November 15, 2018
Rachel Mims, MS, ATR-BC, LPC-AT, is a native Texan who served 10 and a half years in the Army as a PATRIOT Missile Launcher Operator/Maintainer. For the last four years she has worked at Texas State Technical College in the Veterans Services Department, most recently as the Veteran Program Administrator. This fall Mims is starting a new job as art therapist and counselor at the Heart of Texas Veterans One Stop, where she will focus on working with survivors of military sexual trauma and justice-involved veterans. She values her AATA membership for the many opportunities “to connect with other art therapists across the country and participate in work that would have otherwise been impossible.”
Mims earned her MS in Art Therapy from Florida State University and recently completed a certificate in Horticulture Therapy from the Chicago Botanic Garden. She spends her free time doing art therapy work with veterans through the nonprofit Veteran Art Therapy and working towards her goal of owning and operating a therapeutic farm and retreat center.
She is passionate about art therapy because it “utilizes a different part of the brain and allows for expression in a different way than verbal therapy.” Mims looks forward to seeing her colleagues’ continued contributions to research publications in the field and the profession’s continued journey towards licensing and reciprocity across the country. To her colleagues Mims says, “As a profession we have started moving in the right direction as far as social justice and diversity, but we still have a long way to go. Do not become complacent, we still have work to do to.”
The Protector 2” by Rachel Mims. Acrylic paint and screen print on paper. 2018.
Artist’s statement: “As a veteran, my work sometimes takes on a military focus. This piece depicts a former soldier who did not survive but is now protecting those currently serving. Veterans look out for each other and I image this continues to happen even after someone has passed.”