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8th Biennial International Conference

(Presenters subject to change)

PRESENTERS

Yousef Al-Ajarma, MA, is pursuing his PhD and is adjunct faculty at Lesley University in Expressive Therapies. His focus is the use of arts to heal ongoing trauma in the Palestinian community. Yousef grew up in the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem in Palestine and has worked with traumatized children and adults. He studied social work and psychology at Bethlehem University and Expressive Arts Therapies at the European Graduate School in Switzerland.

Anne Foley Alper is a Tamalpa Institute graduate and Board Member. She has worked with Anna Halprin on the Seniors Rocking Project and interned with Daria Halprin at the Tamalpa Institute Training Program. Her service to the expressive arts community has been as a consultant/educator for developmentally disabled adults, the elderly, Tourette’s syndrome individuals and families, and LGBTQ teens.

Ethelyn “Mila” Anguluan-Coger, a member of the National Association for Drama Therapy, has created intergenerational projects through story for Filipino-American elders and community and university youth in Los Angeles, CA. A native of the Philippines, she claims the United States as her adopted country.

Irene Antonellis, MA, MT-BC, is a music therapist and social activist with 10 years experience designing creative youth empowerment programs.

Ofra Armoni-Faiman, MA is a theater director, actress and group facilitator affiliated with the Negev Theater, Israel.

Sally Atkins, EdD, REAT, REACE, poet and ritualist, is Professor of Human Development and Coordinator of Expressive Arts Therapy at Appalachian State University, core faculty of the European Graduate School, a founding member of the Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective, and co-author of Expressive Arts Therapy: Creative Process in Art and Life.

Keren Barzilay-Shechter, MA, an expressive therapist specializing in psychodrama, has worked with children and adults in community clinics, prisons and mental hospitals in Israel. She is a Doctoral candidate in Expressive Therapy and an adjunct faculty at Lesley University. She is researching the role of the psychological defenses in the Israeli psyche within the context of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Stella Bay, MA,  received her Master’s degree from California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 2004. She has more than 10 years of experience working as an advocate, counselor and group facilitator. Stella is passionate about using the transformative power of the arts to create peace and social justice.

Nancy Beardall, PhD, ADTAR, CMA, LMHC, is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Lesley University’s Dance Therapy Program. As a dance/movement therapist, Laban/Bartenieff-trained movement analyst and educator, Nancy’s work has focused on dance, dance/movement therapy and social-emotional development using expressive arts in public schools.

Elizabeth Bornstein, MSSA, LCSW, is a Certified Family Mediator and co-owner of Expressive Arts Florida. She holds a Certificate in Art and Healing from Ringling College and is a Counselor for Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s Institute for Cancer Care. Elizabeth offers expressive arts therapy, coaching and consultation, with a mind-body focus.

Graciela Bottini, PhD, REAT, is the former Director of the School of Drama, Universidad del Salvador-Argentina, and Vice President and co-founder of Latinoamerica IPA-Argentina (For Children’s Right to Play). She graduated from the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute (PCETI), U.S., and is the Co-Founder and Director of PCETI-Argentina. Graciela also is an art therapist from ECP and an official representative of the Creative Connection® process.

Rachel Brandoff, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT, is working toward her Doctorate in Creative Arts Therapies at Leslie University. She teaches at Marymount Manhattan College and the College of New Rochelle. Rachel is a founding partner of the Creative Arts Therapies Center in NYC, where she sees private clients.

Ellen Brochmann is a clinical social worker and expressive arts therapist. She uses expressive arts therapy in social services cases involving child neglect and abuse, and with children and adolescents in a psychiatric outpatient unit. She works closely with the police and court system.

Stephanie Brooke has more than 14 years of teaching experience in psychology, sociology and philosophy. She earned her certification in Art Therapy from Nazareth College. Stephanie has published three books on art therapy, edited several books on the use of the creative therapies, and published journal articles.

Colleen Denise Brown is an arts-based reconciliation practitioner, a member of Corrymeela and active in pastoral ministry.

Victoria Buckley is a Department of Mental Health Occupational Therapist at Tewksbury Hospital, liaison to the Arts and Healing Program. She graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude in psychology and from Tufts University with a Master’s degree in OT. She believes the healing arts are essential in recovery.

Julia Byers, EdD, was the Division Director of Expressive Therapies and Professor (1996 to 2008) at Lesley University and now serves as Coordinator of the Art Therapy program. She previously served as the Coordinator and Professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, for 15 years. Julia has presented workshops, training and lectures in 12 countries in alternative mental health and expressive therapies treatment and crisis intervention. She is a board member of the Cambridge Legal Services and Counseling Center.

Heather Cameron, a photographer, will complete a graduate program of study in Community Counseling with a certification in Expressive Arts Therapy at Appalachian State University in May 2009. Heather is interested in the use of photography in the therapeutic setting through the disciplines of phototherapy and therapeutic photography.

Connie Carringer is a Master’s candidate in Community Counseling and an Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate student at Appalachian State University. One of her interests is incorporating Appalachian crafts, music, dance and storytelling into therapy. She is a member of the Orchesis Honors Society Leadership Council.

Meredith Casper has a BA in Psychology from Ohio University and coursework from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a Master’s candidate at Appalachian State University in School Counseling with a certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy. She is devoted to the arts, education and international populations.

