About

Barbara J. Dorrington brings over forty years of experience as a registered social worker and art therapist, a journey that began in the early 1980s. She later earned additional credentials as a trauma and loss consultant supervisor through rigorous training at the National Institute of Trauma and Loss in Children in Michigan in the early 2000s. Dorrington dedicated the majority of her career to counseling children and young adults at a protective children's agency, a children's mental health center, and within a school board system.

In 1982, five years into her counseling career, she sought mentorship under Irene Dewdney, a prominent Canadian figure in art therapy. Dewdney introduced her to the concept of the "wounded healer," rooted in Carl Jung's belief that personal pain can be channeled to empathetically guide others through their own healing.

Dorrington also volunteered as a trauma debriefing specialist, including work with hurricane victims in Louisiana and Mississippi, where she set up an art therapy pop-up amid tent camps and warehouses. This experience deepened her conviction that healing begins by asking what happened to a person, not what is wrong with them.

From this philosophy she developed the "Breathe, Rock, Draw" program, a holistic approach integrating controlled breathing, physical movement, and creative expression. The program was endorsed and utilized by the National Institute of Trauma and Loss for approximately two decades.

Her book, The Trauma Monster, explores the deeply entrenched traumas individuals carry, often for decades, and shines a light on cold cases across one Ontario community, offering hope for resolution and closure.