Dottie Heiler

About Dottie Heiler

Dottie knows that sometimes talking is not the best way in. Her background in both counseling and the arts gives clients other ways to get at an experience when the words are not coming. She wants therapy to feel safe enough for people to explore their story without having to force it into one particular form.

Dottie holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University, an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. Before entering mental health care, she spent roughly a decade in arts education. She is currently working toward credentialing as a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist.

Dottie works with children, adolescents, and adults, including people dealing with trauma, family or community stress, and the effects of sexual assault. Depending on the client, therapy may look like traditional conversation, CBT, play-based techniques, expressive arts, or some combination of those things.

For Dottie, creative work is not about being artistic or making something “good.” It is another language. Art, movement, storytelling, imagery, and other expressive approaches can sometimes reach something a client is feeling or remembering before they are ready to explain it out loud.

Dottie’s graduate focus is Expressive Arts Therapy, which can draw from many creative forms rather than visual art alone. Whatever form the work takes, the goal is the same: to amplify clients’ voices and empower them to have more say in what healing looks like for them.