Mariagnese Cattaneo, PhD, LMHC, ATR-BC, is a Professor at Lesley University in the Expressive Therapies Division. She has taught in this program since its inception and is responsible for clinical training in expressive therapies. In 2008, she received from AATA the distinguished Art Therapy Educator Award.

Cenira is an artist, expressive arts facilitator, intuitive counselor and instructor with more than 30 years experience creating and exhibiting her art. For 27 years, Cenira has led workshops for different ages and groups in several countries on arts, symbolic and expressive arts, energy healing, meditation, creative bioenergetics, holistic education, environment and nature connection.

Silvia Lopez Chavez joined RAW Art Works in 2008 as a Teaching Artist. A native of the Dominican Republic, she received her BFA at the Massachusetts College of Art in Communications Design. She is an award-winning graphic designer and has exhibited paintings nationally and internationally. Silvia has worked with many youth community art programs, painting murals and leading summer art workshops in the Boston area.

Anna Clarke founded the Play Team Association in 2006, after many years training with Natalie Rogers and developing the non-directive play and expressive arts approach. A trained teacher and therapist, she works as a Non Directive Play Trainer, and Creative Director, pioneering learning support in schools.

Michelle Contreras, MA, is a Project REACH consultant at the Justice Resource Institute (JRI) Trauma Center. She has a license in Clinical Psychology from the Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala City, Guatemala (1999), and received her Master’s from the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. She is a Harvard Medical School Clinical Psychology Fellow.

Marisa Cornell, MA, is a graduate of the Community Counseling and Expressive Arts programs at Appalachian State University and is pursuing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership. She is particularly interested in social justice, travel, natural health and wellness, and dark chocolate.

Rachel Craig, a community healing activist, is a family/group therapist at Corrymeela, a community committed to reconciliation in Ireland and the world.

Deborah Crane holds a certificate in Voice Movement Therapy, from Oxford-Cambridge and RSA Examinations Board, after training with VMT founder Paul Newham, and a MA degree from Villanova University. She has maintained a VMT practice for 10 years, is an accomplished presenter,  and has more than 20 years of experience counseling at-risk youth.

Jason Cruz, MA, Clinical Supervisor at RAW Art Works, received his Master’s in Expressive Arts Therapy and was a recipient of the Lesley University’s Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies Award. A native of Puerto Rico, Jason has his own art and photography business, CRUZ ART, and is a youth minister at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Lynn, MA. He co-founded Build a New America Fellowship, which addresses racial and social issues through action.

Anna Densert is a social worker and expressive arts therapist in the Swedish public health system. A graduate from the Swedish Institute of Expressive Arts, she attends European Graduate School, Switzerland, where she is writing a Master’s thesis with an emphasis on the tradition of quilting and storytelling.

Barbara Devaney, MFT, directs the Anchor Program, a community mental health outpatient program in San Francisco that offers individual, family and group therapy integrating the expressive arts for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). Her private practice serves adults with ID and others.

B. Alicia Diaz, MFT, is an Expressive Arts Therapist working in the Latino community, focusing on culture, grief and the expressive arts. Ms. Diaz graduated in 2002 with an MA in Expressive Arts Therapy from California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

Gene Diaz, an Associate Professor at Lesley University, is an artist and ethnographer who teaches graduate courses in curriculum and qualitative research methods. She presents research in arts curricula at national and international conferences, including El Arte de la Pedagogía at the Conferencia de Redes Artísticas de Medellín, Colombia in 2007.

Beau Diehl, MA, LMHC, co-founded RAW Art Works in 1988, where she has worked as a team leader for the Department of Youth Services, a trainer, outreach coordinator and leader of Art Tag, RAW’s collaborative program with elementary schools. In 2008, Beau retired from RAW to work in her private practice in Amesbury, MA, where she counsels children, adolescents and adults, utilizing expressive and other experiential psychotherapies. 

Jean-Paul “J.P.” DiSciscio, the Film School Coordinator at RAW Art Works, leads Advanced Film School classes and continues to produce his own films, which have been screened at festivals across the country. His film Bairstow and Miller won Best Screenplay, Best Film and Best Actor at the 2007 Artists’ Exchange Film Festival in Rhode Island.

Victoria Domenichello-Anderson, MA, REACE, is faculty and co-founder of the Art and Healing Certificate Program at Ringling College of Art and Design, and co-owner of Expressive Arts Florida. She facilitates a variety of expressive arts sessions in the community, including people with parkinsonian syndrome and children with autism. A visual artist, she believes in the art process as a pathway to authentic inquiry, and individual and community growth.

Kate T. Donohue, PhD, REAT, was a founding member of IEATA and CIIS’ Expressive Arts Therapy (EXA). She is a board advisor and teaches at California Institute of Integral Studies. Politically active since childhood, Kate has encouraged artist responses to social issues in her work. As president of the NCPsySR, she created an arts program called “Give Peace a Chance.”

Lisa Donovan, PhD, is the Director of Creative Arts in Learning at Lesley University. A theater artist and arts based-researcher, she uses theater as a tool for social change. She creates original scripts based on issues of interest to the community she is working with, and encourages participants to access their own voice and listen to others.

Kendall Dudley, MA, of Columbia University is a painter and career/life direction consultant who presents at national conferences and at Harvard and Lesley Universities. His public art events often integrate social justice themes, his Peace Corps work in Iran, and studies in Islamic art and culture.

