   The third annual Expressive Therapies Summit will be held in New York City, November 8-11, 2012. This exciting continuing education opportunity offers creative arts therapists and educators, arts professionals, and interested healthcare colleagues the chance to come together to learn, collaborate, and network. Attendance at this event has already grown to over 600 people from 7 countries in only two years. In 2011, a distinguished faculty of over 100 clinicians, educators, researchers, and others presented papers, panels, workshops, and full-day classes on art, music, drama, dance/movement, and poetry therapies as well as psychodrama, sandtray and play therapy for populations of all ages and abilities. Need some inspiration? Review last year’s (2011) Program by clicking here. Click here to access the 2012 Proposal Submission Site or paste http://www.cvent.com/d/dcq9jl into your browser. Otherwise, visit expressivetherapiessummit.com and click the Submit Proposal tab to access the Submission site. Once there, just use the navigation bar on the left side of the page to find out how to submit a proposal. Faculty discount and compensation information, as well as 2011 faculty bios, registration rates, and more are also available on the Submission site. Notification of proposal acceptance will be sent via email by the end of May, at latest. The full Summit schedule and registration details will be available online on or before July 2. Registration will be open to all interested professionals and students, and can be purchased by the day or in any combination. A limited number of student work/study opportunities are offered via application, which are available when online registration opens. CEUs will be offered for creative arts therapists, social workers, counselors, and others. Stronger Together!
Barry M. Cohen, ATR-BC summit@expressivemedia.org If you no longer want to receive emails from the Expressive Therapies Summit or Expressive Media, please click the link below. |
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Hello Friends, Fans and Members of VATA!
This week is Creative Art Therapies Week, a time to promote awareness of the various healing arts professions. Our goal this week will be to spend the week highlighting Art, Music, Dance, Drama, and Play Therapies. We will provide information about each specialty and, when possible, share about local professionals, centers, organizations, and practices that utilize Creative Art Therapies. We, of course, are a body of Art Therapists so it feel natural to begin there.
Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. Research in the field confirms that the creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people to become more physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy and functional, resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, handle life adjustments, and achieve insight.
Art therapy is the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living, and by people who seek personal development. Through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes, people can increase awareness of self and others cope with symptoms, stress, and traumatic experiences; enhance cognitive abilities; and enjoy the life-affirming pleasures of making art.
Art therapists are professionals trained in both art and therapy. They are knowledgeable about human development, psychological theories, clinical practice, spiritual, multicultural and artistic traditions, and the healing potential of art. They use art in treatment, assessment and research, and provide consultations to allied professionals. Art therapists work with people of all ages: individuals, couples, families, groups, and communities. They provide services, individually and as part of clinical teams, in settings that include mental health, rehabilitation, medical and forensic institutions; community outreach programs; wellness centers; schools; nursing homes; corporate structures; open studios and independent practices.
The American Art Therapy Association, Inc. (AATA) sets educational, professional, and ethical standards for its members. The Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB), an independent organization, grants credentials. Registration (ATR) is granted upon completion of graduate education and post-graduate supervised experience. Board Certification (ATR-BC) is granted to Registered Art Therapists who pass a written examination, and is maintained through continuing education. Some states regulate the practice of art therapy and in many states art therapists can become licensed as counselors or mental health therapists.
Our culture is one of inclusion of people of all backgrounds, open to new concepts and artistic expression that continues to expand the effectiveness of art as a healing therapy. We are rooted in the experience of those who began this field 40 years ago and honor their legacy by our commitment to the future of the art therapy profession.
The above information was provided by the American Art Therapy Association. For more information about Art Therapy, and The American Art Therapy Association visit their website. www.arttherapy.org
For more information about the Virginia Art Therapy Association and events around the state visit www.vaarttherapy.org You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
A Balancing Act : Finding my Way
I recently began a new job. I wasn’t hired to be an art therapist although during the interview the other clinicians expressed interest in what it means to be an art therapist. I’ve been told that I can utilize my art therapy skills although I need to take care to use other “interventions” as well. At first I found this to be a great challenge, almost every job I’ve had as an art therapist has required me to be innovative, creative and informative so I could prove to other professionals that art therapy works. I had to work my way into the system, I made no apologies for my Art Therapist self, standing strong and paving a new path and a new way of thinking about therapy. But so far, almost 1 month in, I feel lost. Lost in a sea of regulations, requirements, assessments and firm ideas about what therapy is. I am having a hard time finding my way.
The nature of my current work is very short term, sometimes I only see a client once at intake. I have made plans to introduce art making only to have the person or couple no show. Its discouraging and frustrating. I can do all the work, the assessments etc. but I WANT more. I want to develop relationships with clients, building trust, and helping them find THEIR WAY through art and art making. Art Therapy is what I know its what I LOVE. My plan is to try and try again, to stand STRONG and not apologize for my Art Therapist self, to create a new path and find my way to the ART!
D.
