Second Season

The relationships we build within our therapeutic practices will be full of beginnings and endings. This workshop will look at closure practices and continue a dialogue that considers how traditional models of termination can be limiting and disconnected from what is created with those we serve.

Framing these endings through the language of transitions will be unpacked and shown to offer more restorative experiences for those in our care. Theory, story, and visual arts experientials will be offered to highlight the possibilities of these endings, with a focus on considerations for community settings (i.e. schools, family centers, shelter programs, supportive housing, etc). How the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our collective experience of endings and transitions will be explored by participants.

Participants will:

1. Identify the importance of embracing context and practicing cultural humility when both beginning and ending therapeutic alliances
2. Consider termination and transitions through visual arts directives and an experiential within workshop that reflect client and community strengths
3. Explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted client and clinicians' experience of the therapeutic relationship and how this may show up in transitional dialogues

Bio:

Amanda Smith, ATR-BC, LCAT is an art therapist practicing in the greater New York City area. As a visual artist with a multi-modal background, she embraces a variety of expressive techniques in her work. Amanda has clinical and supervisory experience supporting folks in a variety of settings including schools, hospitals, community centers, supportive housing, and within the shelter system. Amanda believes in cultivating space for joy and humor within her work. She is devoted to honoring others’ strengths, wounds and creativity in the hopes of nurturing radically caring, liberating experiences for those she serves.

THIS WORKSHOP WILL BE HELD ON ZOOM - LINK WILL BE SENT THE DAY PRIOR TO THE EVENT and IS POSTED HERE ON EVENTBRITE WHEN YOU REGISTER

The Art Therapy Project is recognized by New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative art therapists # 0006 and social workers #0500 and by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #0022.