How can we nurture our capacity for empathy and free thought to face the social and political challenges of the 21st century?
How can new technology contribute to both liberation, democratization and modern enslavement and authoritarianism?
How can we navigate the restraints of our health care systems by creating safe spaces of healing in our communities?
What characterizes solid and sensitive leaders, and how can we develop our leadership skills in our daily lives irrespective of our professional roles?
About
Aili Løchen is an Oslo-based multi-artist of Norwegian, Karelian and Sápmi decent. She makes cartoons, paintings, poetry and music next to her full-time job as a clinical psychologist.
I graduated with my professional Master’s degree in clinical psychology in 2022 from the University of Oslo. My thesis work focused on early predictors of psychotic experiences amongst patients with bipolar disorders and schizophrenia through NORMENT Research Centre of Excellence at Oslo University Hospital. For my work I was supported with a competitive student research grant from the Norwegian Research Council (Norsk Forskningsråd, NFR).
You can read my research through the published peer-reviewed article here (Løchen et al., 2023).
What I became the most interested in following my work with individuals diagnosed with what our culture calls bipolar disorders and schizophrenia was the great capacity of our subconscious mind. Both in creating art and new ideas when we really need them, as well as in becoming one of our greatest adversaries on the other side of a mental break-down. After finishing my research project, knee-deep in the limbo the pandemic left us in, I wanted to give more space in my own life as well to the capacity of our mind and our feelings to meet in the creative act - be it in our relationships when we need to find a way back to one another, in artistic work to improvise and play, in clinical work to connect and re-connect to our emotions or in science to come closer to understanding the make-up of our deepest nature.
Today I combine my passions for art, science and clinical work by facilitating people’s personal exploration of their inner world and relationships in therapy. My methods combine humanistic, emotion-focused and trauma-informed principles along with a solid anchoring in prolonged exposure based principles. I have a particular passion for helping people who have gone through severe mental illness or trauma to find their way back in their own time to trusting their compass, their feelings and the capacity of the mind to heal.
I work at Angstklinikken in Oslo and can be booked for clinical consultations through their website.
