A BROKEN UPBRINGING LEADS TO ART THERAPY, INTEGRATING AND HEALING INDIGEOUS PEOPLES. In Episode 73 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (links in the comments), titled “HEAL THE PEOPLE & HEAL THE PLANET”, I am joined by the incredible CAREY MACCARTHY, MA, ATR, LPCC. On her own at age 15 and a single mom by 22, she was able to use education as her escape to create a better life. Her passion grew as she worked in indigenous reservations with the Lakota/Dakota tribes to help support and rebuild the First Nations Peoples. She and I too believe that HEALING should be accessible to all people of all ages. Come download, listen, share and review this amazing episode!

Mentioned Resources

WEBSITE: https://startuparttherapy.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/startuparttherapy/

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carey-maccarthy-ma-atr-lpcc-b3386618/

TWITTER/X: https://twitter.com/careymaccarthy

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/start_up_art_therapy/

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@startuparttherapy990/featured

 About the guest –  CAREY MACCARTHY, MA, ATR, LPCC, Founder/CEO of START UP! Art Therapy To Rewire your Brain™. VOTED TOP ART THERAPIST OF THE YEAR 2024, and featured on major networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, NPR, Brainz Magazine & Who's Who in America.  Carey is an author, presenter, speaker, and researcher, prominent in the Art Therapy since 2001. She is a Registered Art Therapist with the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB), and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. Carey co-authored, with Neurodevelopmental Art Therapy Pioneer Linda Chapman START UP!™: A School-Based Arts Curriculum for Native American Youth and ALL Cultures: Interventions for Development and Learning, Facilitators Manual (KDP Publishing, 2017). She is a recognized trauma expert specializing in child & adolescent trauma and Native American Historical Trauma and is trained using the Red Road Approach to Healing with Lakota/Dakota Tribes and is a fluent Spanish speaker. Her mission is to help rebuild the First Nations People. Carey believes that healing should be accessible to ALL People of ALL Ages & ALL Cultures. Join her in her movement to Heal the People & Heal the Planet. Carey co-authored, with Neurodevelopmental Art Therapy Pioneer Linda Chapman START UP!™: A School-Based Arts Curriculum for Native American Youth and ALL Cultures: Interventions for Development and Learning, Facilitators Manual (KDP Publishing, 2017). 

About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.

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Http://www.shiningbrightly.com

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LinkedIn - https://wwwlinkedin.com/in/howardsbrown

Instagram - @howard.brown.36

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#neurodevelopmental #artt #herapy #startup #bestseller #school #curriculumn #mentalhealthcare #healthcare #indiginous #indianreservations #wholebrain #healing # #motivate #educate #inspiration #podcast #download #listen #share #reveiw #shiningbrightly

Hello, it's Howard Brown is the Shining Brightly

Show. I've got a great one for you again today. I love people

that help people. And I want to introduce Carey McCarthy. Carey,

welcome to the show. So great to see you.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: So great to see you, Howard. Thanks for

having me.

I love the Indian motif. We're gonna get into that

I see a pillow behind you and a blanket. We're gonna get into

all of that. But I need to tell you about Carey. We met only

recently, maybe a few months ago, whatever. But we connected

and we I just want to tell you her story. And I want to share

this with the world and my audience. So Tara McCarthy, she

is so credentialed, she has lots of little letters after her name

and a ATR LPCC. And you're the founder and CEO of start up art

therapy to rewire your brain. And you were voted the top Art

Therapist of the year for 2024. Congratulations on that. You've

been featured on major networks on ABC, NBC, CBS Fox, I guess

that's all of them. NPR, brains magazine, who's who in America.

While you lot of awards. Carey is the author, presenter,

speaker, researcher, and you're prominent in the art therapy

since 2000. And once you've been doing this a while you are a

registered Art Therapist with the art therapy credentials

board the ATC? Is it B? Yep. And a licenced professional clinical

counsellor, you have co authored the neural developmental art

therapy pioneer with Pioneer Linda Chapman, I guess she's big

in this world. I looked her up. And then you have a school based

arts curriculum for Native American youth and all cultures.

And then it says here that it's called interventions for

development and learning facilitators manual that you

actually published in 2017. Just finishing up you are recognised

trauma experts specialising in child and adolescent trauma, and

Native American historical trauma. Wow. And we're going to

talk about that too. And you are trained in using the red road

approach to healing. We're going to talk about that with the

Lakota and Dakota tribes. You are fluent in Spanish. And your

mission is to help rebuild the First Nations people, which is

amazing. The indigenous people Carey believes that healing

should be accessible to all. And people of all ages and all

cultures. Please join her in this movement to heal the people

and heal the planet. I love that. Oh my goodness. Well,

let's actually call it tell me that that's a great intro. But

tell me something maybe we don't know about you, or maybe a

little secret you want to share?

