Join us for AATA2024

Oct. 6 – 9, 2024

Pittsburgh, PA

[ETHICS] Fragmentation: A Journey Through Ones Personal and Professional Development with Trauma-Grief – SESSION IS FULL

Trauma-grief experiences call for a transpersonal, existential healing process to occur. Fragmentation creates a psychological “falling apart” of oneself. This workshop will explore personal and professional development as a whole grief process. Clinicians’ mission and vision can guide them to build relationships within their communities similar to “glue” through healing.

Presenter: DeLora Putnam-Bryant and Christine Creighton

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] Guided Imagery And The Spectrum Of Consciousness – SESSION IS FULL

The Workshop will explore the spectrum of consciousness and evidence-based guided imagery techniques. Participants will learn a specific method to inspire meta-awareness and agency, and together, we will construct meaning within the community. The tools attained are powerful interventions that are practical for clients, coworkers, and individuals pursuing clinical supervision.

Presenter: Laura Zeisler

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] What’s On My Mind? A Mindful Doodle-Based Art Therapy Wellness Workshop – SESSION IS FULL

This is more than a Workshop! This is an evidence-based wellness tool that offers a unique opportunity to delve into the contents of your mind, shifting your relationship to them through guided visualization and mindful doodling. This process gives a positive dimension to your thoughts and inspires skillful action.

Presenter: Patricia Isis

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] Healing from Relationship Abuse: The Empowerment Wheel Model in Art Therapy – SESSION IS FULL

Counselors need interventions to use with survivors of relationship abuse. The Empowerment Wheel Model provides a practical intervention illustrating key concepts to promote self-awareness, healing, and growth. This presentation will provide a clear approach as well as practical tools for counselors serving clients with a history of relationship abuse.

Presenter: Rachel Brandoff

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] Check-In/ Check-Out: Trauma Informed Boundaries Within Art Therapy Sessions – SESSION IS FULL

To offer emotional and therapeutic containment within an art therapy session from a trauma informed approach, consistent boundaries are needed in each session. This can be done through defined directives to open and close session; using timed material engagement to open, and cognitive re-capping and reframing to conclude session.

Presenter: Sarah Tedrick

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] Amplifying Resiliencies: A Multi-Layered Collage Experiential for Stress Management – SESSION IS FULL

An overload of stress and anxiety can negatively impact decision-making, problem-solving, and wellbeing. However, stress type differentiation and reflection to personal resiliencies may improve coping and stress management skills. Attendees will engage in a multi-layered collage experiential that can be used for therapist self-care, as well as clients and others.

Presenter: Rebecca Miller and Monica Brown

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] Building Habits of Gratitude: Art Therapy Interventions Informed by Positive Psychology – SESSION IS FULL

Encouraged by response to the Pop-Up Studio: Gratitude Tins at the 2022 AATA Conference, the AATA Art Special Interest Group (Art SIG) was inspired to offer an experiential Workshop (1 hours 30 minutes) to introduce multiple gratitude-themed interventions, each informed by constructs of positive psychology, habits of gratitude, and the neuroscience of resilience.

Presenter: Gaelynn Wolf Bordonaro, Laura Cherry, Julie Ludwick, and Lisa Hassler Thomas

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] Career Focused Bridge Drawings: Conceptualizing Desired Work Life Roles – SESSION IS FULL

In this Workshop (1 hours 30 minutes), participants will explore a career focused bridge drawing, and examine how this structure can be used to enhance career exploration, goal setting, and decision-making for adolescents and adults. Participants will consider career bridge drawing introductions, media, and reflective question options that will serve students, self, or others.

Presenters: Barbara Parker-Bell and Kristina Smatrakaleva

[GRIEF/MOURNING] Grief Belief: Unmasking Disenfranchisement and Bias in Grief Work – SESSION IS FULL

This Workshop will facilitate art making to explore grief, challenging the inherent thought distortions and bias that may lead to disenfranchisement. Attendees will become familiar with the three types of grief counseling models, risk factors for disenfranchisement, and how to effectively incorporate art making into grief work.

Presenter: Alicia Seymour

[GRIEF/MOURNING] Anticipatory Grief: Art-based Applications With Children, Teens, And Families – SESSION IS FULL

The anticipation of a loved one’s death can have a profound impact on one’s life. Anticipatory grief support addresses the unique needs of individuals with a terminally ill family member, whereby the process of support and healing can begin before the death. This Workshop explores art-based interventions for anticipatory grievers.

Presenter: Kaitlyn Paton and Jennifer Dykeman

[TRAUMA] Vicarious Trauma, Compassion Fatigue, and Burnout: The Impact on the Clinician – SESSION IS FULL

Working with traumatized populations can have a tremendous impact on the worker. Clinicians are at risk of vicarious trauma exposure, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Participants will conceptualize art as an effective self-care practice and explore how creativity can foster resilience in clients and clinicians in parallel process.

