The smell of paint and clay hits me as I walk into Dr. Andrews' office.

I look around and relax my shoulders when I see a young woman with dark, almost black hair, yellow flats, and a pale pink blouse washes paintbrushes in the sink to my right.

"Excuse me, Dr. Andrews?"

She turns around revealing a pair of bright blue eyes and a dimpled smile. I'm struck by how young she looks, I could almost imagine her walking down the halls of my high school but small smile lines forming in the corner of her eyes dismiss that vision.

"Yes, I'm Dr. Andrews."

She grabs a paper towel from the dispenser next to her and wipes off her hands as she walks over to me.

I take a quick look around her office as she approaches me. A countertop nestled on top of cabinets to my right, a desk to my left, a large window on the wall across from me, and a round table in the center of the room covered in cut up pieces of paper. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was in the art room at my school.

Dr. Andrews stick out her hand for me to take.

"You must be Alyssa Marks. Do you have a preferred name for me to call you?"

I grasp her hand and shake my head.

"Alyssa's fine."

"Nice to meet you, Alyssa. I've talked to your mom a bit about what art therapy is, but why don't you take a seat at the craft table and we'll discuss what we'll be doing together so you know what to expect." She walks over to the desk and turns off her computer monitor. She looks into a manila folder for a moment before joining me at the table.

"Okay, so I like to start off every session with a little talk about what's going on in your life and then we'll move into crafts time. Sometimes, I'll ask you to do something specific and help guide you and sometimes I'll let you choose what you want to do.

Today we'll set goals for what you want to accomplish with these sessions. Other than that I just have a few forms for you to look over and sign, but we'll get to those later. Unfortunately, we'll only be talking for this session but we can break out the art supplies tomorrow. Are you ok with that?"

"Yeah, that's fine." I flash a quick smile and twist my hands together.

"Are you ready to begin?" Dr. Andrews' blue eyes shine bright and her pink blouse makes my lips quirk up.

"I'm ready."