For many years in my private psychotherapy practice, I’ve witnessed high achieving, entrepreneurial women who were wildly successful in their business lives while the state of their personal happiness was in shambles.

Having grown up in an age that says, “You can have it all,” these bright, industrious women seemed stunned and even ashamed by their inability to achieve that ever illusive “work-life balance”. So I began to wonder if the whole concept of work-life balance was a lie. Work is a part of life, not a singular category that the rest of life is measured against.  Wouldn’t it be more helpful to cultivate a state of overall dynamic stability?  What if women could develop specific skills that  reconnected and grounded them to their internal competencies and wisdom? How would women’s lives change if resilience, creativity and self-direction were taught as foundational skills for a successful life rather than an afterthought or luxury?

The answer for me was to teach individual clients the dynamics of FLOW. Most people have heard of athletes who get in their zone and perform with amazing results. What they are referring to is FLOW.  Most of us will never be elite athletes, but we can harness the same skills of FLOW, live happier and perform at higher, more satisfying levels.

Through Flaming Heart Media I teach FLOW. We will always experience varying degrees of turbulence in our lives. However, learning how to create FLOW on-demand, can transform you and your world for the better, starting now. It would be my privilege to show you how.

Molly Hardy Guzzino

ATR-BC, LPC, LMFT

Molly is executive director of Flaming Heart Media.  She brings decades of experience in the mental and medical health fields as a psychotherapist, speaker, author and consultant.

By weaving together her expertise in stress management, expressive arts, optimal performance, wellness and mindfulness, Molly teaches high-achieving women the life-changing experience of Flow.

Along with her private practice as a licensed professional counselor and board certified art therapist, Molly has taught internationally at medical schools in China and South Africa on the treatment of compassion fatigue in healthcare providers and emergency responders. She is the former director of the Child Life Program at Tulane University Medical Center, addressing the psychological needs of seriously ill children and adolescents. Her current creative efforts center on the Good Works Journal Project (facebook.com/goodworksjournal).

Workshops and Presentations

Molly Guzzino, ATR-BC, LPC, LMFT, teaches Flow, tailoring her workshops, speaking engagements and retreats to the specific goals, interests and needs of each audience.

  • Speaking engagement can range from 20-90 minutes
  • Workshops are formatted in 3 hours, half-day or full day trainings. Multi-day retreat programs are also available.
  • All workshops and retreats are based on experiential learning exercises including individual, small and large group involvement.
  • Speaking fees and expenses are individual negotiated.

Licensures and Professional Credentials

Licensed Professional Counselor
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Registered and Board Certified Art Therapist
American Society of Clinical Hypnosis Approved Consultant
American Art Therapy Association

Over thirty-five years of responsible and innovative clinical care in mental and medical health services.  Experienced consultant, speaker, seminar leader, administrator, researcher, author, artist, hypnotherapist and psychotherapist, with licensure as a Professional Counselor, Marriage and Family Therapist and a Board Certified/Registered Art Therapist  specializing in the treatment of acute and post-traumatic stress, clinical hypnosis and chronic pain issues.

Selected Professional Experience

  • Private Practitioner in Counseling and Art Therapy (1986 to present) Austin, Texas
  • Executive Director: Flaming Heart Media, LLC (2008 to present)
  • Mental Health Consultant inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities (1987 to 2013)
  • Central Texas Society of Clinical Hypnosis:  Secretary (2006 to 2008)
  • Founder and Director of D-Stress the Test, P.L.L.C. (2004 to 2008) Austin, Texas
  • Researcher on Creativity and Spiritual Well-Being (1996 to 2004) Austin, Texas
  • Chairperson and Founder Spirituality and Trauma Special Interest Group, International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies  (2000 to 2003)
  • International Delegate on PTSD to China (1992) and South Africa (1994)
  • The Phoenix Springs Consulting Group: Cofounder (1990 to 1997) Austin, Texas
  • Psychotherapist (1983-1988) San Marcos Treatment Center, Healthcare International, Inc.
  • Director Child Life Program (1981-1983) New Orleans, Tulane University Medical Center Hospital
  • Mental Health Consultant for Pediatric Hospice (1980) Hospice of Louisville Kentucky, Inc.

