Karen Pence to outline goals for art therapy initiative

Washington – When Karen Pence discovered that a Porto Rico art therapist was the subject of a hurricane could not afford the clay that his customers needed, she came into action.

A qualified watercolor artist and defender of the little-known mental health profession, the woman of vice-president Mike Pence went to the Virginia Art Supply Store that she frequented when they lived in the state during her mandate at the congress, bought 120 pounds of drying clay and wrapped it on board the air for their flight to question the damage.

“She cleaned it,” said the vice-president about the owner of the store.

Ms. Pence has made art therapy her cause since she learned for the first time over ten years ago. She visited many art therapy programs, in the United States and abroad, and Wednesday in Florida, nine months after the start of the administration, she planned to officially announce the objectives of her initiative in art therapy.

She wants to help people understand the difference between art therapy and arts and crafts, and to understand that art therapy is a viable option to treat trauma, injuries and other life experiences. She also wants to encourage young people to choose art therapy as a career.

“I do not think that many people understand the difference between therapeutic art and art therapy,” said Ms. Pence, a qualified watercolor artist, to the Associated Press in an exclusive interview before the announcement of the Florida State University in Tallahassee. The school has a program of art therapy which she described as “huge”.

Blabing to have a girlfriend can be therapeutic, she explained, but it is not the same thing as art therapy, which has three elements: a client, a formed therapist and art.

Find out more: VP woman’s woman aims to raise awareness of art therapy

As passionate as it is with regard to the elevation of the profile of art therapy, other problems also help to stick Karen Pence.

One of them helps the families of the military, in particular the spouses. His only son, Michael, is in the Marines.

There is also his interest in bees. Ms. Pence installed a hive on the field of the American Naval Observatory, where the Vice-President’s official residence is located, to help draw attention to a drop in managed bee colonies which, according to officials, could negatively affect American agricultural production. She had a hive at the residence of the Governor of Indiana for the same reason.

Today aged 60 and married to the vice-president since 1985, Ms. Pence has long been considered one of her husband’s most reliable political advisers. They are often together during travel, at the White House or Observatory, almost always holding hands.

Since her return to Washington in January (the family lived in the region when her husband served in the Congress), she has accompanied the vice-president of goodwill visits to Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as trips to study recent damage to the hurricanes in Texas, Porto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. She tries to visit art therapy programs wherever she is going. Journalists who travel with Pence often keep an eye on his wife; She often brings them cookies when he ventures into the press cabin for small conversations.

Find out more: Puerto Rico Dévasté needs unprecedented help, explains the governor

She even made a small campaign, urging Virginians to vote next month for Ed Gillespie in what is considered a tight governor race.

“That really makes a difference, I can tell you. No one thought we were going to win,” she said, an apparent reference to the Trump-Position.

The vice-president often refers to his wife as the family’s “prayer captain”. She directed congregations in prayer during their voyages in damage to the hurricane.

“We are people of faith, we are therefore trying to approach everything with prayer,” said Pence from her sunny office and on the second floor in the executive building of Eisenhower in the White House complex, where she and her staff appreciate the coveted views of Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. The drawings of art therapy given as gifts adorn the outdoor office.

She proudly displayed several of her paintings, including the Capitol Dome, the Vice-President’s residence, a vase of cutting boule flower, a cardinal bird and a pink peony. She transforms many of her watercolors into prints and booting notes she offers to the art therapists she meets.

With the exception of the myriads of pets, including two cats, a dog and a rabbit named Marlon Bundo, the pences are empty nest workers. Their son and two adult daughters left alone.

“I think that for us, it’s a good time in our lives for this role because our children are outside the university. They live their own life, ”said Ms. Pence.

She also launches a blog in collaboration with Wednesday’s announcement to tell her visits to art therapy programs.