Tamar Reva Einstein, MA, has a Master’s in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University and CAGS European Graduate School, Switzerland. She lives and works in Jerusalem as an artist, arts therapist, supervisor and teacher. Tamar is devoted to crossing cultural barriers and embracing diversity, and is the mother of a teenage son who attends a bilingual multicultural school.

Urusa Fahim, PhD, is a faculty member at California Institute of Integral Studies. She has worked in the field of development management, managed diversity outreach for a Buddhist meditation center and has extensive teaching experience. Her interests include research methodologies, group process, collaborative creativity, intercultural communication and women’s leadership.

Leigh Falls, PhD, LPC, RPT, is an Assistant Professor, Counselor Education, at Texas Woman’s University. Leigh has more than 15 years of experience working in the counseling field. She has been a school counselor, a crisis intervention specialist and a sex offender counselor. She brings valuable expertise in the area of how expressive arts therapy affect brain chemistry.

Kristin Falvey is the Director of Developmental Disabilities Services, Center House Division, for Bay Cove Human Services.

Susan Paul Firestone, LCAT, ATR-BC, MA, MFA, worked in three downtown schools that were evacuated at the time of the World Trade Center tragedy. She worked for the Red Cross 9/11 School Recovery Program and Manhattan Youth After School Program, seeing elementary and middle school students, as well as parents and staff.

Becky Fleetwood, MA, LACT, a music and creative arts therapist, is co-founder of the Creative Arts Therapies Center in NYC. She is adjunct faculty at New York University, and PhD student in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University. Her research, publications, presentations and clinical work focus on active transitions and co-creating in arts-based psychotherapy and supervision.

Haley Fox has engaged in arts-based psychotherapy, writing, research and supervision for 20 years. A former core faculty at Lesley University and co-author of Minstrels of Soul, she now lives in the Midwest. Haley honors art as soul-making work that heals psyche for individuals everywhere and also can heal the world.

Chris Gaines, BFA, an award-winning filmmaker and photographer, is director of RAW Art Works’ Real to Reel Film School. Prior to joining RAW, he worked as a senior editor and assistant producer of a nationally broadcast business show, assistant director of a televised nightly news magazine, on a weekly public television program on Latino interests and as a motion graphics designer. He has taught film at the high school and university levels.

Sheri Gaynor, REAT, is the author of Creative Awakenings: Envisioning the Life of Your Dreams through Art. A licensed psychotherapist, and professional coach, she has 20 years experience working in mental health agencies and her own private practice. Her specialty areas have included child and family therapy, addictions, health and healing, expressive arts therapy and women’s issues.

David Gere, PhD, is director of the UCLA Art | Global Health Center and its signature project, MAKE ART/STOP AIDS. His current work includes traveling art exhibitions, community-based collaborations between artists and people living with HIV/AIDS, STI/HIV education programs for teenagers, and a hospital-based cable radio program.

Sophie Glikson, LMHC, CET, MA offers expressive arts therapy to individuals in private practice since 1989. She has taught in the Graduate School at Lesley University since 1994. She collaborated in the development of a new Expressive Therapy Studio Course, which she co-taught in Spring 2009.

Jane Goldberg, PhD, LMFT, REAT, CET, founded the Expressive Arts Training Institute in Newport Beach, CA in 1986. She has led professional training programs and workshops locally, nationally and internationally for more than 24 years. She is a founding member of IEATA and served on the board from 1998-2000.

Maria Gonzalez-Blue, MA, REAT, REACE, is an Expressive Arts Therapist and Consultant/Educator. She teaches at California Institute for Integral
Studies in San Francisco and has taught in Mexico, Argentina and Guatemala.
She was a faculty member of the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute from 1991 to 2004. She sees the arts as a pathway to Spirit.

Rowesa Gordon’s approach is relational. She believes that therapy, the arts and education also must be conscious and intentional acts of social change, honoring multiplicity and staying open to the possibility of personal transformation, in all its many forms.

Rosa Granadillo-Schwentker, PhD, is an international lecturer-facilitator, and a Dance and Expressive Arts Therapist. She teaches at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and Center for Culture and Diversity. She also directs ShiftinNRG. Her interests include Toltec, Caribbean and Eastern feminine shamanism, multicultural expressive arts, energy psychology and medicine, and their impact on the community.

Diane J. Guelzow spent 25 years teaching before earning her MA in Community Counseling and a post-graduate certificate in Expressive Art. She is a graduate research assistant and a full-time doctoral student in the Educational Leadership Program at Appalachian State University, where she is exploring art-based research and counseling.

Ruth Guttfreund, a Jewish-Salvadorian, trained in Art Therapy in England, and has worked in England, Israel and El Salvador. She has worked in a wide variety of frameworks with different populations. She enjoys community action, private practice and teaching.

Nicole Hahna, MS, is a music therapist, adjunct faculty member at Appalachian State University, and PhD student in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University. Her research, publications, presentations and clinical work focus on the use of music therapy with child and adult survivors of intimate partner violence.

Terri Halperin-Eaton is an Expressive Arts Therapist who has practiced for 30 years in private practice and within treatment programs. She is adjunct faculty at Lesley University, Cambridge as well as the Director of Expressive and Milieu Therapies at Walden Behavioral Care, MA. Her work focuses on the treatment of eating disorders.

