The Philosophy Behind The 3 Brushes
“Art is a wound turned to light.”
-Georges Braque-
This practice is founded on a core philosophy. The Three Brushes symbolize a belief that healing is a process grounded in three core values: trust, compassion, and the capacity for growth.
Art connects us to our humanity. Making art and engaging in the creative process can be a powerful source of emotional expression, reflection, connection, and well-being.
As an art therapist, I endeavor to guide and support individuals from all walks of life toward greater self-understanding, authentic expression, and meaningful growth.
To be rekindled again. To find meaning, purpose, and light within painful experiences.
ABOUT
Grief & Loss Focused Art Therapy in Gaithersburg, MD
Compassionate, trauma-informed art therapy for children and tweens, teens, and adults navigating grief, loss, trauma, and life transitions in Montgomery County, Maryland.
This is a reflective, collaborative space where creative expression supports emotional clarity in experiences that are often difficult to put into words.
In-person individual art therapy sessions are available in Gaithersburg and surrounding areas of Montgomery County, Maryland.
❥ Hello, I am Lindsay Downs, a Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist and Board-Certified Art Therapist (LCPAT, ATR-BC®) with over 7 years of experience.
If you would like to learn more about my professional background, training, and experience, you are welcome to visit my LinkedIn profile or my Psychology Today profile.
What It's Like to Work With Me
Every therapist brings their own personality, presence, and way of being into the therapeutic relationship. While every therapeutic relationship develops differently, clients often describe my approach as calm, reflective, and understanding.
I am not a highly directive or fast-paced therapist. I believe meaningful exploration requires space, patience, and the freedom to move at a pace that feels manageable. You do not need to have the right words, all the answers, or a clear understanding of what you are feeling before beginning art therapy.
Together, we create space to slow down, notice what is present, and explore experiences with curiosity rather than pressure. Sometimes insight emerges through conversation. Other times it unfolds through imagery, symbolism, creative expression, reflection, or simply sitting with an experience long enough for something new to become visible.
My personal art practice has deeply influenced the way I approach art therapy. Through making art, I have learned the value of trust, compassion, resilience, and growth. Creative practice has taught me how to sit with uncertainty, discover new perspectives, and remain open to possibilities that may not be visible at the beginning of a process.
I believe healing does not require certainty. Sometimes uncertainty itself becomes a catalyst for trust, reflection, and growth. It is possible to move through pain while holding hope for what has not yet revealed itself.
Grief and loss rarely exist in isolation. They often intersect with relationships, identity, family dynamics, health concerns, spirituality, culture, and major life transitions. Rather than reducing experiences to a single problem or diagnosis, I value exploring the whole person and the broader context in which their experiences unfold.
Art therapy is not about rushing grief, forcing change, or providing quick answers. It is about creating space for understanding, meaning-making, and healing to emerge over time within a supportive therapeutic relationship.
Education, Credentials, and Professional Qualifications
Art therapy is a specialized mental health profession that combines psychotherapy, creative expression, and psychological theory to support emotional healing, self-understanding, and personal growth. Becoming an art therapist requires graduate-level education, supervised clinical training, and ongoing professional development.
Learn more about What Is Art Therapy?
I earned my Master of Arts in Art Therapy from George Washington University in 2018 and have worked with children and tweens, teens, and adults navigating grief, loss, trauma, life transitions, and emotional overwhelm.
What Do These Credentials Mean?
LCPAT (Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist)
The Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist credential is a professional license issued by the state of Maryland. Maryland is one of the few states that recognizes art therapy as a distinct mental health profession, separate from counseling, social work, marriage and family therapy, and substance use counseling.
This license reflects specialized graduate education, supervised clinical experience, and adherence to professional and ethical standards required to practice art therapy independently.
Curious to know more about the art therapy profession? Check out more with The American Art Therapy Association.
