They came from Clinton…Alisha Shelbourn – Art Therapy

By Audrey Buchanan

Clinton School District

This is the sixth in a series of stories about Clinton schools alumni and where they are today.

CLINTON – Alisha Shelbourn is a 1996 graduate of Clinton High School who currently owns her own art therapy outpatient treatment center, Serenity Wellness Center. She and her 13-year-old daughter, Larissa, live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Shelbourn works with adolescents and adults that are victims of trauma, suffering from depression, have diction issues, as well as many other afflictions. She specializes in treating those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Shelbourn has always been interested in art, and was encouraged in high school to pursue a career involving art. She stated, “I had a very cool art teacher, Mary Zeimentz, and she exposed me to a lot of options.”

Following high school Shelbourn attended the Art Institute in Milwaukee, and then completed her undergraduate degree in art therapy at Edgewood College in Madison.

She worked at the Rock County Mental Health Unit for a period of time, before traveling to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she attended the Institute of American Indian Art, where she learned pottery skills, which she now uses in her therapy sessions for her clients.

She earned her Masters in Art Therapy at South Western College, Santa Fe, where she also taught. She discovered that she really liked teaching others how to use their art skills to help others.

Three years ago she opened her treatment center, the Serenity Wellness Center. A portion of the center is devoted to an art gallery where local residents can display their works of art. Many people from the community, as well as former classmates of Shelbourn’s have exhibits in the gallery.

Shelbourn also hires other therapists to work in her center. Treatments they provide include acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, and life skills, to name a few. Shelbourn also conducts online sessions with clients from all over the United States.

Shelbourn recently visited the Advanced Art I class at Clinton High School while in Wisconsin visiting family members. She conducted a mini art therapy session with the students, asking them to create a drawing that shows where they are now and where they want to be in the future.

Students were asked to begin the drawing with a bridge, and then place themselves somewhere on the bridge. They were instructed to include things that represented their interests, dislikes, fears, and what makes them happy.

They had the freedom to add other aspects as well, and make the drawing unique to them. Once the drawings were completed, they explained their drawings to the class. Students seemed to enjoy the process.

It was also revealing from a therapeutic standpoint, revealing things that were on the students’ minds that they might not be able to verbalize.

Courtesy photo

Alisha Shelbourn holds a drawing completed by one of the students as the student explains to the class the meaning of the drawing.