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Meet mel

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Melanie Knight MA PgDip AThR (She/They)

Creative Arts Therapist | Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (Intermediate I) | Trauma Informed Processwork Psychotherapist  

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I believe creativity and expression are necessary parts of our wellbeing. While undertaking training in counseling, I realised I wanted to combine talk therapy with the creative experience. This led me to complete my Masters in Therapeutic Arts Practice, which continues to guide and support my therapeutic practice, along with my passion for encouraging awareness of self through creative exploration toward living your most authentic life.

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Throughout the last 16 years I’ve developed spaces for thousands of people across Australia to create and express themselves and regularly collaborate with cultural organisations, festivals, community groups, and schools delivering ‘creative literacy’ programs, advocating that without creativity imagination fades, and compassion (for self and other) is impossible without imagination!  This allowed me to witness first-hand that creativity is a powerful way to discover and support wellbeing and positive self-regard, and increase people’s capacity for expression, play, connection and joy, regardless of age.

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I work with a person-in-community centered approach and strongly believe you are the expert of your life, it is my role to support you in achieving your preferred experience of your life.  I wholeheartedly believe no experience is required to create or make art. Creativity exists beyond art; creativity is how we choose to be curious about ourselves and our world, and how we express that.  Sadly, people often become detached from their creative and expressive self. What I have come to know is that we are all born creative in our own unique way.  It's how we first learnt to crawl, talk and walk!  I strive to bring people back to their creative self as a pathway to understanding themselves and their experiences. It is my great joy to encourage and celebrate people in discovering their authentic voice and make meaning from their experiences through creative arts therapy, narrative therapy and body based inquiry.

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I’m currently undertaking further qualifications in Somatic Experiencing and Trauma Informed Processwork Psychotherapy to enhance my capacity to engage with senses, responses and signals to offer a holistic and inclusive methodology in working together beyond talk therapy.  I have found the inclusion of the body (soma) as a profound way to find the nuances in our emotional experience and how we then express that.  Through engaging with our experiences, emotions, senses and creativity in this holistic way we can move toward integrating trauma, live with grief, bring awareness to and manage challenges and patterns in our thoughts and behaviour, and access wellbeing in our own unique and authentic way.  

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I believe that no person is an island and that our health, mental and physical, is connected to the communities we live in.  For this reason I make efforts to be aware of my privilege and continue to listen to, and learn from marginalised communities, including professional development regarding culturally safe practice.  I strive to be an advocate for better provisions of mental health and mental illness and reducing stigma. I believe the clinical model and diagnosis shouldn’t and doesn’t define a person, or provide sustainable care on its own.  As a neurodivergent human I respect and centre lived experience as a key toward working collaboratively and co-creating outcomes together.  

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I’m proud to be the only Australian Fellow with Singapore International Foundation researching and creating Arts 4 Good programs to youth in Asia who have experienced trafficking, homelessness and have complex needs.  I work across various populations including prisons, disability, education and palliative care.  I specialse in complex trauma, complicated grief and mental health in adolescents and adults.  I have a particular interest in our various life transitions and any associated grief, knowing that grief is a valid and important part of change as we navigate our lives at any age and stage. I look forward to supporting your curiosity about your experiences, and working with you to support your hopes and ambitions for a positive and fulfilling life.  

Tertiary                        

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  • ​Master of Therapeutic Arts Practice, MIECAT Institute

  • Bachelor of Visual Art, Barton Institute of Technology

 

Vocational                                   

 

  • Somatic Experiencing Level 1&2 (completing 2022), Somatic Experiencing Australia

  • Griefline The Grief Course training in trauma, grief and bereavement support

  • Good Grief Seasons for Growth (children, youth and parents) Facilitation Certification, MacKillop Institute

  • Somatic Strategies to Address Shock and Developmental Trauma, Trauma Academy

  • Liberation Psychology, Liberation Academy Genesis Healing Institute 

  • Introduction to Counselling, Latrobe University

   

Additional Certificates              

  • Turruk Trustbuilding through Truth telling and Truth hearing, Initiatives of Change

  • Cultural Awareness Training, Yowengerra Bun Wurrung Balug Clans Aboriginal Corporation

  • Advanced Creative Facilitation Certification level 1 & 2, Partners for Youth Empowerment

  • Mental Health First Aid

  • Aboriginal and Indigenous awareness ,VACCA

  • Dare to Lead Leadership training, Brene Brown 

  • Emotional CPR, Daniel Fischer & The National Empowerment Centre         

 

 

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