ATR-BC®(Board-Certified Art Therapist)
ATR-BC® stands for Registered Art Therapist–Board Certified. This national credential, awarded by the Art Therapy Credentials Board, represents the highest level of certification within the art therapy profession.
Board certification requires advanced education, extensive supervised clinical experience, successful completion of a national examination, and a commitment to ongoing continuing education and professional development.
Why Do These Credentials Matter?
When seeking support, it’s hard to understand why the differences between mental health credentials matter. While many helping professionals use creative activities in their work, not all have specialized training in art therapy.
Art therapists receive graduate-level training in psychotherapy, human development, trauma-informed care, assessment, ethics, and the therapeutic use of art materials and creative processes. This specialized training enables art therapy to be used intentionally and clinically—not as an art class or recreational activity, but as a therapeutic approach that supports healing, reflection, emotional expression, and meaning-making.
My education, clinical training, licensure, and board certification reflect a commitment to providing ethical, evidence-informed care while creating a supportive space where children, teens, and adults can explore grief, loss, life transitions, and emotional experiences that may feel difficult to express through words alone.
Who I Work With & Areas of Specialization
I provide art therapy for:
Children (7–10)
Tweens (11–12)
Teens (13–17)
Adults (18+)
Explore:
Support is tailored to developmental needs, individual goals, and life experiences.
My practice specializes in supporting individuals experiencing:
Grief and loss
Bereavement and complicated grief
Trauma and difficult life experiences
Anxiety and depression
Emotional overwhelm and stress
Life transitions and identity shifts
I believe healing happens within a safe therapeutic relationship where individuals can explore their experiences at their own pace and discover new ways of understanding themselves, their emotions, and their stories.
MY APPROACH, PHILOSOPHY, & VALUES
Art therapy combines psychotherapy with creative expression to support emotional processing, insight, and integration.
My approach is trauma-informed, grief-informed, and relational, integrating psychodynamic, existential, and humanistic perspectives. Sessions are individualized and adapted to your needs, emotional capacity, and lived experience.
The focus is not on producing artwork, but on using the creative process as a pathway to emotional awareness, meaning-making, and deeper self-understanding.
My work is grounded in empathy, trust, curiosity, creativity, and compassion. I believe healing is not something that can be rushed or forced. Meaningful change develops through safety, relationship, and time. I value compassion, trust, and growth in the process of healing.
Art therapy offers a space to explore emotional experience with care rather than pressure, allowing insight and change to unfold naturally.
WHAT THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS IS LIKE
Art therapy offers a structured yet flexible space to slow down, reflect, and process emotional experience through both creative expression and conversation.
There is no expectation to create “good art” or arrive at insight quickly. Sessions move at a pace that feels safe and manageable.
The process supports:
Emotional awareness and regulation
Understanding patterns and internal experiences
Processing grief, trauma, and life changes
Meaning-making and reflection
A more grounded connection to self
INTAKE & NEXT STEPS
Beginning art therapy includes an intake process, collaborative treatment planning, and ongoing sessions tailored to your needs once we establish that we are a good fit and want to continue working together after the initial session. You will complete initial intake forms, including informed consent and clinical documentation, before your first session. The first session also serves as an opportunity to explore your needs and determine whether this approach feels like a good fit. If not, referrals can be provided.
COLLABORATION & CARE
Art therapy is a collaborative process. Your lived experience is central to the work. When working with children and adolescents, collaboration with parents, legal guardians, and caregivers will be included when clinically appropriate to support continuity of care outside of sessions. The focus remains on the client, while collaboration supports communication, understanding, and progress.
PRIVACY & CONFIDENTIALITY
Confidentiality and privacy are maintained in accordance with legal and ethical guidelines. Information shared during art therapy sessions—including specific conversations, activities, and artwork—is not routinely disclosed to parents or guardians. When clinically appropriate, general information about treatment goals, progress, recommendations, or concerns may be shared to support the minor client’s care while preserving the privacy needed for a trusting therapeutic relationship.
