About Lee Ann Thill
Therapy for offbeat & exceptional teens, women & LGBTQ+ folks
Grief | ADHD | Chronic Illness | Disordered Eating & Body Image
Prism Art Therapy | Lee Ann Thill, PhD, Art Therapist
In-person therapy: Voorhees, NJ | Camden County | South Jersey
Virtual: NJ, CT, PA
I’m Lee Ann
No beige. No bland. No bullshit.
The short answer to “Why am I a therapist?” is simple: therapy helped me. I know what it’s like to sit in the client’s chair — and what it’s like before you even get there, feeling trapped, hating your situation, wishing you could snap your fingers and fix everything.
You want something in your life to change. To make that happen, you’re looking for someone relatable and real — someone who actually has a clue about what you’re up against. And most importantly, someone who knows how to help you:
- Slow down and understand what’s happening in your mind and body
- Feel less weighed down by grief, guilt, regret, or anger
- Build a healthier relationship with food, your body, and your thoughts
- Choose relationships that support you, not drain you
- Take steps toward personal, social, school, work, or health goals
- Quiet the harsh inner critic and treat yourself with more compassion
Easier said than done? Sure. But it’s doable — and worth it. Together, we’ll figure out why you’re stuck and how to get unstuck. There’s more to your story, and I’m here to help you write the next chapter.
One question I often hear:
” What made you decide to be an art therapist?”
Art was always my thing. As a kid, I made art whenever I could because it was fun and made me feel good about myself. In high school, I took all the art classes, and then studied art in college.
I also started going to therapy when I was a teen. That experience was so helpful that after college, I decided to go back to school to become an art therapist.
Now, 25+ years later, I help people like you who are overwhelmed, feeling stuck or like life has gotten out of hand, and doing things that aren’t in their best interest.
Together, we’ll use art therapy to figure out why you feel trapped and how to turn things around, so you can move forward with self-forgiveness, confidence and hope.
Working Together
Being yourself and sharing what you’re dealing with is essential in therapy, so it’s importent that you feel at ease. My style is relaxed and there’s back-and-forth when we talk, so it’s not a lot of nodding and uh-huh‘s that are hard to read.
When your thoughts and emotions are all over the place, the benefit of art therapy is having options to express yourself. Sounds obvious, but that’s like your navigation app rerouting you when there’s a road closure.
I try to make art therapy low pressure, even when sensitive topics come up, because it’s supposed to be a way to deal with your stress, not add to it.
Art therapy leads to a-ha moments, releases emotions, and clears you head. We’ll discuss what you hope will be different after therapy, and I’ll guide our work towards those goals.
What you can expect in the first sessions:
- Sessions have 3 parts – chat about what’s on your mind, art-making, talk about the art
- I’ll suggest topics, so there’s no pressure to come up with ideas
- We’ll use art materials you have experience using, like markers and colored pencils
- We’ll focus on a topic or theme, as well as thoughts and feelings about the art, not your skill level
What to expect in later sessions:
- We’ll decide materials and topics together
- We’ll try a wider variety of art materials
- Instead of starting and finishing a piece of art in each session, we can make art that’s more involved and takes multiple sessions to complete
My Story
Artist. Type 1 diabetic. Neurodivergent. Queer. Feminist. Vegan. Mom to dogs, cats & a blind bird. Philly sports fan.
My path to being a therapist started as a client when I was a teen. I had a lot to work through – depression, an eating disorder, a lot of feelings about growing up with type 1 diabetes, run-of-the-mill family stuff that I didn’t know how to deal with.
Later, as a young adult with a degree in art, I decided to go back to school, and because therapy had helped me, I was interested in art therapy.
Even after becoming a therapist, I’ve returned to therapy when I needed extra support – after a family member died from suicide, and to get diagnosed with ADHD and SPCD.
I want you to know that I know what it’s like – meeting a new therapist, telling your lifestory, snotty crying when things get deep. I’ve also talked about “trivial” stuff like vacations, movies and dogs because it’s nice to know your therapist is a real person.
I love my work, but there’more to me than that. I rescue and find homes for stray cats. I teach art therapy students. I’m an introvert and kind of a homebody, so I like to garden, cook, make art, and be with my husband and our family of rescued animals. I love Philly sports and I’m a big fan of Gritty. My media interests are a grab bag: history books, funny TV, depressing movies, political podcasts, and a decent collection of mostly 70’s and 80’s vinyl.
Credentials
Lee Ann received her BFA in ceramics and painting & drawing from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, MA in art therapy from Drexel University, and PhD in expressive therapies from Lesley University. She’s a registered and board-certified art therapist through ATCB with art therapy licenses in New Jersey and Connecticut and counseling license in Pennsylvania.