to contact them and understand them—and to help them heal.”

    Alli Xavier, 17, knows first-hand the frustration of talk therapy. “I tried to sit down with other people, but it didn’t work out for me,” the teenager says. After an obstruction charge, Xavier was referred to the Juvenile Diversion Program at age16. 

    Reynolds works with juveniles ages 10 to 18 from various social classes and backgrounds. “We get everything from the most severe trauma these kids have experienced to huge medical issues.  Things like dad murdered mom, dad’s in prison. Things like I have so much pressure to be a straight A student that I’m going to burst,” Reynolds says. During their first art therapy session, each juvenile is handed a canvas and sharpened oil pastels, and is told to paint their life as a storm. Reynolds recalls one 11-year-old who painted a giant lightning bolt that represented his relationship with his father.  A 12-year-old created an aggressive storm cloud that resembled an atomic bomb.  Art therapy isn’t about analyzing what the kids draw—that’s a common misconception, Reynolds explains. It’s about the counselors observing these troubled teens’ behaviors and helping them identify their feelings.