Confidentiality may be limited when there is a concern about the client’s safety or the safety of others, suspected abuse or neglect, or when disclosure is otherwise required by law. Whenever appropriate, the art therapist will discuss necessary communication with the minor client before information is shared.
ENDINGS & TRANSITIONS
Art therapy may conclude when goals have been met or when support is no longer needed in the same way. Some clients end gradually, while others transition into maintenance or return at different points in life. Endings are approached intentionally, with space for reflection, integration, and closure.
BEGINNING ART THERAPY
Starting art therapy can feel vulnerable, especially during grief, uncertainty, or emotional overwhelm.
You do not have to navigate it alone.
If you are considering art therapy, you are welcome to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation to ask questions, learn more about the process, and explore whether working together feels like a good fit.
Support is available when you are ready.
-
LCPAT stands for Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist in the state of Maryland.
This professional license is issued by the state of Maryland and recognizes art therapy as a distinct mental health profession. I have completed graduate-level education, supervised clinical training, and ongoing professional development requirements to provide art therapy services independently.
-
ATR-BC® stands for Registered Art Therapist–Board Certified. This national credential is awarded by the Art Therapy Credentials Board and represents the highest level of certification within the art therapy profession. Board certification reflects advanced education, supervised clinical experience, successful completion of a national examination, and a commitment to continuing education and ethical practice.
-
You do not need artistic ability, talent, or gifts to experience the benefits of art therapy. You don’t have to consider yourself a creative person to participate in art therapy.
Clients from all kinds of backgrounds and age groups benefit from art therapy. The focus is not on creating "good" art or developing artistic skills.
Art therapy uses the creative process as a way to explore emotions, experiences, and personal meaning when words alone may feel difficult or insufficient. Many clients discover that art offers another way to express, understand, and process what they are carrying.
-
Both art therapy and traditional talk therapy can be effective and meaningful forms of support.
Art therapy offers an additional avenue for expression and exploration through the creative process. For some individuals, especially those navigating grief, loss, trauma, life transitions, or emotional overwhelm, art can help access thoughts, emotions, and experiences that may be difficult to express verbally.
Art therapy can complement conversation while providing opportunities for reflection, insight, and emotional processing.
-
I work with children, tweens, teens, and adults navigating grief and loss, life transitions, emotional overwhelm, trauma, identity shifts, and adjustment challenges.
My practice provides a supportive and creative space for individuals seeking to better understand their experiences, strengthen emotional resilience, and reconnect with themselves.
-
While grief and loss are central areas of focus within my practice, they are not the only reasons people seek support with me and for art therapy.
I work with children, teens, and adults navigating bereavement, complicated grief, life transitions, and other experiences of loss. I also support individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, emotional overwhelm, and relationship challenges.
Often, these experiences are interconnected. Grief and loss can influence how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us, while life transitions, trauma, anxiety, and relationship difficulties can bring their own feelings of loss and uncertainty.
Grief can affect every part of life and often feels difficult to express through words alone. Art therapy can provide a meaningful way to process emotions, honor experiences, and make sense of change over time. Whether you are navigating loss or facing other emotional challenges, therapy can offer a supportive space to explore your experiences, build resilience, and reconnect with yourself.
-
Art therapy may be a good fit if you are looking for a therapeutic approach that incorporates art, conversation, and the creative process.
Art therapy is experiential in nature and hands on. Many people are drawn to art therapy when they feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure how to put their experiences into words.
You do not need artistic experience—only a willingness to explore your experiences in a supportive, collaborative environment.
When you call for a consultation, we can discuss your goals, desired outcomes, or what you want to focus on to determine whether art therapy feels aligned with your needs.
Feel free to connect with me for a complimentary consultation call.
-
Yes! I offer a free 20-minute consultation call for prospective clients.
This is an opportunity to discuss your concerns, ask questions, learn more about my approach, and explore whether working together feels like a good fit. There is no obligation to begin services after the consultation.
Feel free to connect with me: CONTACT