Linda Hammond, RDT, REAT, LMFT, has a private practice in San Francisco and Berkeley. She is Core Faculty in the Expressive Arts Masters program at the California Institute of Integral Studies and has a background in theatre. She is passionate about theatre’s power to foster healing and transformation with individuals and to be a resource for social change.

June Rabson Hare, PhD, is a social worker and psychodramatist in clinical and community settings. June teaches at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

Hadass Harel, MA, LMHC, ATR-BC, is a psychotherapist, trauma specialist and expressive therapist practicing on the South Shore of Massachusetts, and a community-worker in the multicultural inner city of Brockton. Her research in India spans 20 years of shared arts, dance and ritual with traditional communities of faith in Varanasi and Kolkata.

Michelle Harris, MA, ATR-BC, LMHC, is a clinician, trainer and faculty at the Trauma Center in Boston. She trains teachers in Boston public schools on approaches to improve learning outcomes for students with trauma exposure. Michelle also runs an art space at Harvard University and teaches at Lesley University.

Evan Hastings, MA, a theatrical educator, poetic performer and innovative activist, integrates Theatre of the Oppressed, Drama Therapy and elements of Hip Hop culture into his approach to artistic social healing. He facilitates Hip Hop Theatre groups in schools and correctional facilities and is an arts integration consultant.

Shalene Hatton, MFTI, ATR, is an alumni of Lesley University and currently runs the art therapy program at the Children's Health Council’s EBC School in Palo Alto, CA. She is passionate about providing clients with skills and opportunities for thriving in professional art communities.

Leanne Maloo Haynes received her Master’s degree in Community Counseling and Expressive Arts Therapy from Appalachian State University. She is passionate about connection to experience, people, community, environment and the world. She connects with others through teaching, dance, writing, the arts, community, international travel, volunteerism, spiritual practice and facilitating workshops.

Vera Heller, PhD, works in Montreal as an Art Therapist and Mental Health Counselor, and teaches at the University of Quebec. Parallel to her clinical work, she has maintained a studio practice since 1983 and participated in various group exhibitions, both in Canada and abroad.

Lisa Herman, MFT, PhD, REAT, is core faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Studies and the Institute of Imaginal Studies. She sees the job for therapists, educators and guides is to increase capacities to hold all the sounds and movements of human experience and express them through the arts. She believes change comes in-between things, and recognizes the need to be flexible and steady to facilitate the space and time for uncertainty.

Daniel Herring has a BFA in Acting from Emerson University and an MA in Expressive Therapy from Lesley University. He has practiced mindfulness meditation since the mid-1970s and has worked with mentally ill individuals since 1982. He teaches at Lesley and supervises clinicians and interns at a mental health center.

Colleen Hillock, MEd, is the Coordinator of the Addictions Counseling Program at Medicine Hat College, Canada, which addresses the research, theory and clinical practice of alcohol, drug and gambling addictions, as well as eating and sexual disorders.

Becca Greene-Van Horn offers drama therapy and EI coaching to children and adults in Amherst, MA.

Kathleen Horne, MA, LMHC, REACE, is co-founder and faculty in the Art and Healing Certificate Program at Ringling College and co-owner of Expressive Arts Florida. She created “Art as a Healing Practice,” combining guided meditation, deep listening, art and writing. An IEATA board member, she offers consulting, workshops, mentoring, supervision, psychotherapy and CEU trainings.

Susannah Horwitz, MA, a singer/songwriter, visual artist and expressive arts therapist, is Project Launch Director for RAW Art Works. She received her Master’s from Lesley University in Expressive Therapies and has more than 15 years of experience with youth in both educational and therapeutic contexts.

Celine Hunt, MS, (co-presenting with Shannon Stevens and Michaela Kirby) has a Master’s degree in art and expressive therapy from Lesley University. She met Shannon as a fellow student through Lesley’s undergraduate art therapy program, where Michaela was Program Coordinator.

Shelley A. Jackson, PhD, LPC, RPT-S, teaches at Texas Woman’s University. She previously was a school counselor and a play therapist in private practice. Her first expressive arts therapy experience involved swimming with dolphins. She uses expressive arts in teaching and supervision, and recently published three articles.

Emily Johnson graduated with an MA in Expressive Therapies and Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University in 2008. She has two years experience working with cancer patients and their families.

Billie Jo Joy, MEd, RYY, is a founder of Art & Soul, a studio dedicated to the contemplative and expressive arts. She is a teacher, dancer, writer and director with numerous credits in theater and film. She has taught at Salem State College, Emerson College, and currently at The Boston Conservatory.

Jessica Kaptcianos, MA, MT-BC, is a singer-songwriter and music therapist who embraces the beauty of cultural diversity in her work.

Aya Kasai, MA, MFTI is a graduate of the expressive arts therapy program at California Institute of Integral Studies. Aya worked in a skilled nursing unit of a large San Francisco hospital during her practicum and wrote a thesis on the use of expressive arts to help patients deal with pain issues.

Suraya Susana Keating, MFT, RDT, is an actress, director, yoga teacher and Registered Drama Therapist who utilizes theatre and movement as tools for individual and social transformation. She directs a Shakespeare program with inmates at San Quentin, runs a prison-based original performance project, and teaches and directs youth theatre and dance in schools.