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The Virginia Art Therapy Association Presents
Mindfulness in Art Therapy through Mandala and Labyrinth work
For centuries, cultures throughout the world have found inspiration and guidance from sacred circles, or circular patterns representing ancient archetypes of wholeness. Stonehenge, Native American medicine wheels, and Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas remain stunning and transformative healing tools. In this workshop participants will create personal mandalas and clay finger labyrinths, learning how to integrate these sacred circles as psychotherapy and meditation tools to heal emotional trauma, manage grief and pain, reduce stress, increase self-awareness, and find inner peace. Focus is on a subliminal, metaphorical, unified process to work with clients in both clinical settings and in self-healing and mindfulness practice.
Presenter: Karen Montgomery, MS, ATR, C-SOTP, received her Masters of Science in Creative Arts Therapy from Nazareth College in 2003, specializing in research on the clinical use of labyrinths and mandalas with mentally challenged populations. She now works in the Henrico County Juvenile Detention system in Richmond, VA, is co-chairman of the Labyrinth Ministry at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Glen Allen, and she recently accepted the position of Vice President of the Virginia Art Therapy Association. Trained and certified in the Life Cycle Mandala Assessment, based on Joan Kellogg’s theory of human development, Karen has led myriad creative arts groups and meditative workshops, at both the national and local level, on the healing powers of mandalas, chakras, and labyrinths, utilizing
primarily painting, clay, & collage.
Saturday, March 24th, 2012
9:30 am- 4:30 pm
Registration from 9:30-10am
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Art Therapy Department
651 Colley Ave. Room 100, Norfolk, VA
Cost:
Non-Members: $80
Members and
Student Non-Members: $60
Student Members: $40
5.5 hours of CEU’s Offered by NBCC
Free to VATA Members
$10 for Non-VATA Members
Become a VATA Member during
registration to take advantage
of special pricing!
Lunch and Refreshments Provided
Pre-Registration Required DEADLINE MARCH 17th,2012
Visit our Website and Pay Securely with PayPal
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Art Therapy in Juvenile Detention
By: Erin Kemp, ATR
Today was one of those days.
I LOVE my job, and I love working with my students, but some days I fall into their negativity, and it drags me down little by little. I’ve felt the nagging weight of compassion fatigue, and I’ve moved on from my clinical work into this incredible studio environment that fits me like a T. So now, in my art as therapy classroom, I don’t experience those same feelings and yet sometimes I can’t help but be personally offended when a flood of “man, I hate this class” and “this project sucks” hits me head on.
I want to say… This isn’t a class! This is your studio, your safe place, your haven. Your relaxed, calm environment where your favorite R&B music plays, people talk a little more softly, and you get the chance to be the complete boss of your artwork (with the exception of an ever-increasing catalogue of gang symbols!) But negativity is like the plague. It spreads around here like a wildfire, and I realized today that I’m not yet to the point where I can be immune to its flames. Don’t bulletproof vests only take a certain number of bullets before they can be penetrated? Well, today I think I had a slew of bullets and by the time my last class of the day came in, I was at the end of my rope.
So, what did I do? I acknowledged it. I asked why folks were down. I figured chances were every student was not anxious about court or upset about something their lawyer told them earlier today- they had just caught the negativity bug and couldn’t shake it. I also completely scratched my lesson plan, a beautiful and valued privilege of “teaching” art in detention, and did a Lyric Analysis drawing. We listened to a song (“A Dream” by Common), and I had the students follow along with the lyrics (I pulled up the song on youtube and took the lyrics out of my stash of songs that match each of the character traits we study here, as well as some that are just meant to inspire). They then chose their favorite line, one they connected with and had meaning in their life, wrote out the lyric on their drawing paper and brought it to life through images. This project left plenty of room for interpretation, and luckily they liked the song I chose (note: this does not always happen)!
The negativity wasn’t gone, but their hands and minds were busy, and in my mind that counts for a lot! Throughout the class, there was crumpled paper and mumbles about giving up, but I floated my way around the room, and we all made it through the hour barely any drama. I was frustrated, but sometimes I forget how many reasons they have to feel down. They’re burdened with guilt, shame, worry, desperation, anxiety, and fear and while they might revel in the structure of our program here, they still constantly struggle to cope with feelings way too big to grasp. Even though my students have committed crimes, I have to maintain my compassion for them and my view of them as “just kids” to be good art therapist. Sometimes, just by writing it out, I can refocus my view and harness my own negativity to rise above theirs and continue to be at least one predictable constant in their lives.
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The Healing Power of Photography
Check out this blog we found from Polaris Project! Polaris Project will be partnering with art therapy programs in New York and New Jersey to teach women who have been trafficked photography as a means of expressing themselves. Amazing. (From Polaris Project’s North Star blog)
The Healing Power of Photography
by K.Keisel NJ Program Coordinator
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.
The Virginia Art Therapy Association Presents
Mindfulness in Art Therapy through Mandala and Labyrinth work
For centuries, cultures throughout the world have found inspiration and guidance from sacred circles, or circular patterns representing ancient archetypes of wholeness. Stonehenge, Native American medicine wheels, and Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas remain stunning and transformative healing tools. In this workshop participants will create personal mandalas and clay finger labyrinths, learning how to integrate these sacred circles as psychotherapy and meditation tools to heal emotional trauma, manage grief and pain, reduce stress, increase self-awareness, and find inner peace. Focus is on a subliminal, metaphorical, unified process to work with clients in both clinical settings and in self-healing and mindfulness practice.
