Hi, I’m Chelsea (they/them)

I'm a Registered Art Therapist (ATR), educator, and facilitator. For close to two decades, I’ve worked alongside individuals reclaiming joy, trust, and confidence in their bodies and lives.

Rooted in trauma-informed social justice and liberation frameworks, I specialize in supporting queer, trans, fat, racialized, and other beautifully complex people who have internalized harsh messages about their worth and are striving for social change.

Together, we unpack, unlearn, and reimagine what joy and authentic expression can look like, resisting oppressive systems that seek to dim our light by reclaiming our power.

Professional Experience

I began my career in the nonprofit sector, supporting individuals experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, and sexual assault. Along the way, I became deeply involved in coalition-building efforts focused on anti-racism, LGBTQ+ youth, safe school initiatives, and transgender health. One of my proudest achievements was co-founding Wisconsin’s first counseling center created by and for transgender people—a space where community, care, and affirmation were central.

My work has since focused on LGBTQ+ communities with intersecting identities, including BIPOC, disabled, fat, and neurodivergent individuals. Drawing on both lived experience and a deep commitment to social justice, I strive to create environments where people of all identities can feel seen, supported, and able to thrive.

My path has also included working in higher education in Multicultural Student Affairs, Social Justice Education, and as Director and Faculty for an online art therapy program. In those roles, I focused on workshop facilitation, mentorship, identity development & leadership, conflict resolution and dialogue, organizational health, and organized seminars and conferences on diversity, equity, inclusion, and violence prevention.

Across all of these experiences, my focus has remained the same: fostering connection, creativity, and resilience in the communities I serve.

A deeply spiritual thread has guided me, tending to major life thresholds and the profound transformations they bring.

Whether supporting someone navigating identity, loss, or emergence into a new way of being, I bring practices that honor the emotional, creative, and sacred dimensions of these experiences.

This spiritual grounding informs every workshop, session, and program I facilitate, allowing space for reflection, healing, and meaningful growth.

My unique blend of creative exploration, mystical insight, and practical activism allows me to hold expansive, courageous, and deeply compassionate spaces for healing.

I integrate a wide range of creative practices (making art, exploring symbols and imagery, journaling, dreamwork, and more) to help access deeper parts of your experience and unlock new perspectives.

My training in transpersonal approaches allows me to weave spirituality into our work through ritual, meditation, mindfulness, and intuitive practices like tarot, astrology, and ancestral exploration.

This spiritual dimension is balanced by my grounded commitment to social and political justice, including years of deep engagement in systemic work aimed at uprooting oppression, fostering liberation, and embracing the role of a perpetual student.

I support you as a whole, complex human being, honoring both your inner world and your place within larger systems, so together we can cultivate transformation that is personal, profound, and enduring.

How I Show Up

A glimpse into the values that guide my work, these are the commitments that ground every offering.

  • I honor each person’s inherent right to define their own identity, needs, and life path. I support individuals in making empowered choices that reflect their lived experiences, cultural contexts, and embodied wisdom. I recognize that self-determination is foundational to healing, agency, and well-being for all bodies.

  • I practice ongoing self-reflection and critical awareness. I actively work to recognize and interrupt racism, ableism, fatphobia, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, white supremacy culture, transphobia, and other interlocking systems of oppression. I approach this work with curiosity, accountability, and deep respect for the wisdom, resistance, and resilience within the communities I serve.

  • Healing is not an individual endeavor, but a collective one. I am committed to creating spaces that are rooted in mutual support, relational accountability, and interdependence. Through community-focused and peer-informed practices, I nurture resilience, strengthen solidarity, and co-create spaces of care that honor the needs of the whole person.

  • I am dedicated to clear, honest, and consistent communication. I strive to ground my services and relationships in integrity and care. I work to build and maintain trust with my communities by being accountable, listening deeply, and ensuring that information, resources, and support are accessible, reliable, and relevant to their needs.

  • I honor the complexity and diversity of people’s lived experiences by staying flexible and responsive in my approach. I welcome creativity as a tool for healing and liberation, and I embrace innovative, culturally grounded, and evolving practices that reflect the changing needs of my communities.

Justice, Power & Practice

If you’d like to know more about who I’ve learned from, who I’m accountable to, and how I understand and address power, privilege, and oppression in my work, I’ve put together a deeper look at my social justice lineage and commitments.

This invitation is here for those who want to understand the roots of my approach and how I strive to show up with integrity, care, and ongoing accountability.

Beyond the Bio

I have lived in Minneapolis since 2021 with my partner and our retired therapy dog Pekoe (pictured here celebrating his 8th birthday).

When I am not making art I love to float in lakes, listen to sapphic pop music, play cozy games on my Nintendo Switch, watch the MN Lynx, and read queer romance novels.

I serve as Vice Chair on the board of the amazing organization Authentically Fat.

My favorite compliments I have ever received are being described as human glitter and as a serotonin fairy. I try to live up to those delightful honors every day.