Presenter: Jennifer Herbert and Hilda Aceves

[TRAUMA] Behind the Mask: Exploring Liminality in Identity Formation – SESSION IS FULL

This Workshop explores the potential of masks combined with Paper (50 min) to assist clients in exploring various elements of their identity. The relationship between the mask and Paper (50 min) offers flexibility in exploration while simultaneously offering distance allowing for deeper themes to be engaged in meaningful and revelatory ways.

Presenter: Matthew Chubb

[TRAUMA] Bridge of Reciprocity: Make One Take One Response to Community Traumas 

This Workshop presents the Make One Take One art therapy informed community art project as it combines psychological first aid and art therapy approaches with the healing function of reciprocity in community trauma. Participants will be able to create found object pieces to contribute to the project.

Presenter: Delaine Due

Binding up the Broken Hearted: Exploring Attachment Media – SESSION IS FULL

Emotional attachment is crucial in building healthy relationships. This Workshop will explore hand sewing as self-regulation and to provide metaphor for rebuilding healthy relationships. Steps and guidance will be given to participants to complete a stuffed heart sculpture. Additional supportive directives will be discussed.

Presenter: Tami DeLisle

Open Art Studio to Empower Youth Who Have Experienced Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Art is a powerful tool to facilitate healing for individuals who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). Providing a studio art space has created a place for individuals to find their voice, hope, and creativity. The facilitator will discuss the model, lessons learned, and review powerful art created in sessions.

Presenter: Dana Wyss

Threads of Childhood: Textile Art Therapy – SESSION IS FULL

This Workshop is a unique opportunity to engage with a renowned Miami fiber artist Aurora Molina. Aurora is partnering with Art Therapist Sarah Laing to share textile approaches that they use personally and with clients. In utilizing textile techniques and storytelling learn tools to inspire your practice.

Presenter: Sarah Laing and Aurora Molina

Art & Renewal: Self-Care for Helping Professionals through the Open Studio Process – SESSION IS FULL

Developing a sustainable creative practice is an effective way to release stress, restore empathy, and create balance in our personal and professional lives. Open Studio Project’s Art & Renewal Workshop introduces a creative process designed to support social workers, therapists, educators, and any helping professionals involved in emotionally demanding work.

Presenters: Maira Egan and Emma Zbiral-Teller

Connecting And Communicating Through Joint Mirror Drawing In Art Therapy And Museums   

Engaging with the client’s art-making in art therapy through the joint mirror drawing method, will be discussed in the Workshop. Joint mirror drawing in a contemporary art context will also be reviewed. Participants will be invited to take part in joint mirror drawing on Paper (50min).

Presenters: Unnur Ottarsdottir

Stop Making It Weird! Building Disability Humility Through Gestural Portrait Making – SESSION IS FULL

Disability is a normal part of human experience yet why, in our everyday lives and therapy spaces, do we make it weird? Round-robin portraiture with artists from Make Studio will center art as a humanizing place for disabled and abled individuals to meet, inviting challenge and discovery; disability humility.

Presenters: Cathy Goucher and Jill Scheibler

Expressive Therapist Self-Inquiry for Self-Care and Community Care

– SESSION IS FULL

This Workshop will guide participants in conducting a self-assessment based on the Expressive Therapies Continuum model. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own preferences and aversions for artistic media and inner processes, to develop a deeper understanding of their creative experience, and to unveil potential personal biases.

Presenters: Maria Riccardi and Gabrielle Gingras

ARTventures Around the World: Multicultural Perspectives – SESSION IS FULL

Art Expression, Inc. welcomes you to ARTventures—an exploration of art, music, and ecotourism across continents. This Workshop offers a passport to global travel, fostering multicultural awareness. Discover how art and music therapy components align with academic standards, extending benefits to non-clinical audiences.

Presenters: Angela Lowden, Cheryl Silinskas, and Lisa Heap 

Exploration of Marginalized Sexuality in Art Therapy that Centers Safety and Multiculturalism 

Sexuality is a facet of identity manifested on a spectrum of vulnerability and empowerment, inextricably linked to familial relationships, larger systems of culture, and society. In this Workshop, two art therapists of Iranian descent examine approaches for safer exploration of marginalized sexuality from multicultural perspectives.

Presenters: Shirin Mazdeyasna and Leesa Tabrizi 

Psychedelic Art Therapy: Using Art Therapy in Psychedelic Preparation and Integration – SESSION IS FULL

This Workshop will explore the use of psychedelics in traditional and Western practices, including the legal and ethical implications of incorporating them into clinical work. We will review methods of incorporating art therapy into preparation and integration of psychedelic experiences and engage in experiential activities that facilitate that process.

Presenter: Rebecca Wilkinson, Amelia Laver, and Charmaine Husum

Art Therapy Assessment Application on Digital Devices: A Case for PPAT

This Paper (50min) presents current trends in art therapy using digital devices, focusing on Internet overuse groups. It introduces research comparing the validity of traditional Paper (50min)-based PPAT with its digital counterpart.

Presenter: Sunjoo Kim and Sunhee K. Kim