September 28, 2017
Jen Berlingo, MA, LPCC, ATR, is an art therapist, a Reiki Master/Teacher, a Hakomi practitioner and an artist. In addition to her clinical work, she offers courses, ceremonies, and energy work in both her local San Francisco Bay Area community and in her virtual circles. Of her membership experience, Berlingo shares, “Being a member of AATA has allowed me to stay informed about the growth, changes, and research within our profession. It has also enabled me to connect with art therapists around the country. I was especially moved when I attended an AATA conference and witnessed the many brilliant ways art therapy brings healing.”
As a graduate of the transpersonal art psychotherapy masters program of Naropa University, a Buddhist university for contemplative and experiential education, Ms. Berlingo’s work melds the world’s spiritual traditions, modern psychology, and art-making to explore the human experience. For more about her work, visit her website. Ms. Berlingo stays connected to the AATA through her local chapters. When she lived in Virginia, she served as Secretary of the Virginia Art Therapy Association (2006); she is now a member of the Northern California Art Therapy Association.
Berlingo explains why the profession is so powerful: “Art therapy helps to externalize one’s inner world for the purpose self-inquiry, transformation, and integration. It’s a way to bring concrete structure and form to unseen feelings and emotions. Art bypasses verbal defenses and limitations, allowing connections and revelations to come easily and in a non-threatening way.” She believes that art therapy has an important role in “today’s political and social climate” and is “inspired by the way community art therapy can serve as activism — giving voice and visibility to marginalized and oppressed populations, and pulling back the veil on our collective shadow so that it can be brought to light and healed.”
“Alive with Possibility” by Jen Berlingo. Ink on yupo. July, 2017.
Artist statement: “This image is part of a series called “100 days of art potions,” completed in mid-2017 as part of #The100DayProject, which is a free global art project encouraging creativity and connection across the virtual community of Instagram. My project involved concocting emotional potions of ink, watching colors and energies interact on the page for 100+ days. You can view the rest of this series here.