The Heart Is Not a Garbage Can (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781524655068)

Hi! My name is Miriam Ahuva Schecter, and I live in Baltimore, Maryland, with my five sons. The message I try to impart to myself, my family, and clients is: "We need to thrive, not just survive!" I strongly believe that the key to thriving is Friendship. Throughout my life, no matter how challenging, I have been blessed with friendships that have nurtured and restored me.

I began the first four years of my career as a Child Educator and observed firsthand children interacting with their peers. It pained me to watch how many children struggled socially and how this negatively impacted their emotional health. After earning my LCSW, I opened my private practice and began to facilitate social skills groups for children. I called my first group the "Friendship Hour." Over the next two decades, I developed a comprehensive program that helped many children develop both socially and emotionally. Parents, teachers, and principals all shared their appreciation for this much needed program.

I also realized early on that, for many clients, especially those who have been through abuse and trauma, they did not have the words to unload the "garbage from their hearts." Some of my clients, such as adult survivors of childhood abuse, didn't even have the conscious memories of the "garbage" they had endured. I sought out a form of therapy that would help my clients "purge" without words. I was very fortunate to attend Stephanie Haggadorn's Sandtray Certificate program. Sandtray provided all my clients, regardless of age, culture, or gender, a powerful avenue to share their feelings in ways that traditional "talk therapy" could not offer.

In addition to the Sandtray therapy, I have always tried to incorporate another passion of mine, Art, into my therapy "tool box." From a very young age, I began discovering the many benefits of Art as a form of healing. I invested in years of training in Art techniques such as Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Silk Dyes, Stained Glass, Mosaics, and even Makeup Art. Each one has been a source of tremendous self-growth and self-expression, and I wanted to share it with my clients, even those who insisted they were not artistic. I incorporated my previous trainings and developed several "Intuitive Art Techniques" that I have been using successfully with many of my clients.

After many years, I returned to my original passion for teaching and became a Licensed Clinical Supervisor and Continuing Education Provider. What I discovered is that every person heals in his or her own unique way, and that there are many "keys" to the heart. My
goal is to offer mental health professionals some of the powerful "keys" that I have been using with my clients over the last twenty years. I offer three CE comprehensive trainings in: Sandtray Therapy, Intuitive Art Techniques, and Social Skills Therapy. I have been very blessed to teach many wonderful therapists over the years, heralding from Texas, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, etc. I am very proud of their commitment to invest in their clinical skills as they tenaciously strive to enhance the healing journey for their clients! If you, too, would like to explore some new modalities, please visit my website: www.thrivecenterbaltimore.org