Presenter: Karen Montgomery, MS, ATR, C-SOTP, received her Masters of Science in Creative Arts Therapy from Nazareth College in 2003, specializing in research on the clinical use of labyrinths and mandalas with mentally challenged populations. She now works in the Henrico County Juvenile Detention system in Richmond, VA, is co-chairman of the Labyrinth Ministry at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Glen Allen, and she recently accepted the position of Vice President of the Virginia Art Therapy Association. Trained and certified in the Life Cycle Mandala Assessment, based on Joan Kellogg’s theory of human development, Karen has led myriad creative arts groups and meditative workshops, at both the national and local level, on the healing powers of mandalas, chakras, and labyrinths, utilizing
primarily painting, clay, & collage.
Saturday, March 24th, 2012
9:30 am- 4:30 pm
Registration from 9:30-10am
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Art Therapy Department
651 Colley Ave. Room 100, Norfolk, VA
Cost:
Non-Members: $80
Members and
Student Non-Members: $60
Student Members: $40
5.5 hours of CEU’s Offered by NBCC
Free to VATA Members
$10 for Non-VATA Members
Become a VATA Member during
registration to take advantage
of special pricing!
Lunch and Refreshments Provided
Pre-Registration Required
Visit our Website and Pay Securely with PayPal
Like this:
The Following is quoted from the website of the Office of Veterans Affairs
“Nationwide, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities use the creative arts as one form of rehabilitative treatment to help Veterans recover from and cope with physical and emotional disabilities. Across the country each year, Veterans treated at VA facilities compete in a local creative arts competition. The competition includes 53 categories in the visual arts division this year that range from oil painting to leather work to paint-by-number kits. In addition, there are 120 categories in the performing arts pertaining to all aspects of music, dance, drama and creative writing. A national selection committee chooses first, second and third place winners among all of the entries. Select winners are invited to attend the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival each year.”
Please visit their event webpage for more details http://www1.va.gov/opa/speceven/caf/index.asp
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I am reminded of the power of art therapy today.
Do you ever have days or even weeks when you feel like you are just going through the motions. Working at an agency and trying to do art therapy but feeling like there is something missing in your creative process with clients. I think a lot of us feel that way. I as an art therapist, don’t really fit the mold of most counseling jobs. I was trained as though I would have an hour or more with every client , that most if not all clients would WANT to participate, and I always hoped that every art making experience would be just that, an experience, not just an intervention or a directed “cookie cutter” approach. I still have these seemingly Idealistic goals and desires but in the world of medical management I don’t always get to be the art therapist I want to be. Sometimes I have to try fit in a different mold.
HOWEVER, Days like today remind me that the art and the process speak for themselves. That for some clients, on the right day and time, 20-30 min and some art materials is all they need to have a powerful and meaningful art therapy experience. I am their guide but they know the way and the art will take them there.
I had a young client come into my office today. Recent sessions have been elevated, hurried, and filled with loosely connected verbalizations, to say the least. Today looked the same until the client walked in and grabbed a piece of paper, a pencil and a compass. The client barely said a word, sat down and began experimenting with the compass. At first the client needed some support but not much, My role was the third hand, but quickly I had to step back and let the client go. The client was focused and it was almost like I could see the wheels turning in the clients head. Twenty Five minutes went by with few verbalizations and all art making. As the clients image began to form I saw a radial image, mandala like, appear. The client was creating their own structure! Their own container! Seemingly seeking power and focus, and I could see the effects in the clients behavior. The client was transformed in that moment even if the change was short lived, I could see that the possibility was there. I could see the art process working and I was reminded of the power of art therapy. Even in this small instance I was reminded that I can be idealistic and I can expect the art process to be powerful and meaningful because it is! Even on the days we don’t see it clearly. Art Therapy Works!!
A Childrens Hospital and Art Therapy
Some Days are Frustrating.
I work in a children’s hospital that is housed in a very historic, but old building. The children I work with do not communicate verbally, are severely physically and cognitively handicapped and are medically fragile. I love working with this population. It is challenging and rewarding. On the best day things can be difficult, sprinkled with random seizures, various illnesses that are sometimes very contagious, and just plain old disquiet of a client that is difficult to figure out due to the limited communication.
Days like today that are cold out, when the heat in the building is not working properly, are particularly frustrating. The children are extra cranky and don’t want to cooperate with art making or anything. On days like this I try to be extra calm and soothing. Free paint is often useful for this, keeping in mind that every child is different and that reactions will vary.
Then the nurses decide that the children have to go back to the housing unit early because it is too cold for these children to be in the school area. No more art for them children today.
On the bright side I can spend more time planning (and freezing).
Gretchen Graves, MS, ATR
Richmond Hospital Education Program
Children’s Hospital of Richmond
Written by Virginia Art Therapy Association
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