November 23, 2017
Kathy D. Hrenko, MCAT, ATR-BC currently works for White Horse Village, a continuing care retirement community, and the Cancer Support Community in Delaware. Hrenko has worked with children, teens, and adults in a variety of settings including in-patient psychiatry, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, therapeutic camps, nursing homes, youth detention, art studios, and wellness centers. She has served on the board of the Delaware Valley Art Therapy Association as Chair of the events committee. Of her AATA membership, Ms. Hrenko shares, “Throughout my career and several relocations, I maintained my membership with AATA and joined the local chapters of SCATA, NCATA and the DVATA.”
She continues, “AATA welcomed me, at the age of 24, into a professional organization whose members were bright, brave and bold. My membership enabled me to meet and learn from the masters such as Shirley Riley, Judy Rubin, Shaun McNiff, Bruce Moon and Harriet Wadeson, to name just a few. After more than 30 years in the field, I am still in awe of those leaders who signed my books and conversed with me as a fellow member of the AATA. The trajectory of my career was set, and I will forever be grateful to my mentors and teachers who inspired me personally and professionally – Ronald Hays, Dr. Myra Levick, Carol Carrino and Sherry Lyons. I learned from the very best.”
Of the profession today, she notes, “State licensure and insurance reimbursement have been and remain important topics in our field as art therapists still struggle to earn a living commensurate with their education, training and experience.”
“Forest Through The Trees” by Kathy Hrenko. September, 2017. Pastels.
Artist’s Statement: “My experience with my art and nature is a spiritual connection to a place where one can observe life through a lens of greater perspective, or in this case, not. It is the dichotomy of the dark sturdy trees amidst the fragile, brightly colored leaves. One can’t quite see the forest through the trees.”