Meet Kendra McGivney

We recently connected with Kendra McGivney and have shared our conversation below.

Kendra , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I got my resilience from many things but what stands out to me is leaving home at a young age and also having close friends that became like family. So while I was on my own, I was never actually on my own. I also got it from traveling and meeting people from cultures different from my own, and learning from children as my best teachers. I was an Au Pair (traveling nanny) in Paris when I was 18 years old, flying there on money I earned working 3 jobs in high school. This is where my love of travel developed. Then as I came back to the states I got into waitressing where I learned I could make a living while trying to put myself through college. I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I went on a life changing 3 month trip to Namibia, (a country in Africa) in my 20’s, where I learned that I wanted to become a therapist. I dont think I learned resilience from just one place, I think I am still learning it and now at my age I am learning to try and be slower. To be ok with saying no when things are too much for me and that just because I CAN do something, doesn’t mean it is wise to do that thing. Also I am learning that I need to learn how to be still. That is the new resilience for me and I think it looks different in each phase of life.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I love working with teen girls and young adult women who feel stuck from something (or maybe a lot of somethings) that have happened to them. I have learned that while we may not have created our problems, we are still responsible for managing and healing them. As a teen, I wanted to be a professional artist. After a lot of twists and turns in life, I realized that the art that brings me the most joy is using art in therapy. I love using art to help people process things that words simply cannot describe. Through my own experiences as a teen struggling with feelings of overwhelm and depression, I realized that I didn’t have to fit the script of what was set out for me. I know how hard it is to feel misunderstood, to have thoughts like “if they only knew, maybe things would be different.” Maybe you have been through things that no one even knows about yet, and you live with the guilt of thoughts like “it’s all my fault” or “everyone else seems ok, maybe I am the problem?” I may not have had the exact struggles and experiences that you have had, but I do know what it is like to hurt deeply, and then overcome and heal that hurt to create a beautiful life that is worth living. I know what that is like and I want to walk alongside you and help you find it too.

I also love to provide relaxing therapeutic art workshops for non profits, universities and companies to give a bit of respite during retreats, trainings or finals weeks. Ask me more if you want to learn about my relaxation stations!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

One of my favorite quotes is “do not ask what the world needs, instead ask what makes you come alive and go and do that because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” I wish I heard that and soaked it in a long time ago. When I felt the tug in my heart to be a therapist, I felt I had to put my paintbrushes and artistic self on a shelf and I didn’t paint for years in college. Then somehow the art found me again, and now I have painting supplies literally in front of me as I write this in my therapy office in front of the beautiful windows overlooking Bixby Knolls in Long beach. It is indeed a privilege to pursue what makes you come alive, and yet we owe it to ourselves and the next generation to be fully alive. So it is a dialectic that is a constant dance to try and do. The tension between what we need to get done and what we actually want to do and what brings us joy. I am still learning it.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I worked in community mental health for 11 years before starting a private practice and the number one thing I miss (other than my amazing clients at the clinic) is working with colleagues! I miss the silliness of painting butcher paper with coworkers and throwing it on walls to make a community gallery show happen, and I miss those tender moments walking into a trusted colleague friends office and being my complete real self when I felt too deeply the broken heart of a client brave enough to share it with me.

That being said I love to collaborate! I have done some Long Beach community events and non profit trainings in Orange County and I’d love to do more! Maybe you are a non profit or wellness group that wants to add some soothing art therapy to your next event or community space, or maybe you want a training on how art can be used therapeutically even if you “aren’t an artist” (hint, you don’t have to be an artist for art to be therapeutic for you), or maybe you are a therapist too, and while you love your private practice, you need community and you want a walking buddy. I’d love to walk and chat and see what collaborations could naturally come about!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

photos by Sarah Block photography

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