Susanna Fields-Kuehl, LCPC, RPT, EXAT, NCC
Creative Counseling Services, LLC combines my two passions in life: helping others and art.
Ever since I was a child, I have used art to express and comfort myself. As I grew older, I wanted to bring this same joy and solace to others. In 2004, I obtained my BA in Art with a minor in Psychology from Goucher College in Baltimore, MD. Over the years, I worked as an after-school art teacher, a graphic designer for a non-profit in DC, in education publications at the National Gallery of Art, and as an assistant director at an arts center in MD. I obtained a MA in the History of Decorative Arts from the (former) Corcoran College of Arts + Design in DC in 2011, where I gained understanding of how artistic expression is often in response to a social/cultural context. However, I still felt a further calling in my quest to enrich and improve the lives of others.
This desire led me to "switch" careers to the mental health field in 2016 and pursue my MA in Mental Health Counseling, which I achieved in 2018 from Bowie State University in Bowie, MD. This "switch" felt more like a natural progression towards my goal of helping others thrive through creativity. From my background in the arts, I bring my observational skills, eye for detail, analytical mindset, and ability to see things in new ways and within a social/cultural context to the therapy room. I use verbal (traditional talk therapy) and non-verbal therapeutic modalities (expressive arts therapy and play therapy) in collaboration with my clients to gain insight, acceptance, authenticity, and healing in their lives.
My training includes coursework and experience conducting individual, family, and group counseling to children, adolescents, and adults. I am licensed to practice clinical professional counseling in the state of Maryland (LCPC) and am a National Certified Counselor (NCC). In addition to these foundations in mental health counseling, I also am a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) and a Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapist (EXAT). Through my children's books, I explore mental health topics of anxiety, depression, and insomnia in the hopes that other children can find connections to their own life, comfort that they are not alone, acceptance of their and other’s uniqueness, and joy in finding their own creative path to self-expression.