Navigating our Perception Box

The Perception Box™️ Framework

We each experience the world through our own Perception Box, shaped by our unique history, beliefs, and experiences. By becoming more aware of the assumptions that influence it, we can broaden what’s possible for ourselves. In moments of challenge, this awareness opens the door to new perspectives and growth. Join us as we explore ways to thrive as our Perception Box expands.

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Learn more about Perception Box
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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Medicinal Media Perception Box Playlist

PROJECT 1

Conquering Shame

How self-awareness, self-expression, and creative therapy can transform self-image and foster healing, as told through powerful stories of recovery.

Unmasking truth and healing through art

Art therapy can offer a unique, liberating path in eating disorder treatment, helping clients express emotions, rebuild self-esteem, and find joy in creation—even when words can’t do justice. For many, like writer Summer Tao, it's not just therapy—it's a way to reconnect with hope.

Written by Summer Tao, Illustrations by Sasha Bakinovskaja

What happens when both parent and teen have ADHD? One mom shares how self-awareness helped heal their home.

Written by Managing Editor Jessi Cape Illustrations by Annie B. McCall

DOCUMENTARY

Exec Producer/Camera Rob VanAlkemade, Series Producer Erika Paige Barnette, Associate Producer Nahima Shaffer, Series Editor Jae Shim, UC Editor Yvette Dubin, UC Consultant Gina Gonzales, Creative Director Jennymarie Jemsion, Managing Editor (articles) Jessi Cape

Exploring self-image through art can be terrifying, and rewarding. Artist and mental health advocate Leigh de Vries shares her journey using exposure therapy for self-discovery and healing, while psychologist Dr. Lauren Stutman, a BDD expert who also suffers from it, defines and contextualizes the disorder and treatments.

“Oscar Wilde said, ‘Give a man a mask and he can tell the truth’. I feel like art, in a way, helps us take the mask off. Honesty is all I really have.”

-Leigh DeVries

PROJECT 2

Emotional Pain and the Somatic Response

The first collection in our Perception Box series highlights how emotional pain can be intertwined with the physical, and what we can learn from both as we navigate through it.

Getting aquainted with your nervous system

Feeling stuck in fight-or-flight? Your body may be trying to talk to you—here’s how to start listening.

Written by Sonia Chien Illustrated by Olga Kurkina

A nurse reexamines her migraines and self-blame, and discovers how childhood trauma reshapes the body, brain, and beliefs.

Written by Laura Onstot, Illustrations by Jon McCormack

DOCUMENTARY

As children, we held our emotional pain however we had to at the time. As adults, we can revisit that pain, and feel how it has affected our bodies, to move forward with self-compassion. Explained and demonstrated by somatic psychotherapist Gabriela Ucros, LMFT.

Exec Producer/Camera Rob VanAlkemade, Series Producer Erika Paige Barnette, Associate Producer Nahima Shaffer, Series Editor Jae Shim, Animations by Michael Hadwin and Jon McCormack, Creative Director Jennymarie Jemsion, Managing Editor (articles) Jessi Cape

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“The voices, the negative thoughts, the younger parts that hold the pain—they are all part of who you are. They are all part of your complexity as a human being.”

–Gabriela Ucros, LMFT