Coming Home By Lorraine Hazell-Linder

"Coming Home"

‘Coming Home’ 2015 (oil on canvas)
By Lorraine Hazell-Linder BA Hons, PGCE
Psycho-Spiritual Counsellor (Level 2 and 3 Certificate in Counselling Skills)
Click to see a larger version

A few years ago I embarked upon some 1-1 counselling. I was guided to a Psycho-Spiritual counsellor (unbeknown to me at the time). “Just a few sessions” I said on the phone – maybe six at the most – when he phoned to organise our first appointment. Three years later, transformed and self-actualised I emerged! I was far more confident and self-assured and I had made several personal life changes for the better. I had learnt to listen to myself deeply, using my art and the skill of visualisation as kind of ‘doorways’ in. I also learned to be honest with myself, to sit with pain and other difficult feelings, to understand myself and my relationships with others with greater clarity.

Two years into my 1-1 counselling I decided to embark on my own counselling training. I had previously applied for Art Therapy training, to no avail, and I wanted to work more deeply with people than my special needs teaching was allowing. Psycho-Spiritual training has been the right thing for me, it has actually enhanced my artwork and creativity tremendously and has led to a fascinating exploration of what spirituality means to me.

This painting is the second of what turned out to be six large oil paintings (they are all 1.5/1 metre) that follow on from each other. This painting ‘Coming Home’ 2015, came about, inspired by a meditation we experienced during the first weekend of my Level 2 Psycho–Spiritual counselling course at Sweet Track. To my surprise I astral planed. This left me with a slightly disassociated physical feeling for a few days, but it allowed me to be emotionally and spiritually ‘uprooted’ from my current situation. The experience allowed me to make a ginormous and necessary leap of faith in my personal life. In isolation the experience would have been scary. But it was the final push needed for me to make a necessary change and after two years of counselling, I was ready.

The painting, to me, represents ‘being’ amongst the stars, looking down, peacefully on the earth. This led me ‘home’. Back home to where I really belonged. The ‘ships’ in the dark blue back ground emerged during the process of the painting. They ended up signifying unresolved issues (things I still needed to look at). The painting was part of my transforming process. I won’t pretend this was easy. This was a painful and challenging time in my life, a kind of ‘rebirth’ (see all work on my website www.lozzabubbleart.artweb.com). What I can say though is that my process was ‘held’ by my counsellor, my tutor and within my Level 2 group.

Learning to be a counsellor or therapist is a transforming experience – done well. We have to know ourselves in order to understand and support others ethically and effectively. I wouldn’t change my experiences for the world. I am so much happier and so greatly fulfilled in my life now – in all aspects -as a consequence.