September 20, 2018
Valerie Chu, ATR-BC, LCAT, LPCC, has a private practice in Los Angeles and is currently spending a year abroad in South Korea. Staying in touch with some clients via videoconference, Chu is exploring the realm of telehealth. To her, “AATA is a place where I find help, resources and stay connected with the art therapy community at large wherever I am. Many people in AATA are generous to offer their advice, input, experience and thoughts when I’ve had queries or quandaries.”
Ms. Chu earned her MA in Art Therapy from New York University and obtained post-graduate training from the International Trauma Studies Program and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) training from the EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Program. Her passion is “to help those affected by traumatic experiences find healing, freedom and restoration through the use of creative arts and holistic supportive therapy”. She has over 12 years’ experience working with trauma-affected adults and children of diverse backgrounds in a variety settings, including work at domestic violence shelters and with HIV-affected genocide survivors in Rwanda.
Having conducted art therapy in a variety of cultural settings, Chu reports she is “still learning and searching for best practices that respect and complement local cultures without simply ‘importing’ western principles”. For the future of the profession, she hopes to see wider recognition of the field among the general public and in state regulations, greater diversity within the field, and the application of art therapy across broader cultural contexts.
“Lotus” by Valerie Chu. Linocut. August 2018.