Hidden Gems: Meet Janaline Smalman of Healing Art Journey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Janaline Smalman.

Hi Janaline, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in South Africa and spent my childhood on a smallholding surrounded by animals, art, books, and nature. I had a very creative upbringing — my mother encouraged painting afternoons, ceramics, collage-making, and finding different ways to express ourselves. Creativity was always part of my life long before I understood how deeply healing it could be.

As a child, I spent years in and out of hospital for hip and leg operations, and those experiences taught me resilience very early on. Art, imagination, and creativity became spaces where I could process emotions and feel like myself again.

As I grew older, I became fascinated by people, cultures, and the wider world. A student exchange to Germany during high school opened something in me, and after university I began living and working abroad. Over the years I lived in countries including Vietnam, Russia, Chile, China, Japan, Canada, and now Kuwait.

Living abroad was exciting, but it was also incredibly challenging at times. I experienced culture shock, loneliness, grief, anxiety, and the emotional exhaustion that can come from constantly rebuilding your life far away from home, family, and familiar support systems. In each country, I found myself returning to creativity and movement as a way to ground myself and cope. In Vietnam it was Kung Fu and painting, in Russia it was swimming and collage art, in Japan it was crochet, creativity, and yoga, and now in Kuwait it is kayaking and art journaling.

Over time, I began to realise that creativity was not “just art” for me — it was a way of processing emotions, reconnecting with myself, and finding stability during difficult seasons of life.

After going through my own healing journey and therapy, I became deeply interested in the connection between creativity, trauma, emotional healing, and the nervous system. While living in Shanghai, I discovered art therapy and immediately felt drawn to it. Eventually, that path led me to move to Vancouver, Canada, where I trained in art therapy.

Today, I run Healing Art Journey, an online therapeutic art practice supporting women — especially expat women — who are navigating anxiety, trauma, grief, burnout, identity loss, and major life transitions. Through therapeutic art and art journaling, I help people express what is often difficult to put into words and slowly reconnect with themselves in a gentler, more compassionate way.

What started as something that helped me survive eventually became the work I now feel deeply called to share with others.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, although looking back, many of the difficult experiences shaped both who I am and the work I do today.

One of the biggest challenges has been constantly rebuilding my life in different countries and cultures. Living abroad can look exciting from the outside, but there is also a quieter side to expat life that people do not always talk about — loneliness, identity shifts, grief, homesickness, culture shock, and trying to create a sense of belonging while far away from your support system.

There were times when I felt emotionally overwhelmed, disconnected from myself, and unsure of where I belonged. Starting over again and again in new countries forced me to become resilient, adaptable, and deeply self-aware. I had to learn how to support myself emotionally and create grounding routines wherever I was in the world.

I also experienced personal loss and trauma throughout different stages of my life, and for many years I coped by simply staying busy and pushing forward. Eventually, I realised that surviving and truly healing are not the same thing. Therapy, creativity, movement, journaling, and art became important parts of my own healing journey and helped me reconnect with myself in ways words alone could not.

Another challenge was learning how to turn something deeply personal into a business. Building Healing Art Journey online while living abroad came with a lot of uncertainty and self-doubt. I had to find my voice, learn how to speak openly about mental health and healing, and trust that there were other women out there who needed this kind of support too.

Because I work internationally online, I also had to carefully navigate how to ethically and legally offer my services across different countries and cultures. That process taught me the importance of creating work that is trauma-informed, accessible, and deeply human rather than one-size-fits-all.

But through all of those experiences, I have learned that healing does not always happen through having the “perfect” answers. Sometimes it begins by creating space for yourself to feel, reflect, express, and slowly come home to yourself again — and that is what I hope to offer the women I work with today.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Healing Art Journey is an online therapeutic art practice that supports women — especially expat women — who are navigating anxiety, trauma, grief, burnout, emotional overwhelm, and major life transitions.

A lot of the women I work with are high-functioning on the outside, but internally they feel exhausted, disconnected from themselves, emotionally stuck, or like they are constantly carrying too much on their own. Many have spent years trying to “think” their way through healing, but still feel tension, anxiety, grief, or overwhelm living in their bodies.

Through therapeutic art and art journaling, I create a space where people can safely explore emotions that are often difficult to explain with words alone. My sessions are not about creating “good art” or being artistic enough. They are about self-expression, emotional processing, nervous system regulation, reflection, and reconnecting with yourself in a gentler and more compassionate way.

Because I have lived abroad for many years myself, I understand the unique emotional challenges that can come with expat life — identity shifts, loneliness, culture shock, homesickness, constantly adapting, and trying to build a sense of belonging far away from familiar support systems. That lived experience deeply shapes the way I support my clients.

One thing that sets my work apart is that I combine professional training with real-life lived experience. I trained in art therapy after years of personally using creativity, movement, journaling, and art as part of my own healing journey while living across different countries and cultures. I think clients feel that authenticity. My work is not about giving people quick fixes or pretending healing is linear. It is about creating honest, supportive spaces where people can slowly reconnect with themselves and feel less alone in what they are carrying.

I currently offer one-on-one therapeutic art sessions and longer healing journeys online, which allows me to support women internationally. I also create reflective resources, art journaling prompts, workshops, and online content focused on emotional wellbeing, creativity, healing, and nervous system support.

Brand-wise, I am probably most proud of creating something that feels deeply human and genuine in a world that often pressures people to hide their struggles or heal as quickly as possible. I want Healing Art Journey to feel like a space where people can exhale a little, feel seen, and know they do not have to navigate everything alone.

At the heart of my work is the belief that creativity can help us reconnect with parts of ourselves we may have lost through stress, trauma, grief, or simply the weight of everyday life. Sometimes healing begins not with having the right words, but with giving yourself permission to create, feel, reflect, and be fully human.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
Although I do not currently live in Los Angeles, I have always been drawn to the city’s creativity, diversity, and openness to different forms of self-expression. As someone who works in the creative and healing space, I love how many artists, small businesses, and wellness-focused communities seem to exist there. It feels like a city where people are encouraged to reinvent themselves, pursue meaningful work, and share their stories openly.

I also appreciate how multicultural the city is. Having lived in many countries myself, I always feel inspired by places where different cultures, perspectives, and experiences come together.

At the same time, from the outside looking in, Los Angeles also seems like a place where people can experience a lot of pressure to constantly achieve, perform, or keep up — and I think that can sometimes make genuine connection and rest difficult. It is one of the reasons I believe spaces focused on creativity, emotional wellbeing, and authentic human connection are so important.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.healingartjourney.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janaline.healingartjourney/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janaline-smalman/