Facilitating growth through the integration of
depth psychology, mythology, and narrative therapy.

Human beings are not just active, emotional, or psychological beings, we are storied beings, shaped by the narratives of our culture, our societies, our families, and our own self perceptions. Like layers of sediment these stories overlap one another, solidifying into a notion of the Self. These stories act to guide and hinder us throughout our lives, molding and narrating the ways in which we view the world and how we determine our places in it. These narratives become so integrated with one’s identity that to abandon them or even simply distance oneself from them would seem as revolutionary as stepping into the pages of a fairytale.

However, what many of us do not realize is that each one of us has the opportunity to be the author of our own story. By uncovering the layers of narrative that dictate one’s personal experience, one is able to discern those stories which are helpful and desirable from those which interfere with personal growth. Once these aspects of the self have been identified, then one is able to participate in a story of his or her own choosing rather than one that has been predetermined. Through the use of narrative therapy, depth psychology, mythic imagination, and art therapy, healing and new connections to the Self are able to occur.

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Riven Barton, M.A., PhD. candidate, L.M.T.

Riven Barton is an expert in mythic and archetypal symbology. With a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and Religion from Prescott College, she laid the foundation for her masters and doctoral work in Myth and Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Utilizing her additional training in art therapy and her extended experience as a holistic body worker, Riven has created an integral counseling practice based on experiential and traditional models of therapy. Included in her work is her research and experience of collective and cultural psychology. Believing that the individual psyche is made up of far more than one’s personal experiences, Riven integrates into her work the effects and impacts that the broader collective psychology and environment may have on the individual. The result is a more inclusive model of the psyche which integrates personal and collective change into a cohesive model of self.