Mission
In brief, our mission is to provide exposure of various expressive arts to students who may have a limited awareness of the therapeutic value in, or use of, these means and experiences in order to better prepare them for a career working with a variety of client presentations.
Description
EAA aims to provide educational gatherings and events focused on the use of art and other alternative means of expression in therapeutic settings. We recognize that forms of artistic expression may exist within:
- a professional therapeutic space as lead by credentialed individuals,
- within a professional therapeutic space by individuals credentialed in mental health professions without credentials in an expressive therapeutic means, or
- within a purely artistic/performative space which provides healing and expressive value without promoting itself as a space for specified mental and emotional well-being or healing.
Art and performance have intrinsically healing qualities. They provide a language for any person, client or otherwise, to express their difficulties and joys. Art and performance can bring groups of people, clients or otherwise, together through a shared emotional experience. These means are therefore valuable to us as clinicians, and whether or not we use them within our work or pursue licensure, we serve our clients by understanding and respecting the variety of ways in which they may need to communicate with us as well as seek emotional experiences outside of our therapeutif relationship. As there are so many different and useful forms of expressive art, we prioritize the discussion of available types so that clinicians in training will understand how to utilize this language in a professional and beneficial manner.
Leadership:
Head of leadership council and Treasurer- K. Moriah Smith-Bresky
Leadership Council- Shawna Solsvig, Erin Sheplevy, Janine Phan(MACP)
Secretaries- Jacquline Baron(MACP) and Michael Nutt
Contact us at: [email protected]