Open Studio Art Therapy:  Art therapy uses art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork as a therapeutic and healing process. We will be holding space for 2 hours – join us for the entire time or just for a bit – in an open studio process. Unlike other therapy groups, this process is not facilitated nor are directives or instructions given. Instead, we come into the space and set an intention, create together, and then witness what we have made. Art-making materials will be provided and each month we will have a different theme.

August's theme is stamps.

Attendees are welcome to bring personal art supplies. No prior art or therapy experience is necessary.

These sessions will take place in the Makers Space downstairs in the children's room. 

Theoretical approaches that are cognizant of power differentials are useful in supervisory relationships, which are inherently power full. An approach that negates addressing differences can lead to microaggressions at best or can be damaging to a relationship at worst. Acknowledging and speaking about differences in supervision models ways of relating and understanding between clients and therapists. Supervision will be understood as an excellent practice place to “think and talk openly about our different backgrounds and experiences within a multi-ethnic, mixed racial, global frame” and to decrease the likelihood that “white, Eurocentric, middle class, heterosexual assumptions and stereotypes will continue within supervision settings where we practice. (Dudley 2013, p. 493) As art therapists, we are currently in an exciting time of practice, with critical race theory and critical race feminism being brought into our fields and disciplines. We will discuss the limitations of multiculturalism (i.e., awareness, knowledge, and skills) and identify how to employ a more systemic and integrative paradigm that explicitly acknowledges power in the practice of supervision. This workshop will include arts-based methods on how to encourage dialogue about power.

1.5 CEs. Free for New York Art Therapy Association (NYATA) members, $25 for all others.

Art therapy supervision comprises of administrative, educative, and supportive aspects. Because of the various pressures faced in the workplace, the aspect that often gets left out is the art. Supervisors can also get caught up in one area based of supervision on their own style and the supervisee’s needs. Art therapists are trained in using the visual arts processing to support clinical work -  How do these tools and methods translate (or not) within the supervisory space?

This workshop will focus on the value of art in art therapy supervision. The intention is to go beyond applying art therapy clinical practices into supervision. Rather, this workshop will evaluate current supervisory practices, identity what is collectively being utilized in art therapy supervision, and intentionally utilized new methods to support the clinical development of supervisees. 

Note: This workshop is only open to SVA art therapy supervisors. Contact the SVA MPS Art Therapy Department for details.

Supervision is the generational transmission of memory, knowledge, and skills. Our identities and social location influence how we see ourselves in the world, which, in turn, impacts our clinical work with clients and supervisees alike. This workshop will honour memory and difference in the context of arts therapies supervision. Within the supervisory relationship, lived experiences and memories often diverge due to the differing levels of experience, cultural, and racial backgrounds of the supervisee and the supervisor. We will highlight how identity differences and similarities between the supervisor, supervisee, and/or client within systemic differences of supervisor-supervisee-institution and supervisor-supervisee-community influence therapy. Probes will focus on why supervision is important, preferred methods of communication, ways to have difficult conversations, and how to get the most out of supervision.

As part of the workshop, we will practise artmaking by creating art to better grasp the relationship between supervision and social location to understand power, privilege and identities. Artmaking will highlight the social locations of the supervisor and supervisee to better acknowledge the impact of cultural intersections and dissimilarities on supervision. Reframing differences that may have morphed into harmful biases can be confronted and a more thoughtful interpretation and exploration of social justice theories and cultural differences will be introduced.
Lastly, the intent of the workshop is to prepare participants to understand how honest and vulnerable disclosures, supervisory relationship building, and difficult discussions can occur across differences. This entails the ability to recognize the significance of memory, culturally relevant needs, support the concept of managing up, and considering differences. The presenters will guide this process while monitoring countertransference, creating time for the reframing of the past, while allowing the art to tell the story.

Artmaking at Concrete Plant Park coordinated by The Bronx River Alliance. Free! All materials will be provided and all ages and skill levels are welcome.

Artmaking at Concrete Plant Park coordinated by The Bronx River Alliance. Free! All materials will be provided and all ages and skill levels are welcome.

What are the cultural intersections in supervision given the on-line environment? In this workshop, we will explore how virtual disclosure, difficult discussions, and supervisory relationship building is experienced. We will highlight how identity differences and similarities between the supervisor, supervisee, and/or client within systemic differences of supervisor-supervisee-institution and supervisor-supervisee-community influence therapy. Our identities and social location impact the clinical work we engage in with clients and supervisees alike. As part of the workshop, we will practice artmaking in the on-line space by creating a social identity pie to better grasp the relationship between supervision and social location.