Our Approach

Through the power of the expressive arts, the clinicians at Bridges Art Therapy help their clients discover their strengths and healing potential. While each therapist’s approach is unique and varies based on the client they are working with, we are largely person-centered, helping each client to find their own path and setting goals appropriate for their journey.

 

Providing you with a safe space to create art

Clients can chose to meet in-person at the office space in Carrboro, NC or virtually through a secure online platform.

Owner

Bridget Pemberton-Smith, ATR-BC

Expressive Arts Therapist

Bridget Pemberton-Smith received her Master of Arts in Expressive Arts Therapies with Art Therapy Specialization in 1998 from Lesley University. In 2006, she became a registered art therapist and in 2007 became a board certified art therapist.

Bridget has worked with a variety of populations including but not limited to children with physical illness, at risk adolescents, adults with mental illness, seniors both with and without dementia, refugees and immigrants and as a supervisor for art therapists seeking art therapy registration. She has worked in schools, afterschool programs, hospitals, retirement centers and mental health agencies.

Soul Collage©

Soul Collage© is an intuitive and creative collage making process. Using simple materials, Soul Collagers create a personalized deck of cards with each card representing a part of their personality or soul. No art experience is needed to make Soul Collage© cards…all that is needed are supplies and a willingness to be open and learn about yourself.

If you’re looking for a unique experience for you and your friends, consider booking a Soul Collage© group at my office or I can come to you.

Soul Collage© is also a great team building activity for businesses with teams up to 20 people. Reach out for more details and pricing.

“I left the SoulCollage© workshop, which was only 2 hours long, feeling joyful, empowered, and more connected to my inner self as well as a community of women who I had only just met. Bridget’s intentionality to create a community of belonging and invitation in which a person can freely engage in reflection, creation, and expression was evident from the moment I entered."

-Soul Collage© Participant

MARI®

MARI® is a creative assessment based on colors and symbols, known as mandalas, which provides you with a visual picture of your psyche. The MARI® measures all four aspects of consciousness—thinking, feeling, intuiting and sensing.

Information is based down to us genetically from the countless generations who came before us. For thousands of years, humans have made other than conscious connections to symbols and colors. Today we know that, just like the memories of our grandmothers, this knowledge of symbols and color is part of what we know. We know it on an unconscious level but do not know it consciously. MARI® is accurate because this unconscious knowing informs our intuitive choices of symbol and color. MARI® is a whole-brain instrument that includes both conscious and unconscious elements of our whole psyche.

The person taking the MARI assessment selects symbol and color pairs which are laid out on the Great Round, a series of twelve developmental stages. These stages are arranged in the exact same way humans process the environment. On a neurological level we conceive of forward motion through time in the same way that the sun traverses the sky. The developmental stages of the MARI, similarly, are arranged in the same way. The MARI, like our brains, is linked to the environment and cued to the natural cycles.

Art Hives

An Art Hive is a public space that “welcomes everyone as an artist and believes art making is a human behavior.” (Janis Timm-Botts) While people have been coming together as communities to create art for centuries, art making collectives using the name “Art Hive” started in the southwest United States in the early 2000s. Art Hives later appeared in areas in the northern and eastern United States as well as Canada. There are now over 100 art hives in the world.

 

While Art Hives are often focused on serving under-resourced and marginalized communities, the goal is solidarity as opposed to charity. “The Art Hive is about fostering appreciation of interdependence and contributing the skills we all bring with each other. It is much more than a place to make art in the company of others. It is a place that breaks socio-economic and cultural barriers.”

Follow Bridges Art Therapy on Social Media to find out about upcoming Art Hives!

Upcoming Events

  • Soul Collage© Open Studio

    2nd and 4th Saturdays

    1:00-3:00 pm

    starting May 25, 2024

    Whether you are new to Soul Collage© or not, come and join us for friendship and collage making. All supplies provided!

    Pay what you can $30 - $50

    RSVP

  • Introduction to Soul Collage at the ArtsCenter

    In this introductory workshop, participants will learn about the origins of Soul Collage©, the four Soul Collage© suits and their meaning and how Soul Collage© can be used as a therapeutic tool.

    Join

  • Arts And Peer Support Group

    This group is for anyone 18 years and older who enjoys making art & wants a mental health recovery-focused space for support, sharing, & community.

    This weekly group alternates being online and in-person.

    RSVP
RSVP