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AATA Conference, 2009

Early registration is now available for the 2009 AATA conference in Dallas, TX, coming up this November.

I’m teaming up with Melissa Solorzano ATR-BC, LCAT from the Creative Therapy Sessions Podcast available on iTunes to offer a workshop on Sunday November 22nd, which focuses on creating a blog or podcast (audio blog). We also plan to talk briefly on the subject of ethics, professionalism, copyright/plagiarism, cyber-counseling, and the benefits of using new technology within the field of art therapy.

Hope to see you there!

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Art Therapy Around the World #3

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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.

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Trauma Healing and the Arts

Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA hosted a conference last weekend entitled Trauma, Healing and the Arts. The keynote speaker was Linda Gantt PhD, ATR-BC, who also presented a half day workshop on The Graphic Narrative, an art therapy technique for processing trauma.

I attended both Linda Gantt’s workshop and Linda Chapman’s workshop entitled “The Right Hemisphere: Trauma and Art Therapy” (the Bay Area Linda Chapman, not the Toronto based one ;). Both workshops were informative and enlightening in their own way.

Gantt’s Graphic Narrative essentially breaks down the body’s natural trauma response, and uses art therapy to explore not only the step by step external happenings of the traumatic event, but the internal/non-verbal aspects as well.

Chapman discussed the Right Hemisphere of the brain and its role in childhood development, non-verbal experiences and how trauma is stored in the brain. Her work is mainly an integration of cutting edge neuroscience and art therapy theory, helping to demonstrate the role of art therapy and its usefulness in processing traumatic memories. She is in the process of writing a journal article for one of the art therapy journals…so be on the lookout for it, because it’s not only interesting – its groundbreaking work.

One of the best parts of the conference for me, was completely unplanned. Chapman blasted through her presentation, and had about 40 minutes to kill. After a thorough question and answer period, and still having time left over, an audience member asked her to talk about her experience with Vicarious Traumatization. Several other presenters talked about this topic, but since I chose other workshops to attend, this was the first I heard anyone speak of this subject in a public forum. Linda’s story was both touching and shocking. She discussed how after 10 years of working in a highly traumatic work environment (hospital setting), she herself developed PTSD symptoms: nightmares, difficulty sleeping, hyper vigilance, isolation, etc… In her experience, even after leaving her job 8 years ago and living a much more balanced life, she continues to experience symptoms. She made a very strong case for self care, knowing your limits and participating in 1:1 therapy (even if it’s on an as needed basis) to process everything that one maybe carrying around from the workplace.

Here is a link on Vicarious Traumatization or Secondary Traumatization that explains what it is and how to help prevent it.

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Overcoming a Phobia

Fear of Driving

Actually, this post should be titled “How I’m trying to overcome a phobia and how freaking difficult it is!”

Growing up in the east coast of Canada, in a city with great public transit, I never felt the need to learn how to drive…or so I told myself. I could get around just fine, and it was something I just didn’t have an interest in learning how to do. Fast forward to present day. I live in the Bay Area and still take public transit everywhere, but I’m feeling the pressure when it comes to not having a driver’s license. So, with much prompting and encouragement from others, I reluctantly went out to get my permit and began learning to drive. This is when I realized I had a phobia- the moment when the possibility of driving actually became a realistic thing…something I was going to do. My anxiety became overwhelming, so much so that just thinking about driving turned me into a sobbing hysterical mess. Even writing about this topic still brings tears to my eyes, despite the fact that I’ve come so far. Currently, I am taking driving lessons, practicing and I even drove on the highway for the first time a few days ago. I’m just waiting for desensitization to (finally) take hold, as this has been going on for months…but I have to admit, it is getting better.

Here are some examples of art therapy directives I thought up that would help someone with a similar phobia (and can easily be adapted to other forms of phobic behaviors):

– Using art making to visualize yourself driving. For example, you can begin by drawing, or perhaps collaging a picture of yourself in a car. The next step would be to create a visual story or comic strip about the drive itself, where in the end everything works out okay and you return safely home.

– Using art making to reduce anxiety before and after a visualization or in vivo session. This can mean simply making a mandala, or perhaps knitting or sewing…anything that you find to be meditative and relaxing.

– One may also decide to create a piece of artwork that includes encouraging phrases or images. This artwork could be also be made before or after a visualization or in vivo session, or perhaps it could just be hanging around the house or car so you get a dose of encouragement through out the day.

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GPS Shoes for Alzheimer’s

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A new technology is being developed to help those with Alzheimer’s disease, who are at risk for wandering. GTX corp is working on GPS shoes that would track the exact location of a loved one whose cognitive impairments make it likely that they would become confused or get lost if they were out and about on their own.

What a brilliant idea! As someone who knows all too well the experience of having a much loved grandmother wander off in a public area, this product can’t come out soon enough.

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Art Therapy Around the World #2

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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.

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Online Games to Boost Self-Esteem

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Researchers at McGill University have created several online activities called Self Esteem Games, helping people build self confidence and stay on the positive side of life. The games force you to recognize happy faces and/or your own name, creating a positive association to yourself and others in your mind. In other words, the exercises foster an individual’s ability to recognize and focus on positive environmental stimuli (i.e., smiling people) rather than the negative, allowing the players to practice having a positive or more optimistic attentional bias.

The games are easy, fun, fast and somewhat meditative…something that would be appropriate for pretty much anyone to do on their own, or perhaps at the beginning or end of a therapy session…or even as homework after a therapy session is over. Homework that’s fun? Well, that IS something to be excited about!

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Art Therapy Around the World

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This is a new post that will periodically appear on my blog to sum up some of the art therapy studios, events and exhibitions currently happening around the world. My hope is to inspire and remind us all how large the art therapy network really is, and all the wonderful things we’re all doing to help others and spread the word about art therapy as a profession.

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.

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The Tate teams up with Art Therapy in London

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.