Mukti Khanna, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, interdisciplinary educator and expressive arts specialist. She creates expressive arts dialogues on nonviolence, anti-oppression and sustainability. She is a Professor at The Evergreen State College in Washington and graduate of the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute.

Michaela Kirby, PsyD, ATR-BC, received a Masters in Expressive Therapy from Lesley University and completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. She has served as the Program Coordinator of the undergraduate arts therapy program for six years and is co-founder of the Art-For-All Studio in Somerville, MA.

Tamara Teeter Knapp, BA, is an expressive artist, dancer and teacher, and co-owner of Expressive Arts Florida. She holds a Certificate in Art and Healing from Ringling College. With her gift for working with children, Tamara has been an elementary teacher for 10 years. She applies knowledge of creative drama, dance, movement and visual art to her work with children and adults.

Nicki Koethner, MFT, is an Expressive Art Therapist and artist working in private practice. She has given Expressive Arts workshops and performances in New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and in Germany. She is a passionate advocate of the expressive arts for healing trauma as well as celebrating our aliveness and common humanity. She is the ECC of IEATA and a board member of Bodytales.

Deborah Koff-Chapin, BFA, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at California Institute of Integral Studies, has been developing Touch Drawing since 1974. She is the creator of SoulCards and author of Drawing Out Your Soul. Deborah learned New Song Long Dance in the 1970s. In 1983 she co-founded the Whidbey Long Dance Circle, which continues to this day.

Suzanne Laberge, LCPC, REAT, raised four children, was an aspiring writer and artist, and a hairdresser for 10 years before discovering Lesley University. She received her Masters in 1991. During her years of urban and rural agency work, she discovered a compelling interest in children and families. In private practice since 1994, Suzanne lives in Portland, ME.

Erika Lally, MAAT, ATR-BC, LMHC, is a clinician, supervisor and trainer at the JRI Trauma Center and an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University, where she teaches in the Master’s level Expressive Therapies Division. She also works as clinical supervisor for the Latin American Health Institute’s Latino Child-Traumatic Stress Initiative team in Boston. She has provided trauma treatment for both children and adults for 15 years.

Ellen M. Landis, ADTR, LMFT, is a Registered Dance Movement Therapist, educator, mediator, EMDR level II, and PhD candidate in expressive therapies. She has more than 20 years experience integrating creative arts into psychotherapy and community activities. Ellen has committed to building responsible relationships through daily practice of blending of creativity, spirituality and social action.

Peggy Langley, LMHC, received a Master’s Degree in Dance/Movement Therapy from Lesley University in 1984. She has worked with a variety of populations as a therapist and educator, including children, elders, adults living with HIV/AIDS, pregnant women and other adults with substance abuse issues. Peggy has been a facilitator at “Opening the Heart” workshops, studies yoga, and is a Certified Focusing-Oriented Therapist and Trainer.

Jared Leaderman, MA, MT-BC, is a music therapist, music educator, and professional jazz musician in Boston.

Teresa Lee, a faculty member at Appalachian State University, has received an ASU Research Cluster Grant to explore artistic expressions of marginalization in a local public school.

Ellen G. Levine, MSW, PhD, LICSW, REAT, has worked as an Expressive Arts Therapist and trainer/educator for more than 30 years. A painter and clown, she is Dean of Independent Study and Director of the Expressive Arts and Social Change program at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. 

Stephen K. Levine, PhD, DSSc, REAT, is an expressive arts educator, poet and clown. He is Dean of the Doctoral Program in Expressive Arts at the European Graduate School. Steve and Ellen Levine co-authored the book Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy with Paolo Knill.

Saphira Linden, MA, RDT-BCT, LCAT, CP, is the Artistic Director and Omega Theater Director at the Omega Transpersonal Drama Therapy Certificate Program, with 10 years toward RDT credentialing through NADT. She is writing a book, The Soul of Drama Therapy, about her transpersonal approach. Saphira also is a senior meditation teacher and clergy with Sufi Order International.

Eve Lyons, LHMC, works in a community mental health clinic and is a published writer of poetry, fiction and plays. She wrote her Master’s thesis on the therapeutic value ’zines – putting your art out into the world. Since then, she has become interested in blogs and photoblogs, heirs to the ’zine culture.

Dicki Johnson Macy, ADTR, MEd, LMHC, is Creative Director of the Boston Children’s Foundation and founder of Rainbowdance Attunement. The lineage holder in the art and technique of Isadora Duncan, she creates international healing rituals for children isolated by developmental and neurological disorders, and exposure to conflict and natural disaster.

Robert D. Macy, PhD, is Executive Director of Boston Children’s Foundation, the Trauma Center at JRI and Research Associate at Harvard Medical School. He has 32 years of advanced training and practice in multiple theatre, dance and martial arts disciplines, pioneering Traumatic Incident Stress Interventions in the U.S., Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Gloria Mahin, MA, LPC, is a first-generation Iranian-American and a student of Islamic mysticism. She spent extended periods of time in Iran where veiling is enforced by law. Gloria earned her Master’s degree in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University and promotes the arts in therapeutic and wellness facilities.

