Art Therapy IRL Amelia Hutchison

Did you know this podcast was my graduate research?

Join me with my academic supervisor, Nicole Le Bihan, as we discuss season one. We answer the big question of the show: How do art and expressive therapists adapt during a pandemic? Nicole and I talk takeaways, ethics, blindspots, and what we mean when we speak about "decolonizing clinical spaces."

Special thanks to everyone who made the first season of this show possible; Nicole Le Bihan, Elijah Zimmerman, Monica Carpendale, Millie Cumming, and everyone at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute. 

Decolonization is not a Metaphor by Tuck and Yang

Virginia Jahyu is an expressive arts therapist based in Toronto, Ontario. In addition to seeing clients and running expressive therapies groups for folx with diverse abilities, she is a passionate advocate, activist and facilitator. I know her from her impactful workshops on anti-racism and anti-oppressive practice in creative therapies. Virginia is also the vice-president of the Ontario Expressive Arts Association.

In our conversation, Virginia takes us on her journey through teaching and community organizing to expressive therapy. She breaks down the advantages and limitations of working digitally, what it means to challenge oppressive systems as a clinician, her passion for hip hop music and culture, and why JOY is a radical tool for healing and liberation.

Virginia's Website

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action

Decolonization is not a Metaphor by Tuck and Yang

Markus Scott-Alexander is an expressive arts therapist and founder of World Arts Organization and is based in Edmonton, Alberta. As a therapist and educator, he’s interested in how art honours the differences between people while holding space for the creative spirit that is essential to all humans. He believes creativity can help us live our ordinary lives in Unordinary ways. Markus is also the author of the recent book: Expressive Arts Education and Therapy: Discoveries in a Dance Theatre Lab Through Creative Process-based Research.

To be in a workshop with Markus is to experience something active, dynamic and truly touching. I asked Markus to join me in conversation because I wanted to know if that work was still possible in the midst of a pandemic. In our conversation we touch on avoiding burnout and the intimacy and resonance that is possible on Zoom. Markus offers up a new definition of holding therapeutic space and how it still exists in digital therapy.

Markus' Website

Markus' Instagram

Sarah West of Earthen Vision is an environmental art therapist based in Nelson, BC. She blends art therapy practice with land-based healing in a unique way to serve clients and groups. She even uses art and nature as a way of supporting organizations and governments to plan and make decisions about sustainability and land use. Sarah believes strongly in the role nature can play as a co-facilitator of the therapeutic process.

Before her career in art therapy, Sarah worked for more than ten years doing policy and strategic planning on environmental issues between First Nations and government in Ontario.

In our conversation we explore her unique process of guiding clients as they listen to the land, how she has created a practice in the midst of a pandemic, and why nature is such a crucial tool for holding collective grief.

Sarah's Website

Sarah's Instagram

Rapinder Kaur is an art therapist, psychotherapist, public speaker, community organizer and the founder of Art as Therapy. As a therapist, she works from a relational, anti-oppressive framework with adults and children. She is passionate about systems change and using art to disrupt traditional thinking and imagine new possibilities for the world. Rapinder also facilitates trainings for other professionals on cultural humility. In our conversation Rapinder speaks about therapy as being a space to “light an internal revolution.” We explore how she has adapted her practice for the digital demands of the COVID era, why empowerment through art is crucial to social change, and practical advice for anti-oppressive therapy.

In episode one I talk with Kate Leppard, an art therapist and faculty member at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute. Kate has been working with clients online for more than five years and has developed a training program for therapists who are looking to transition their practices online. In our conversation she shares insights about what is possible (and beautiful) about connecting with clients in the digital age.   
You can find more about Kate at:
 www.Kateleppard.com   
Kate's facebook group with monthly free art projects
Kate's Online Art Therapy Foundations Course