EAST LONGMEADOW — Newly opened East Longmeadow counseling business, Creative HeARTS Counseling, is welcoming new patients for its creativity-focused therapy services.
Founded by lifelong East Longmeadow resident Betsy Sheehan, Creative HeARTS Counseling offers a place for healing and community through therapy centered on one’s unique creative process, Sheehan told Reminder Publishing.
The business welcomes patients across all ages, including families, with a particular focus on adolescents, Sheehan explained. Services are currently offered on an individual and family basis. However, Sheehan noted that she hoped to offer group classes in the future as well.
While the practice did not have an official grand opening, it began accepting new patients at the end of July, she said. Creative HeARTS Counseling is located at 143 Shaker Rd. in Suite 200C of Building E.
A former school counselor at Meadow Brook Elementary School of 16 years, Sheehan has worked in education for 20 years providing social and emotional support to students. When asked why she opened Creative HeARTS Counseling, Sheehan emphasized the power of using the creative process to work through therapy, noting that finding one’s personal process can often help patients to be more willing to discuss emotions.
“I was inspired by Sarah Gale and Embracing The Creative Child,” Sheehan stated, highlighting the impact that Gale and other local women have had in helping residents and identifying needs in the community.
Embracing The Creative Child is an East Longmeadow facility that focuses on providing educational support to people with developmental disabilities, the website states. The facility is owned by Gale.
Creative HeARTS Counseling is designed for a similar purpose. In response to the increased number of families seeking mental health services since the coronavirus pandemic, the therapy practice works to support families by increasing the availability of local resources as well as being a place of healing and community outreach, Sheehan said.
Likewise, she emphasized the importance of safety in therapy, explaining that many children have been “reluctant” to share or work through difficult feelings and that “[finding] their creative zone” can help them to focus on something else.
Sheehan noted that since she began pursuing her idea for Creative HeARTS Counseling, she’s received “great feedback” from the community and is looking forward to expanding to offer more services after the business gets its initial start, highlighting her “big vision” for the therapy practice.
Creative HeARTS Counseling is typically open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday, with specific sessions scheduled with each patient, Sheehan said. The therapy practice accepts private pay at $150 per individual session, lasting 50 minutes, in addition to Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
For more information about Creative HeARTS Counseling or to schedule an appointment, visit creativehearts.us/home or contact Sheehan by email at betsysheehan@creativehearts.us.