Denise Malis, LMHC, ATR-BC and co-presenter Amy Morrison, LMH, ATR are candidates in the Expressive Therapy Doctoral Program at Lesley University. They specialize in sensorial and studio-based art therapy and share an interest in attachment formation and the ethics of caring. Denise and Amy are exhibiting visual artists, co-founders of Reaching Roots Arts Collective in Somerville, MA, and teach at Lesley University.

Adriana Marchione, MA, REAT, RSMT, CHT, has an expressive arts therapy practice in San Francisco. She is an adjunct faculty member at Tamalpa Institute, and works at California Institute of Integral Studies as Art Curator, where she created an innovative exhibit program. Adriana has been an exhibiting artist, writes poetry and dances Argentine tango.

Cameron Marzelli has been an educator, counselor and consultant for more than 30 years. She was one of the first two students granted a PhD in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University. Her doctoral work explored the way in which imaginal writing facilitates resilience in adolescent girls.

Ellen McManus is an Expressive Therapist in the Department of Public Health at Tewksbury Hospital. She holds a Master’s degree in Expressive Therapy from Lesley University. She initiated the theatre program and developed the relationship with the public schools. She sees theatre as a powerful tool for connection and empowerment.

Harold McKinney, DA, Professor of Music at Appalachian State, teaches trombone, philosophy of music and expressive arts. He is co-author of Expressive Arts Therapy: Creative Process in Art and Life. He recorded with pianist Paolo Knill and has served as Academic Fellow at the European Graduate School.

Shaun McNiff, Professor at Lesley University, is the author of many books, including Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul; Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go; Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination; Creating with Others: The Practice of Imagination in Life, Art and the Workplace; Art-Based Research; Depth Psychology of Art; The Arts and Psychotherapy; and the recently published Integrating the Arts in Therapy: History, Theory and Practice. He is Past President and an Honorary Life Member of the American Art Therapy Association.

Nancy Mellon has pioneered therapeutic storytelling for many years, presenting workshops and courses worldwide. Her newest book – Body Eloquence: The Power of Myth and Story to Awaken the Body’s Energies – is about human physiology and storytelling as a healing art. Her previous books are treasured in many countries.

Laura Menucci, MPS, ATR, is the Outreach Coordinator at RAW Art Works.  Since 2002, she has worked as an art therapist and art teacher for children, adults and the elderly in hospital, residential and community settings in Vermont, New York and Georgia. Laura received Master’s in Art Therapy and Creativity Development from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

Maryam Mermey is a performing and teaching artist for personal and social transformation. She has served as therapist, educator and trainer on the East and West Coasts, Israel and Scotland for more than 30 years. She offers “Bully Prevention through Expressive Arts” programs for students, faculty and people working in helping professions.

Lisa Merrell, MA, RDT, LCAT, is co-founder of The Creative Therapies Center in Rhode Island and is a graduate of NYU’s Drama Therapy Program. She works with male and female sexual offenders, abuse survivors and geriatric populations and leads personal growth workshops using drama therapy and creative arts techniques.

Travis Merrell, MA, RDT, LCAT, is co-founder of The Creative Therapies Center in Rhode Island. He has worked with incarcerated sexual offenders and those on probation/parole, providing services addressing offending behaviors, men’s work, anger management and communication styles. Travis attended Lesley’s Expressive Arts Therapies Program and graduated from NYU’s Drama Therapy Program.

Niela Miller, MS Ed, is the owner of PeopleSystems Potential in Acton, MA, and author of three books. She combines an extensive background in the arts with humanistic psychology, education and organizational development to work on a wide variety of projects. She is a longtime member of IEATA and has presented at many of its conferences.

Rosalie Minkin, TEP, ATR-BC, LCAT, MSW, has been a trainer, educator and practitioner of psychodrama, group psychotherapy and sociometry for 25 years. She is the director of the East/West Institute for Psychodrama and Sociodrama, and has a private practice in Philadelphia, PA. She is a board certified art therapist, a licensed activities therapist and a social worker.

Amy Morrison, LMH, ATR, and co-presenter Denise Malis, LMHC, ATR-BC, are candidates in the Expressive Therapy Doctoral Program at Lesley University. They specialize in sensorial and studio-based art therapy and share an interest in attachment formation and the ethics of caring. Denise and Amy are exhibiting visual artists, co-founders of Reaching Roots Arts Collective in Somerville, MA, and teach at Lesley University.

Deborah Nathan is the founder and executive director of Artsbridge, Inc. She received her Master’s Degree in Art Therapy and Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University and has more than 25 years experience as an artist and art educator. Debbie also is a board member of the Salem Center for Therapy, Training and Research, where also provides therapy for individuals, families and couples, and leads expressive therapy groups.

Betsy Naylor has a BS in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is pursuing a Master’s in Community Counseling with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy from Appalachian State University. She is passionate about working with victims of sexual assault and abuse.

Dorit Netzer, PhD, ATR-BC, LCAT, works at Creative Encounters, a family-oriented private practice. She focuses on healing as a spiritual, creative process. Dorit is an adjunct faculty member at Hofstra University’s CAT Master’s program, and a faculty mentor at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology’s Global Master’s in Creativity and Innovation.

Donna Newman-Bluestein, ADTR, LMHC, has worked as a dance/movement therapist since 1978, including 20 years with elders. Her recent focus has been on elders with dementia, where her focus on joy and moving from the heart transforms the culture for clients and staff. Donna teaches at Lesley University.