Presentations *

  • National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, “Transforming Caregiver Burden and Distress” national pre-conference workshop, Kansas City, Missouri 2013.
  • National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, “Teaching Patients to Intervene and Impact Their Pain Experience” national conference workshop, San Diego, California 2011.
  • National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, “Death is a Given-Excessive Turbulence is Optional” national pre-conference workshop, Atlanta, Georgia 2010.
  • National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, “Stop, Drop and Flow: Befriending Emotional Over-Reactivity” national conference workshop, Atlanta, Georgia 2010.
  • Statewide Conference on Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, keynote speaker, “Decreasing Test Anxiety and Improving Performance” Austin, Texas 2006
.
  • Region 13 Educational Service Center, all day workshop “Reducing Test Anxiety and Improving Performance” Austin, Texas 2005.
  • Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas Medical Center, all day workshop “Combating Compassion Fatigue in Medical Social Workers,” Dallas, Texas 2002.
  • Academy of Management International Conference, “Building Spirituality Groups within a Professional Community.” Washington, D. C.  2001.
  • National Domestic Violence Hotline, “Transforming Compassion Fatigue.” all day workshop  Austin, Texas 2001
.
  • Hospice of Louisville, “Transforming Compassion Fatigue” and “Cultivating Hope and Spiritual Well-Being in Caregivers.”  All-day seminar, Louisville, Kentucky 1998.
  • International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, “Spiritual Crucible:  Cultivating Hope and Spiritual Well-being in Trauma Responders.”  Montreal, Canada 1997.
  • International delegate to South Africa, Citizens Ambassador Program on Traumatic Stress Treatment, “Experiential Debriefing of Trauma Interventionists.”  University of Capetown, Medical School, Capetown, South Africa 1996.
  • International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.  “Experiential Debriefing with Trauma Interventionists.”  Boston, Massachusetts 1995.
  • International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.  “Art Therapy and Vicarious Trauma.” Beverly Hills, California 1992.
  • 
International delegate to China, Citizens Ambassador Program on Traumatic Stress Treatment, “Vicarious Trauma and the Use of Art Therapy.” University of Beijing Medical School, Beijing, China 1992.

* PARTIAL LIST

Art Exhibitions

  • The Small Gallery, “Art Quilts” in the Soft and Hard exhibit. Dallas, Texas 2015
  • Slant Gallery, “Fascinators” fiber art jewelry, Dallas, Texas 2015
    Wear Art Thou, fiber art jewelry, Austin, Texas 2013
  • Austin Area Quilt Guild annual show, “Sea Whimsy” art quilt, Austin, Texas 2006

Education

  • University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky:  Master of Arts in Art Therapy
  • Centre College of Kentucky, Danville, Kentucky, Bachelor of Arts

Good Works Journal Project

I’m giving my art away for “good.”

As a fiber / mixed media artist and board certified art therapist I have often struggled with how to make my art have greater reach and purpose while creating good in the world. Over the years, I’ve donated pieces to silent auctions, raffles and fund raisers. Yet, I always felt that my art could do more than grace a shelf or someone’s wall. I wanted it to grow and help others. I wanted people I’ve never met – to join in the process.

So I began creating sixty handcrafted art journals and birthed the Good Works Journal Project. Each journal recipient is asked to contribute a chapter. They then must also give the journal away.

The guidance for participation is found on the journal’s first page and reads as follows:

“This journal took approximately 15-20 hours to create. In taking possession of this journal, you are agreeing to participate in at least 15 hours of doing good in the world. How you choose to serve, volunteer or do charitable work is up to you. I encourage you to push your comfort zone. You won’t regret it. I’m willing to bet you’ll remember this experience for the rest of your life.
Then, within the pages of the journal you are invited to write, share photos, draw, collage or create something about your good-works-adventure. You can also record your experience on our Facebook page.

We need to share our hearts and loving deeds with the world. Also, we want more people to know about this project so they can start one of their own, inspire hope and see that caring about each other abounds in this world.
Finally, you must find someone else who agrees to continue this project, to pass the journal forward, on out into the world. This is where the journey of the journal continues. Good works creating more good works. You answered the call. I am quite sure you know someone else who will give their hands and heart to this project. Perhaps they live near by or halfway around the world. Find them, get them to agree and let this journal of goodness and caring continue its journey and mission. ”

To read the amazing Good Works stories please go to the Journal’s Facebook page at facebook.com/goodworksjournal. If you would like to participate in the Good Works Journal Project, please let me know. Just email me at goodworksjournal@gmail.com or here at mollyg@flamingheartmedia.com. We’ll get you started.