The journey of an art therapist turned education technology expert
Les Impatients and the Wellington Center in Montreal, Canada, have teamed up to bring art therapy to the Douglas Hospital’s outpatients who receive community mental health and rehabilitation services.
Here’s an article from CTV news and a video describing the new art therapy partnership.
Read a Brief article on how a Madoff victim uses art therapy.
British actor uses art therapy to tackle drug addiction.
In Napa Valley California, Aldea uses art therapy calendar to raise funds and awareness of art therapy. Read about it here.
Art therapy can improve the Quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients.
Art and music therapy are at the heart of Tender Care Human Services, in Queens and Brooklyn NY. Read more about this non-profit on the Daily News.
Read about Esther Dreifuss-Kattan, PhD, ATR and the Oncology art therapy exhibit in Santa Monica, CA.
Art exhibit at Louisa’s Cafe Bakery in Seattle featuring the artwork made by patients of Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Tiao Nithakhong Somsanith, PhD, teaches traditional Lao expressive art and craft making to young Laotians who are at risk of loosing their cultural identity. The art is then presented to tourists traveling through the Amantaka resort.
The Combat Paper Project encourages Iraq war veterans to create art pieces integrating their uniforms with paper making techniques in Savannah, GA.
Read about Poppy Scheibel’s work with Alzheimer’s patients in the Sarasota-Manatee Florida area.
Studio Sfumato in Oregon teams up with the Children’s Advocacy Center to provide a 5 week art therapy program and fundraising project for teens who have experienced abuse.
An article featuring an art therapy program in the Clayton Residential Home, Chicago IL, a residential facility for over 200 individuals suffering from a mental illness.
Read about a 5 year old in Omaha suffering from cancer and how the art therapy program at the Omaha’s Children’s Hospital and Medical Center has helped her stay in contact with her childhood.
Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center near Chicago, IL, integrates creative arts therapies, including art and dance movement therapies into their treatment philosophy.
A quick blurb about an Art Therapy bereavement group in Fallbrook, CA
An article explaining how art making helped a woman who suffered from a traumatic brain injury after slipping on some black ice. Her artwork is being exhibited through September at Gritman Medical Center Conference Center in Moscow, ID.
Read about Dawn Freeman’s art therapy group for cancer patients, families, friends and caregivers held at North Coast Cancer Care in Ohio.
A rag doll making workshop will be hosted by Dr. Holly Feen-Calligan at Wayne State University, Washington. To read more about the workshop and some of the benefits of doll making, click here.
An article discussing art therapy in an inpatient and an acute partial hospitalization program at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Reading, PA. Don’t forget to click on the slide show, which highlights some of the art pieces created by the clients.
Read about Jean Tait, an aboriginal art therapist in Alberta Canada who just started a private practice.
In Chapel Hill, NC, the Art Therapy Institute teams up with the Newcomer Center, creating an art exhibit composed of the artwork of Burmese refugees. Read the article here.
NYU art professor and Goodwill Ambassador, Ross Bleckner, helps traumatized children in Uganda express their stories through art. There was a recent fundraiser/exhibit of the art pieces in New York. To read more about it, click here.
An article in Stars and Stripes describing how art therapy is being used with combat veterans in Europe.
Information regarding a grass roots art therapy organization called Nineonetwo in Savannah, GA.
Cadenza Center for Psychotherapy and the Arts, originally from Florida, just opened a new facility in downtown Hollywood, CA. There will be an open house on June 4th. A brief article is available here.
Barbara Watson, an Australian art therapist discusses her work with individuals suffering from chronic mental illness at the Reflections Art Studio in Northbridge.
In Sacramento California, the Shriners Hospital teams up with the Sacramento Fine Arts Center to create their first art therapy show: “ArtSpress Yourself: A Celebration of Children’s Achievements through Art”. The show runs from Tuesday 05/19/09-Saturday 06/06/09. Click here to see the article in the Sacramento Bee.
In Fredericksburg Virginia, an exhibit of artwork and poetry created by sexual assault survivors is being hosted at the at the Fredericksburg Athenaeum until the end of may. Click here for further information.
An article by WFIE in Indiana featuring the benefit of art therapy in the treatment of those suffering from cancer.
The Tate Museum and art therapists from Oxleas NHS Trust in south-east London are teaming together, linking those who suffer from mental illness and their families to the artwork found in the museum itself. The idea is to allow new, spontaneous interpretations of the museum’s artwork to emerge in order to begin a dialogue about mental illness and the inner world of those who have been touched by it.
The article written by Nina Lakhani for the Independent can be viewed here.
My new years resolution is to do everything I can to help promote the legislative issues surrounding the LPC and its passing in the State Senate. This is extremely important to me because I was not educated in California, and therefore do not have the required degree to become licensed in this state. Currently, Social Workers, Associate Clinical Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists are able to be licensed in California. California is the last state not to have the LPC license.
The purpose of having an LPC license is not to take away jobs from the LCSWs or the MFTs, but to protect the rights of clients and regulate counselors that are not currently licensed by the state. The LPC license would help monitor and standardize the ethics, quality of care and level of expertise of the mental health professionals in the State of California. The LPC standards set up by the California Coalition for Councelor Licensure parallel the LCSW and MFT license requirements in the state of California.
For various reasons, I cannot simply take the few extra courses that it would take for me to parallel my MA degree in Creative Arts in Therapy from Drexel University with the technical requirements for a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy or Social Work. If the LPC does not pass I will have no choice but to go back to school, which is both an expensive and frustrating prospect- especially because the courses that I already completed with my current MA may not be recognized by other Universities. Higher educational institutions are notorious for forcing students to retake classes they’ve already taken…anyone who has tried to transfer credits from one school to another knows this all too well.
So…what to do? Check out the NorCATA website, specifically the legislative issues page. Here, you will find information about what happened last year to the LPC bill and who to contact/how to help this year. I know last year I received many emails asking me to print out and fax letters to my congressman/woman to support the bill. With the renewal of my NorCATA membership this year I also provided a donation to the cause.
Every little bit helps…even words of support by art therapists in other states who are not facing this issue.
On her spare time during the AATA conference, Amanda Alders briefly interviewed art therapists and posted them on YouTube. This is intended as another resource on the internet, and bring the art therapy world, and those who are interested in art therapy, closer together.
You can check out interviews with the Creative Therapy Sessions podcaster Melissa Solorzano, and also, yours truly.