Susan Nisenbaum Becker, MA, RDT, is an actor, playwright, poet, teacher and consultant. She is the co-director of the New England region’s Herring Run ArtsFest and a psychotherapist in private practice with special interest in the interface of psychology and spirituality.

Janet Novotny graduated in 2008 from Lesley University’s Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy Program. She spent the past year working with survivors of sexual assault, abuse and domestic violence at Womansplace Crisis Center in Brockton, MA. She works as a Family Stabilization Clinician at the Home for Little Wanderers.

Danielle O’Brien, a Registered Dance Movement Therapist, has led expressive arts therapy groups with seniors, including elders with memory impairment, since graduating from Antioch NE University four years ago. She is completing a certificate program in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, researching on mindfulness-based therapy with elders and their caregivers.

Alan O’Hare, a licensed psychologist, is an Adjunct Faculty member at Lesley University Expressive Therapies PhD program, and director of Life Story Theatre.

Kyoko Ono, MA, a licensed Clinical Psychologist, is director of the Expressive Arts Therapy Institute, and works at a mental health clinic, a junior high school, and with seniors using expressive arts therapy. She has presented workshops and classes in Japan at Seitoku University and Tokyo Gakugei University for 15 years. She facilitates Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy training in Japan.

Hod Orkibi, MA, IPA-R, ICET-R, a performer and creative arts therapist specializing in psychodrama, has Master’s degrees in Expressive Arts Therapy and Theatre Arts, and is a PhD student in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University. He is a teaching associate at the Graduate School of Creative Art Therapies at the University of Haifa in Israel.

Ken Otter, MA, has been engaged in transformative learning and change for past 25 years in a variety of settings. He is director of the MA in Leadership at Saint Mary’s College, and core faculty at the Tamalpa Institute, where he has been affiliated since 1981 as a student, performer and teacher.

Amy Pfenning received an MPS from Pratt Institute and is a Registered Art Therapist working with sex offenders in a California state hospital.

Sarva Lucia Posey holds an MA in Expressive Arts Therapy from European Graduate School (EGS) and postgraduate certificates in Expressive Arts from EGS and Appalachian State University. She works at a neurological rehabilitation hospital as an expressive arts therapist and teaches at the Catholic University in Freiburg, Germany. She enjoys visual art, architecture and living in the Black Forrest.

Jordan S. Potash, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT, is an art therapist in Hong Kong pursuing a PhD through the University of Hong Kong. He is a past chair of the Multicultural Committee of the American Art Therapy Association and a member of the faculty at George Washington University.

Laury Rappaport, PhD, REAT, ATR-BC, is an Associate Professor at Notre Dame de University. She is the former Academic Coordinator of the International Expressive Therapies at Lesley University, and is a Certifying Coordinator of the Focusing Institute. Laury is the author of Focusing-oriented Art Therapy: Accessing the Body’s Wisdom and Creative Intelligence.

Taira Restar, MA, is an artist, performer and creative movement educator. She is Assistant Director of Tamalpa Institute and Core Faculty. She also works with Anna Halprin as an Associate Teacher.

Rebecca M. Ridge, PhD, TEP, LMT, is an international trainer in psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy. She has developed an integration of psychodrama, expressive arts and somatic therapies titled The Body Alchemy of Psychodrama™. She is also an international trainer and educator in craniosacral therapy for the Upledger Institute.

Joanne Robinson is an art therapist with the Ulster Cancer Foundation and a member of Corrymeela and NIGAT.

Natalie Rogers, PhD, REAT, author of The Creative Connection: Expressive Art as Healing and Emerging Woman, is a pioneer in person-centered expressive art therapy. She offers an Expressive Arts Certificate program at Saybrook Graduate School in California and has led trainings in Europe, Japan, S. Korea, Russia and Latin America.

Liz Rose, PhD, Professor of Music at Appalachian State University, teaches courses in music education and music therapy. She is a Board Certified Music Therapist, a member of the Expressive Arts Collective and is passionate about the sustainable practice of art making in community.

Graça Duarte Santos is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor in Psychology at the University of Evora in Portugal. She created and runs the curricular units for Expressive Arts Therapies in the university’s Psychology MA and Psychomotricity programs. Graça also serves as director of the Post Graduation program for Expressive Arts Therapies and Human Development at the University in collaboration with the European Graduate School.

Prilly Sanville is the Coordinator for the Community Arts Master’s degree at Lesley University’s Creative Arts in Learning Division. A drama educator who focuses on social justice, she is interested in the dialogue that can occur in our classrooms and community cross-culturally and multi-culturally through an arts approach. She has taught in Russia, Israel, British Columbia and Quebec.

Greta Schnee works in private practice and at a clinic in Central Massachusetts with children with PTSD and attachment disorders.

Edward Schreiber is Co-Director of the Moreno Institute East and Director of the Zerka T. Moreno Foundation. Co-editor of The Quintessential Zerka: Writings by Zerka Toeman Moreno on Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy, Edward teaches at Lesley University and offers programs around the world.

Michal Shanti-Canetti, an Israeli psychodramatist, works in a private clinical practice specializing mostly in eating disorders, trauma and chronic disease. His clinical and research interests include changes influenced throughout the psychodramatic process and the therapeutic process through internal psychodrama, with an emphasis on spirituality.