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Well, Howard, when life gives you lemons,

learn to boogie board.

Do you know how to do that?

CAREY MACCARTHY,: I do I am a beach bum. So that's something

that people don't know about me. But any chance I get ever since

I was born raised in California and ever, ever since I moved

back here a few years ago I took up boogie boarding when things

fell apart and you know during COVID and ended up at the beach

on the waves

I want to share with you I need a boogie board.

And I've done it. My college roommate had a boat and lived on

the ocean outside of Boston to a place called Duxbury mass. And

in college, I learned how to boogie board. I learned how to

windsurf too. I just don't do it enough.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Awesome. Well, we got to boogie boarding date.

Right? hang loose, right? We got to do that it got

to Hawaii hang loose. All right. Well, let's dive into this

because we got a lot to talk about today. And so the first

thing I'd love to share a little bit about your life and a little

background on kind of how you became who you are today. So

take us back aways there.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Okay, so Well, I was born into a very

interesting dysfunctional family with a borderline personality

disordered mother who became a severe alcoholic and an autistic

father. So I was pretty much a latchkey kid growing up, and

there was a lot of sexual abuse outside the home physical abuse

that culminated with my mother and me in the hospital and the

police coming and taking me and my brother away, and having to

go live with with my family, my father and my brother. So there

was a lot of sudden disruption and a lot of trauma going on in

my world. And as a result, I got great grades school was my

sanctuary. I was on the honour roll every year, you know, and,

but that, you know, I ended up living on the streets. So you

know, my dad kicked me out when I was 15. And in with the trauma

even though it was prison, running happily and doing well

in schools, like, there is so much anxiety and suffering and

depression and shame and guilt and all of those things that are

happening internally that nobody saw. So when my father kicked me

out on the streets, it just exacerbated that already

existing abandonment, trauma and the, all the other traumas that

had happened. And I just ended up, you know, being part of the

punk rock scene in the 1980s. And that was like a fam, a

familial block bond with other misfit kids. And I ended up

doing a lot of drugs and going to a lot of punk rock music

shows and became a young single mom at the age of 22. And but I

always had this urge to, to survive and to create and to

make something of myself. So I ended up putting myself through

school, and really made something of myself and and turn

that trauma around. And I became, I started majoring in

art. And then did a double major in art therapy or psychology as

my undergrad. And I started noticing how the art was really

transformative in my life. But just being an art student was

not the thing that was going to get me to where I wanted to be,

there was something more just been doing art. And so art and

psychology and the marriage of that was really important. So

that's when I became an art therapist and went into a three

year graduate programme in art therapy.

But you did a lot, I just want to just send her on

for a second, because it's an important thing. You're a

survivor. I mean, you You came through a lot. abuse,

abandonment, neglect, you got into, you know, your family and

your your your your basically your safezone was school and you

excelled there. But you found a crew of punk rocks, not saying

that they're bad or good. But, you know, they tended to get it

a little bit into drug use. And you became a very young mom very

quickly. And when you were a single mom at that time,

CAREY MACCARTHY,: yes, I was a single mother and remained so

throughout the whole 18 years of raising my daughter. Wow.

Because as a result of childhood trauma, you know you and not

being seen by your own family and getting that nurturing and

guidance that a child needs to form and to establish healthy

relationships and healthy boundaries. I was picking not

good partners for myself that were very narcissistic. And I

had developed a really interesting case of codependence

so really interesting, having blurry boundaries between where

I started in the other, you know, ended where where there

was that separation. So it's Did

you did you actually, Were you conscious of

trying to break this cycle with your own daughter?

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I

would think that so.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Yeah, she's she's got a much better

foundation than I had.

Okay, so then, I mean, art therapy became your

new schooling, your new place where you just excelled. And

also the the clinical part of it as well. And so then you started

to give back, right, the next step after that, let's go there.

