Featured Member: Jess Minckley

I work with people in the LGBTQIA+++ community who have survived the developmental traumas of living with parents who have a personality disorder. I use a combination of art therapy, somatic work, EMDR, and I offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy—all online. Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (or KAP) is when a therapist attends to someone who has been prescribed ketamine (by a medical doctor) and the therapist is trained to attend to them before (planning), during their psychedelic experience, and after (to integrate). This hyper-specific demographic has often developed obsessive/compulsive symptoms and often chronic illness(es).

My very specific niche found me! It’s my karmic fate my family motivated me to seek truth in my life and I fell into this profession at the end of a winding road.

I learn from my clients about slowness, continuing to be humbled by the power of our formative experiences on our private logic, and how creative we can get in solving life’s problems. I describe the brain as a house with all the lights on. I describe trauma as going through the house and turning certain lights off. I love when the lights come back on and when people have epiphanies that lead to profound change. I feel blessed to witness this process and travel the road alongside them.

I care about these issues, and in my opinion, sometimes testaments to DEI fall flat and become performative, so I’ll try to get specific.

As a white person, I will be learning for my lifetime how to become more humble. I encourage my white art therapist colleagues to join me!

I make mistakes. Often. I negatively impact other people. And, repair after relational rupture is one of the most healing things a person (or art therapist) can attempt. I believe in making amends and reparations. Then, I try to forgive myself with loving kindness and move, as Jack Kornfeld says, “on to the next mistake”. This is a liberatory practice.

I do hold marginalized identities as well as privileges. I use the privilege to fight for justice and equity. I lean into my exclusive ecommunities to protect my marginalized selves and to find the care I can’t always get through adequate recognition or representation.

My hope is that art therapy education can take what has been learned from other disciplines about best practices and apply it with cultural humility. We have a long way to grow toward truly inclusive, respectful, and evolved educational practices that do not harm marginalized students and clients.

What advice would you give someone interested in pursuing a career in art therapy?

First, try art therapy—or even regular therapy! I’ve known so many people who have started their education without ever going to therapy. How can you know that this is the house you want to buy if you haven’t even stepped inside?

Secondly, VET YOUR SCHOOL. Talk to tons of alumnx about their experiences—positive and negative. If you have marginalized identities, talk to current students who share those identities.

You can read some art therapy books. Dr. Erin Partridge wrote “Getting On in the Creative Arts Therapies: A Hands-On Guide to Personal and Professional Development,” published by Jessica Kingsley, which I contributed to. It can help new professionals as well.

How did you get involved with AATA?

I was a local chapter board member before I moved back to California. I joined AATA as a student and learned so much and met so many people and got many opportunities from the MyAATA Forum. I highly recommend it, you will feel like part of something bigger.

What keeps me excited is the amazing things I learn and the people I get to meet. I get to speak with them about fascinating things like neuroscience! I’ve been a participant in master and doctoral level research projects as a result. I got to know some of the pioneers and people whose textbooks I read in school—some of them even know my name! I find belonging and reassurance among members who hold my beliefs in activism, liberatory practice, and having a sense of humor.