May 13, 2025

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and while AATA works to raise awareness about the life-affirming work art therapists do every day, we want to also discuss the well-being of our own community.

We are proud to offer this upcoming virtual Continuing Education session, Healing the Healer: Artful Strategies for Sustainable Practice, on May 27, 7pm ET. Burnout, compassion fatigue, and chronic stress are pressing issues in our field.

This reflective and creative session is expressly designed for helping mental health professionals avoid, mitigate, and recover from burnout. As a way to recognize the life-affirming work our members do, AATA is offering this virtual session at NO COST to all our members. Attendees may receive 2 CE credits for this session.

Led by AATA Board Members Rachel Mims, MS, LPC, LPC-AT-S, ATR-BC; LaToya Pegram, ATR-BC, LPAT, LPC, NCC; and Treasurer Kathryn Snyder, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, PhD; and Sheila Lorenzo De La Peña, PhD, ATR-BC, ATCS, this session will explore the emotional toll of caregiving, the cycle of connection and loss, and practical ways to care for ourselves while continuing to care for others.

During the session, participants will:

• • Engage in artmaking through a series of creative prompts focused on burnout prevention and sustaining the personal self
  • Discuss the “Cycle of Caring”, including the therapeutic relationship phases: Attachment, Involvement, Separation, and Re-Creation
  • Explore the domains of well-being, including workload, control, reward, community, fairness, values, and job-person incongruity
  • Distinguish between types of burnout, such as caring burnout and meaning burnout
  • Create a personalized wellness plan or self-care wheel, considering five key domains of wellness

Attendees are encouraged to bring their favorite art materials, as well as snacks, a drink, and anything else that will help make the session comfortable and restorative.

In addition to artmaking, the session will introduce wellness-based strategies participants can use to create a personalized wellness plan grounded in the Wellness Wheel—a holistic framework that considers multiple dimensions of health. Participants will reflect on their own needs and patterns, building tools for long-term sustainability in their work.

These approaches are not only helpful for established professionals but also benefit students and early-career art therapists, offering guidance on how to sustain the personal self and ways to think about how to approach daily decisions to preserve personal self.

Everyone Is Welcome to Attend! 

Although the session is geared toward art therapists, the material is relevant to all mental health professionals seeking insight and support around burnout prevention. Whether you are a practicing clinician, student, or simply someone in a caregiving role, you will leave with actionable insights, a deeper understanding of yourself, and creative tools for ongoing resilience.

This session is completely FREE to all AATA members. If you haven’t yet joined AATA as a member, or your membership has lapsed, please join before May 27 and register for Healing the Healer (an $82 value) for free!

About the Presenters

AATA Board Member Rachel Mims, MS, LPC, LPC-AT-S, ATR-BC, is a U.S. Army Veteran, Board Certified Art Therapist, and License Professional Counselor Supervisor. Rachel graduated from Florida State University in 2014 and worked with veterans and their families in higher education, with non-profit organizations, and as part of the local mental health authority for 10 years. She currently works in private practice providing supervision to new therapists and individual services for women, LGTBQ+ Folx, and veterans who have experienced trauma, are neurodivergent, and/or have chronic health conditions. Rachel previously served at the chapter level with the North Texas Art Therapy Association and has served on the AATA Board of Directors since 2023. 

AATA Board Member LaToya Pegram, ATR-BC, LPAT, LPC, NCC, believes in William James’ words that, “the great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” However, to create the “outlast” one must understand Albert Pine’s words that “What we do for ourselves dies with us; what we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” Pegram has spent her life teaching, mentoring, and helping develop individuals’ spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically and in higher education as a board-certified Art Therapist and licensed counselor. Pegram received her training from The University of Colorado (BA), The George Washington University where she obtained a Master of Arts in Art Therapy and The College of New Jersey where she acquired her Master of Arts in Marriage, Family, and Couple’s therapy and Counseling. When Pegram is not counseling, she spends her past time with family, helping others, offering couples’ guidance, supporting local businesses, volunteering as a chef at a soup kitchen for seniors, feeding the homeless, teaching vacation bible school and baking. She has participated at AATA Conferences as an attendee, presenter, and workshop assistant and participates on the Multicultural Committee of the AATA.

AATA Treasurer Kathryn Snyder, PhD, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, is a board-certified art therapist, licensed professional counselor, and founder of Parent to Child Therapy Associates and Spark School-Based Art Therapy in Philadelphia. With over 20 years of clinical experience, she specializes in integrative mental health care for children, young adults, and families, emphasizing early intervention for developmental, emotional, and learning challenges. Kathryn is also known for her expertise in postpartum support and group programming focused on social skills and emotional regulation. Through Spark, she has expanded access to art therapy in public and charter schools, particularly for underserved and immigrant populations. A PhD candidate at Drexel University, Kathryn’s research explores the impact of art therapy on emergent literacy in preschoolers and broader applications in pediatric care and museum-based therapy. She also teaches and presents her work nationally.

Sheila Lorenzo de la Peña, PhD, ATR-BC, ATCS, is an Assistant Professor of art therapy in the Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Art Therapy. She obtained her MS and PhD from Florida State University and worked for 13 years with adults living with chronic mental health illness in a forensic setting. Her publications include topics on material use and adaptations, virtual open studio approaches for wellness, and clinician self-care.

Dr. Lorenzo also coordinates the community art studio and the virtual studio(s) offered through her department. She hosts workshops and webinars at the local, state, national, and international level. Topics of interest include weaving creative practices into our lives for wellness, accessible and adaptive means of visual arts expression, and sustainable creative practices for processing and documentation of our lived experiences.

Presently, an associate editor for the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. Sheila is constantly creating, exploring, and plotting the next creative endeavor.