Yeah,

CAREY MACCARTHY,: so part of, you know, my own journey, being

healed from art therapy and going through graduate school

and finding that a lot of these trauma symptoms actually

dissipated for me. And at that time, I was seeking to heal

myself as well. So I was going out to Native American

reservations and doing ceremonies with them. This is,

you know, over 20 years ago, and I started feeling just so much

more, you know, who I meant to be on purpose. And I decided

when you know, I, there was a certain time in my life when my

daughter was raised that I was going to create a nonprofit and

go back to the reservations and live there in the Great Plains

region in South Dakota, and I did, and 2014 I founded a

nonprofit called indigenous Healing Arts Alliance. So I went

to the reservations. I lived on a small little reservation in

northeast Nebraska first and that was a really I had friends

there and connections and I was able to actually work as a

tribal historical preservation monitor with their tribal

historical preservation office while I developed this whole

programme, so I got to go and monitor different archaeological

sites for cultural properties. And I was trained in doing that,

which was fascinating. But I was really focused on healing Native

American trauma. So I was developing this programme based

on neuro developmental art therapy trauma treatment,

developed by Linda Chapman, who is a renowned art therapist, as

you mentioned in my bio, and she has since retired given

neurodevelopmental art therapy to me, and I've become the

successor of that inbuilt it out to have more neuroscience, and

more cultural competence. And we'll get into that piece in a

moment. But living on the reservations was so super

incredible and depressing and sad. But just seeing such a

beautiful people and seeing all of the traditions kept alive all

these years and seeing the fabric of a society, the

communal living and the way that they would get together and

honour certain people and have these big feeds and ceremonies

for people. And it's just it was, you know, and I ended up

marrying into the Lakota tribe and was with a traditional

dancer and well renowned artist, and from the Lakota tribe for

many years, and worked with Indian Health Services on Pine

Ridge Reservation. So I actually ended up moving to Pine Ridge

Reservation and the Black Hills of South Dakota, eventually. So,

you know, my whole life was going to powwows every weekend

and going to native art shows and ceremony, Sundance ceremony,

UEP, ceremonial, swampy ceremonies, and Sundance. And of

course, Lodge.

This is just so interesting. I have to tell you,

I've probably not been on a big Indian Reservation ever. But you

sort of got as a white woman learned a culture was accepted

into their community. But yeah, I mean, I know they have their

own language, but you learn their ceremony. Right? You took

that all very, very seriously. Is that how you got

indoctrinated and welcomed into their community by showing that

your true heart was there for the betterment of them? And I

mean, it's very interesting, you kind of showed up right at

first, but then got introduced into the community. I, it's just

amazing that you've dedicated a big majority of your life to

doing that, and had great intention, but they didn't know

you at first, right?

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Well, I had had some inroads for the past 20

years. So yes, and getting, you know, being introduced to

different people and just being involved. But they see your

heart and they, you know, many see who your energy field. And I

do have native blood from Ohio tribes, on my mom's side. So

going back, but if you are a white person, and you don't know

your oral history, and you don't know what your grandfather,

great grandfather's name was, you don't really go around

saying your native, right. So that's kind of frowned upon and

native Indian Country was it's called Indian country. So that's

not a racist thing, just just so people know. But yeah, being

part of these ceremonies being accepted in without culturally,

appropriating anything. And I have actually gone through a

process to be initiated to pour water and sweat lodges, and I do

hold that for my community. But that's not something that it's

it's not for sale, it's not something that I make money on.

So I want to just relate something to you. So I

just spoke on a cruise ship, and there was indigenous, cheap, or

Indian medicine person there. And I partook in my first water

ceremony. It was very enlightening to me, it never

happened. And then he put his hand on my shoulder. And he

said, Howard, I know enough about you, but there's two birds

in your life. This is I mean, he doesn't really know me. He heard

me presented. I presented, you know, for an hour first day. And

then he put his hand on my shoulder. He said, Yes. You

know, I know about the Phoenix, and I now know about the dove.

He goes, I want you to actually allow the bluejay into your

life. And that's all he said. And then I went and researched

what the blue j means, you know, and how to apply it to me. I

thought it was fascinating. So I had a I had a reading and a

water ceremony for the first time on this cruise ship.

Fascinating. So it just shows you we're always learning. And

it was very cool. So again, my only real exposure to this, you

live this, which is very, very different.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: And I had to tell you, I was actually a guest

on a podcast earlier this week. And there was my accent is no

accident with Maritza Paris, and I, she's a psychic medium. I

don't know if she tells anybody this, but we were talking about

the Lakota people and my work with them. And suddenly a spirit

came in through her it was a Lakota spirit, and asked her to

ask me, tell us more about the Lakota people who are they where

they're from. So I got to give this whole history of who the

Lakota people were. But it was very amazing, you know, just to

know that these spirits of the native people are with me

guiding me on this mission to bring art therapy, trauma

treatment, trainings, and putting mental health into their

tribal schools. So they're there.

