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Meet Naomi Buckley

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Naomi Buckley.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My journey to where I am today was definitely not a straight line. I started out as an artist and completed my masters in sculpture at Claremont Graduate University in 2005. While I was at Claremont, I was lucky to be selected to be part of the Armory Center for the Arts professional teaching artist fellowship where I learned to teach from my own artistic practice, delved into childhood development and learn I actually loved teaching art to not only adults but also kids. I was hired on as a staff member and teaching artist at the Armory when the fellowship ended working in the professional development department, mentoring new armory fellows, training teachers to use art in their classrooms and teaching lots of classes.

At the same time, I was busy with a series of shows that I was exhibiting my work in. Every minute that I wasn’t working I was in my studio creating work. This went on for about 3 years and then I completed the work for a show and had nothing on the horizon. I had free time and no idea what to do with it since I had spent all my free time creating work. In this place of trying to figure out what to do when I wasn’t working I made my way back to a mediation and yoga practice which led to a great deal of self reflection including looking at why I was working so hard and what I might be avoiding dealing with by doing so. I decided I wanted to deepen my practices even more and went to live on an Ashram in upstate New York for the summer free from the distractions and responsibilities of everyday life. It was a wonderful and challenging experience and when I came home I decided to take a yoga teacher training and share what I was finding so healing for myself.

During the training, I came to realize that what I was most drawn to was the philosophy and teachings of yoga and the idea of just teaching asana to classes didn’t feel as exciting. It was I that time period that I had a spark of inspiration and decide to go back to school again to become a therapist. I studying at Antioch University in their Spiritual and Depth program which blends mindfulness practices with depth psychology (specifically Carl Jung’s theories). After I finished school and all of my hours, I got licensed and opened my private practice 5 years ago.

Has it been a smooth road?
I definitely had struggles along the way. First, I struggled with the decision to go back to school for a second masters. I felt too old and that there wasn’t time to achieve this goal but I processed those feelings and talked it over with friends and family and eventually came to the conclusion that I was still living and breathing so I might as well go for what I felt I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

I struggled quite a bit trying to figure out how to put all the different aspects of myself together. When I graduated from Antioch with my psychology degree I had this idea that I had to begin to work full time as a therapist otherwise I wouldn’t be legitimate. This would mean giving up teaching art and yoga. I wasn’t open to seeing any other way at the time even though I didn’t really want to stop teaching.

My mom was confused by my idea and choice to quit my other positions and she helped me to see that all these things that I loved could work together and be combined to offer something special to the community. Over time I figured out ways to work with art, yoga and meditation and therapeutic inner work together. It took believing that I had something unique to offer to others and then trying it out and seeing how it actually would work. Then I began to get excited about all the possibilities.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I work as a psychotherapist in private practice and I partner with different art museums around the city to bring inner work and art workshops to the community.

In my practice, I see adults, teens and kids. I am trained in play therapy and Jungian sandtray which I use when working with young kids as play is their natural language and is necessary for working through any difficulties they might be struggling with. I have a passion for working with kids and love to see the conflicts within them get resolved at an early age. I bring more than traditional talk therapy into the room with all of my clients using art, sandtray, dream work, yoga and meditation as tools to dive deeper into what is hidden under the surface yet erupting to cause disruptions in our relationships and lives. I tend to work most often with creative people (artist of all kinds) and women in transition; just launching themselves into the start of their careers, going through changes in life divorce or death and moving into different phase of life such as menopause.

I am most proud of the collaborations with art institutions around the city. I have partnered with ESMOA (El Segundo Museum of Art) and the Norton Simon (upcoming workshop in May) to use the museum and art as a vehicle for inner work and self reflection. Each workshop is unique depending on the current body of work that is being shown. I then create a program that uses the artwork as a jumping off point for exploring different aspects of ourselves. Art is powerful and something happens to each of us when we encounter it in real life. It seems to reach us on an archetypal level

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
It wasn’t hard to set up my private practice. I found an office easily though my contacts and the rent was reasonable. Networking and getting to know other therapist was the most valuable way that I grew my practice and there are many therapist groups on social media that are helpful as well. When I first opened my second practice in Culver City instead of renting my own office I found another therapist who rented the offices in his suite by the hour so that made it very easy to start seeing clients in that part of town and build a practice without a great deal of overhead.

Pricing:

  • $150 for 50 minute therapy session
  • $75 to $125 for group art workshops (depends on amount of people)

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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