Azra Mowlana OPI

Azra Mowlana, M.A., MFT/AT

Azra Mowlana OPIOptimum Performance Institute is pleased to shine the spotlight on employee Azra Mowlana, who will be featured in our next OPI e-newsletter.

Get to know Azra…

Hi Azra, please tell us a little bit about your educational and professional background and what you do at OPI.

I received my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration from Cal State Long Beach. I had the pleasure of learning from many working illustrators well- known in their field. Post graduation, I worked for a private art school as a teacher and executive administrative assistant while freelance illustrating. After a few years, I realized that teaching children was the best part of my day. I began to wonder what more I could be doing in my career. In my research, I came across art therapy. I learned the psychological value of art and how art therapy can foster healing and growth.

I was rarely a good student. Creating art pieces was much easier for me than writing papers or taking tests. However, the straight-A student my parents always hoped I would be finally showed up as I began working toward my Art Therapy degree. Though it was painful, I learned how to sit through five-hour lectures, write lengthy papers, and read research papers.

I work at OPI as a Life Coach and group facilitator. As a life coach, I support our participants in creating goals, making action steps, and developing independent living skills. I facilitate groups such as process therapy, DBT skills, Goal Action Workshop, and Expressive Art Therapy.  The experience I received working at OPI greatly enhanced my education. One of my graduation requirements was to write a research paper. The aim was to create a program based on evaluation of research. I was able to integrate my clinical experience at OPI and write about the benefit of utilizing art therapy with DBT to address behavioral problems in children. The program’s interventions are ones I have been able to successfully implement in our Expressive Art Therapy group.

This past May I received my Masters of Psychology in Marriage and Family Therapy/ Art Therapy from Phillips Graduate Institute. I also accepted a position as adjunct faculty at Phillips. Currently, I am a research advisor to those students working on their research papers.

Azra, you clearly bring so much to the OPI team and our participants. We think many will also find your personal experience of your academic performance shift, once you started following your passion, inspiring!  What other ways do you like to inspire and challenge our young adult population?

Though studies show art is a primal form of communication for children, research also indicates that we often become disinterested or avoid creating art as we enter adolescence. We may begin to say things like “I’m not good at art” or “I’m not an artist.” I enjoy challenging these notions with the young adults we work with and helping them reclaim a healthy coping skill. Their experiences and feelings are complex. Art can be an immediate tool for them to express or explore these things in a constructive way.

That’s wonderful! The trend of adult coloring books is hopefully a good sign that many of us are allowing ourselves to connect with art again in some form. Azra, before we let you go, what advice do you have for parents who are concerned that their young adult child is experiencing a failure to launch into the next phase of development due to mental health issues or learning disabilities?

I think it is important to remember that our brains continue to grow and develop until we are 25 years old. Impulsiveness, defiance, and emotional escalation is a normal part of what is happening neurologically for adolescents and young adults. I empathize with both the families and young adults who must also consider mental health issues and/or learning disabilities on top of this already difficult and complicated launching stage. Most people are unequipped. At OPI it has been refreshing to provide these types of young adults with support catered to their specific needs so that they are able to navigate this process successfully. Mental health issues and learning disabilities are simply conditions clients must work with, they do not have to be limitations to their progress.

Well said. Thank you Azra!

 

Azra Mowlana is Marriage and Family Therapist Intern, Registration No. IMF88631, and an Art Therapist.

Check out our Education Department’s recent article on Azra’s artwork and use of Art Therapy in our programs.

For more information on Optimum Performance Institute, CONTACT US.

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