So I will tell you this that so because I am such

a, you know, a patient expert and advocate in the cancer

world, I actually call for a screening, okay. And it's March

is colorectal cancer awareness month, but every cancer has a

month and a colour, and ours is blue. And so but I do I say, Go

get screened at age 45. That's the age now unless you have

family history, where you have symptoms, or you're part of a

minority community, if you're black or brown skinned, or if

you are indigenous or Latino, those are the highest diagnosed

because they're the least tested because of their access or their

trust of the healthcare system. So I do do that. Always. So I,

it's just a little bit of relation. They're not what

you're doing. But I just want to say that I I felt compelled to

share that because the health care. If you're not at your

optimal health, you can't lift yourself up or lift up others,

which is my motto and all that. Let's let's continue on. So the

reservation experience is absolutely cool. And then you

actually started to take over the practice from Linda right,

or she wanted you to Carey the torch forward.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Yes. So Linda was actually we were colleagues.

She's co author of the startup art therapy curriculum. And she

was still active in the field when we were kind of, you know,

tag teaming, and but as after the California wildfires, fires,

her house burned down. So she's just like, I'm retiring. Here

you go, and 2017. So anybody that wants training in

neurodevelopmental art therapy, this is for teachers, schools,

therapists, coaches, they come to me and give me the contact

info at the end. But

can you explain what neuro developmental art

therapy is for the audience? Right,

CAREY MACCARTHY,: great question. No, developmental art

therapy is a whole brain healing approach. And so it's bottom up.

So it is corresponding with the four functioning structures of

the brain going from the bottom up. And the top functioning

structure is that prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for

decision making, planning, compassion, empathy, wisdom, and

understanding right from wrong. So it's the most important part

of the brain to have daily function. So we actually

developed a whole curriculum based on neurodevelopmental art

therapy. So there's the acute, chronic, or the acute trauma

model. And then there's the chronic trauma treatment model.

So the curriculum startup curriculum is based on the four

stage chronic trauma treatment model. So it's rewiring it's

specific art therapy, activities that rewire the brain from the

bottom up, but also left right integration. And then when

people have that thinking brain online, then they can do top

down thinking where it's more cognitive driven, instead of

impulsive.

I think it's fascinating. For those of you

just listening that Carey just held up a copy of her book,

well, we're gonna put it in the show notes and on all over

social media be able to find it. And you also though, one of the

things that you're a specialist in happens to be adolescents and

youth and then also the indigenous as well. And so

you're working with young people and children which the age range

CAREY MACCARTHY,: that you work with, actually work with adults

too. So I know that but

but you also you have this specialty with

children too, right? Yeah,

CAREY MACCARTHY,: children of all ages. It could be pre K we,

you know, work with more sensory art and and all the way to

adolescents. And then, you know, I've had 8590 year old clients

as well,

okay? Because I mean, I have to say, you know,

the big give back for you is how you help people now is that you

had such a rough childhood. And now you're, you're, you're

focused on folks to be able to help them through that trauma

and move them forward. And that's, that's, that's the

shining brightly, you know, light that I see is, you know,

you lift it up yourself, and now you're lifting up others and,

and you specialise in neurodevelopmental art therapy,

which is I've learned a lot about it since meeting you, so

that you've made me an educated guy as well, all that. So

CAREY MACCARTHY,: yeah, and, you know, putting mental health into

the classrooms has been really my passion, especially for

Native children as a prevention and early intervention. But

also, you know, we, this is an issue that exists in our own

backyards. And I can't tell you how hard it was to get funding

when I was a nonprofit for Native American causes. And now,

it's great because it's coming out more to the in the forefront

that, you know, we need to help our native brothers and sisters.

And you know, we had the XL pipeline in the Standing Rock

protests. And now the killers of the flower moon and Lily

Gladstone from the Osage tribe just got nominated for so many

awards. And you know, it's just like a huge celebration and huge

win in victory. So, I will hope that people kind of feel

compelled to also get involved how they can help the native

cost. So yeah, I'm putting mental health in the classroom,

but to give back to them, and also to pay homage to myself as

a child, and all the children that fall through the cracks,

because they suffer silently with trauma. And then they grow

up into adolescents and adults and become incarcerated. You

know, domestic violence, substance abuse, suicide, mental

illness, and mystery illnesses, because some of the things that

can happen to when there's been a history of childhood trauma is

that there can be a trauma spin out, where there's that limbic

system, part of the brain firing these SOS signals constantly,

that causes inflammation in the brain, and actually can cause

physical disease like mystery illnesses, chronic fatigue

syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, you know,

fibromyalgia, all these things that doctors don't know how to

treat. And so that can be another trauma when people are

on that road show of going from doctor to doctor to doctor. So

this is wanting to I'm wanting to take this programme out, not

just for natives, but to all cultures, eventually.

