Talk

MPS Art Therapy presents a virtual presentation by Mia de Bethune, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT, ISP/SEP; faculty member Kelley Linhardt, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT, CCTP; and Valeria Koutmina, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT (MPS 2011 Art Therapy), on embodied art therapy as a new paradigm for ethical and trauma-informed practice, training and supervision. Because of its historic ties to psychoanalysis and emphasis on symbol formation, art therapy has traditionally been less concerned with or aware of the body than other creative arts therapies such as dance/movement, drama or music therapy. The under-emphasis and, at times, total omission of the body in the theory and practice of art therapy poses a liability for our profession as psychotherapy theory and practice trends are toward integrating somatic and body-based practices into evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment. In this presentation, new research will be presented on the neurophysiological aspects of art therapy and the relationship that embodied clinical work has to current trauma and attachment theory. The perspective of embodied practice as equitable and necessary for social justice will be presented. Practical methods for art therapists to develop sensory, kinesthetic, spatial, energetic and other forms of body-aware art therapy will also be explored for how they can be incorporated into the training, supervision, and practice.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the correlation between body-based training and a social-justice orientation in art therapy.

2. Comprehend the shift, due to trauma and attachment theory, in art therapy protocols away from primarily symbol-based to combined mind-body practices.

3. Name five art therapy methods that focus on the body in art making.

4. Name two recent research protocols that explore the neurophysiological aspects of art therapy.

Speaker Bios:

Mia de Bethune, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT, ISP/SEP is an artist, somatic psychotherapist and art therapy educator. She is adjunct faculty for the NYU Art Therapy Program and is certified as a child and adolescent specialist by the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. Mia maintains a private practice in her art studio where she sees adolescents, children and adults. She has presented nationally and internationally on various topics from foster care to the therapeutic use of fiber arts. Her more recent focus has been somatic psychology and embodied forms of art therapy. She is a certified Somatic Experiencing and Integral Somatic Psychology practitioner and works as a training assistant in both modalities. She is also trained in reiki, somatic meditation and inner relationship focusing as well as various arts-based body methods. Mia is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Lesley University Expressive Arts Therapy Doctoral Program with a focus on qualitative research of body-based art therapy methods. She is also a member of the Upstream Gallery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY where she shows work that is a mixture of painting, weaving and sculpture.

Kelley Linhardt, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT, CCTP is a therapist and the continuing education coordinator at Dancing Dialogue, an embodied, creative arts psychotherapy practice with offices in New York City and Cold Spring, NY. She is also a faculty member in the MPS Art Therapy program at the School of Visual Art. Kelley received her MA in Art Therapy from New York University and has subsequently trained at the International Trauma Studies Program at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and has gone on to earn her Certified Clinical Trauma Professional credential. Kelley has also undergone extensive post-graduate training in family and couples therapy at The Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City. Kelley is a practitioner of Dr. Suzi Tortora's Ways of Seeing method in attachment-based, dance/movement therapy. She regularly presents her work professionally around the country.

Valeria Koutmina, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT is an art therapist in private practice. She holds a BA from McGill University in Montréal and received her MPS Art Therapy from The School of Visual Arts in 2011, where she was the graduate commencement speaker. Valeria has received additional training at the CG Jung Institute in NY, Dancing Dialogue™ under the tutelage of Dr. Suzi Tortora, and is a mindfulness based stress reduction practitioner. Valeria has worked in the United States and abroad (Costa Rica, Russia, Lebanon) as an instructor, facilitator and advocate of mental health and creative arts therapy initiatives. She is fluent to conduct treatment in English and Russian.

Bethune, Linhardt and Koutmina are currently in contract to edit an anthology titled, The Embodied Art Therapist to be published by Routledge Press.

The MPS Art Therapy Department at the School of Visual Arts is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists. #CAT-0054.

1.5 CE hours available for LCATs.

SVA wants to ensure persons with disabilities have access to this event. If you are a person with a disability who requires accommodations to access or participate in this event, please reach out to the department at arttherapy@sva.edu or to SVA Disability Resources disabilityresources@sva.edu at least seven business days prior to the event.