I think this applies to everyone coming out

of the pandemic, where the number one thing was loneliness

that led to depression as everyone. We were restricted

here, at least in the US, right? Oh, my, I think it applies to a

lot of us. So certainly, tell me a little bit more about the book

because you're, you know, you're multiple author and all that.

But tell me more about kind of the vision of startup and and

what you changed in it and things like that, because it's

doing well. And it's, it's really an important piece of

curriculum.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Oh, well, thank you. Thank you. So you

know, this is to be putting into classrooms to behavioural to

juvenile justice systems. We actually have a pilot programme

in a JDC juvenile detention centre in Sioux Falls, South

Dakota right now, that's going very well and in the State

Penitentiary, with adults. So getting you know this out into

the world and putting it into the classroom curriculum in all

schools as a standard. You know, it's the foundational building

block to building the nervous system to building the emotional

perceptual, the cognition, and creativity and joy and, you

know, optimising the brain to be able to learn academics. So it

really should be in every classroom so children can

actually learn English and math and science. So this is, you

know, what my vision is for this book for this curriculum. And

we're actually creating a new programme right now for adults

and rewiring their own brains from trauma and, and new online

course.

Got a lot, a lot going on. So it's shout out to

teachers and school admins to give this a checkout. So we'll,

we'll highlight them and we'll we'll we'll hash tag some of the

educational folks that they can be made aware Maybe they don't

even know they're aware of it know that this is fascinating.

We could talk a lot longer, but the show is short. So I want you

to put on your sunglasses. This is the shining, brightly

spotlight that we end the show with. I want you to tell me all

those are the very cool glasses very artsy, I love them. Where

to go, Carey, I'll tell people how best to get a hold of you,

you have something that you might want to offer. And then

we're going to end the show with inspirational, either story or

quote from you, and then you'll kick it back over to me.

Yeah, thank you, Howard. So the way to get a hold

of me is you can directly email me at Carey C A R E Y @

startuparttherapy.com, Carey@startuparttherapy.com, you

can go to the website startuparttherapy.com. And you

can actually just pick up the phone and call me the old

fashioned way if you want for 159479608. And that is the way

to be able to, you know, get me for training. And I want to give

you guys today a bilateral scribble art therapy technique

called scribble your way to calm and you'll be able to access

that through Howard's links. And to end with a quote, freedom is

what we do with what has been done to us. And that is by John

Paul start. We repeat that with freedom is what we do with what

has been done to us. And we can take that a step further.

Freedom is what we do with what has done been done for us

meaning that we have, you know, kind of chosen our Earth walk

before we come into these human bodies. And then some people

believe, and how can we transform that victimhood? That

things have been done to us? And can we see it as something

that's been a teaching to help propel us forward in life? So my

motto, feel the people heal the planet? Wow.

Wow, wow, wow. Well, this has been incredible.

I'm gonna in the show notes. And on all social posts, get in

touch with you, we only scratched the surface of

neurodevelopmental art therapy, of course, and a 30 minute show.

This has been incredible Carey, I want to thank you, you shine

brightly, and helping people, you know, recover from trauma.

And that is actually very noble. And it's a beautiful thing that

you do. So thank you. You can get a hold of me, Howard brown

on the shiningbrightly.com. There, you can check out the

book. I have other books in my Amazon account as well. But

also, my speaking, you want me to speak at one of your events,

make it shine. So come, I'm talking to me about that as

well. And this podcast is just it's touching people. We go from

human resolve, as we heard today, from Carey to inspiration

always. And my advocacy for the cancer world, the

entrepreneurship world, the interfaith world, all can be

found there. So please reach out to me. And I just want to give a

shout out and thank you to the people that helped me most,

which are my publisher, front edge publishing, read the

spirit.com magazine out every Monday, my podcast house, which

is based out of British Columbia, and they are amazing,

and they just helped make me look great and shine as well. So

with that, choose, okay to shine brightly, a little bit each day

for yourself. For others, lift them up for our communities and

neighbourhoods. And yes, the world become a better place.

Thank you. We'll talk to you soon Carey great show.

CAREY MACCARTHY,: Thank you so much, Howard.