Mollie Shea, HHP, LMT, CET, is the founder of Essential Motion, a private practice supporting full spectrum health. She is a classical homeopath, Reiki Master, and a certified facilitator of Conscious Breathing and Body Centered Therapy.

Helaine Sheias, PhD, an international group facilitator and eco-spiritual counselor, is an expert in acculturation and marginalization processes of female immigrants in Israel. Her extensive background in eco-feminism, psychology, spirituality and yoga offers an interdisciplinary approach to socio-cultural awareness by weaving together compassionate listening, non-violent social action and indigenous healing.

Lisa Silveria has an MA in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University and is an adjunct faculty member. She has worked in both community and shelter settings with women and children who have witnessed domestic violence, and also has facilitated teen dating violence groups with high school students.

Gloria Simoneaux, MA, REAT, EXA, is a Fulbright Scholar in Nairobi, Kenya. She founded Harambee Arts, training caregivers in sub-Saharan Africa. She teaches at Kenya Association of Professional Counselors and CONNECT Institute of Family Systems in Harare, Zimbabwe. In 1989, she founded DrawBridge, an arts program for homeless children.

Shoshana Simons, PhD, is Chair of the MA Expressive Arts Therapy Program at California Institute of Integral Studies and faculty in Transformative Studies. She integrates expressive arts practices into her work as an educator, drama therapist and organizational consultant. Her interests include expressive arts and leadership, narrative expressive arts therapy and arts-based research.

Lindsey Smith is pursuing her Master’s in Community Counseling at Appalachian State University. She received her BFA in Theater Performance from Emerson College. Lindsey works with ASU’s community service outreach program, ACT.

Vivien Marcow-Speiser, PhD, LMHC, NCC, ADTR, is a Professor and Director of International and Collaborative Programs at Lesley University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. As the founder and former director of the Arts Institute Project in Israel, she was influential in the development of Expressive Arts Therapy in Israel. A dance therapist and expressive arts educator, she has taught and lectured extensively in Scandinavia, Israel, South Africa and the U.S.

Phillip Speiser, PhD, LMHC, RDT, REAT, is Director of Arts Therapy at Whittier Street Health Center, serving more than 2,000 children and families annually. A family therapist and expressive arts educator/therapist, Phillip has developed integrated arts programs since 1980, and has taught and lectured extensively in Scandinavia, Europe, Israel, South Africa and the U.S. He is the former chairperson of IEATA and Very Special Arts Sweden.

Shannon Stevens, MA, (co-presenting with Celine Hunt and Michaela Kirby) has a Master’s degree in art and expressive therapy from Lesley University. She met Celine as a fellow student through Leslie’s undergraduate art therapy program, where Michaela was Program Coordinator.

Jodi Brereton Souter has a Master’s in counseling psychology and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Expressive Arts Therapy from the European Graduate School. She has worked in the field of children’s mental health for 11 years, providing art-based youth and family counseling in many different settings including emergency respite, therapeutic foster care, residential services and children’s mental health outpatient settings.

Carol Marks Stopforth has practiced yoga and meditation for more than 20 years. She is the Clinical Director of Rebound, a residential facility for adolescents with substance abuse and other co-occurring disorders. She also runs a yoga, meditation, relaxation group that is integral to Rebound’s clinical program.

Marina Strauss, LMHC, MA, works in an outpatient clinic in Brighton, MA offering individual and family therapy. She has been facilitating expressive therapy workshops in Argentina, Spain and Boston as well as collaborating in the development of a new Expressive Therapy Studio Course she will co-teach in spring 2009.

Simone Tabib, MA, specializes in trauma therapy integrating expressive arts and mind/body medicine for children and teens at risk. Simone received her MA in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University and is pursuing her PhD with a core modality in psychodrama. She lives and works in Israel.

Carylbeth Thomas, MA, ACMT, LMHC, is an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University, lecturer at Northeastern University, Fieldwork Supervisor at the Berklee College of Music, and Internship Director and Music Therapist at the Community Music Center of Boston. She is President of the New England Region - American Music Therapy Association and has published three book chapters and various presentations on clinical practice and supervision.

Tina Marie Thomas holds a PhD in biopsychology. She is also a registered nurse, board-certified social worker, certified Gestalt therapist and author. Tina offers workshops based on her book A Gentle Path, and her work with the Enneagram, including research at Duke University exploring a biological basis for personality.

Nina (Anin) Utigaard, MA, MFT, REAT, is one of the four founding co-chairs of IEATA, and a core faculty member of the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute. She works with individuals and groups to address challenges and promote conscious living. A musician, singer, artist and writer, Anin believes in the transformative power of creativity and that creative expression ultimately promotes global healing.

Ralitza M. Vladimirov, MA, is a Bulgarian artist, performer and art therapist who uses various media in her creative process. She combines music, dance-movement, drama and art to provoke, stimulate and promote healing in her work as a therapist. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in fine art, physical therapy and art management, and a Master’s in art therapy.

Dot Walsh is program director for The Peace Abbey, a multi-faith retreat center in Sherborn, MA, and an international community activist. 

Anna Ward, a faculty member at Appalachian State University, has received an ASU Research Cluster Grant to explore artistic expressions of marginalization in a local public school.

Anna Marie Weber, MA, RDT, CDVC, is co-editor of Clinical Applications of Drama Therapy in Child and Adolescent Treatment (2005, Brunner-Routledge). She is director of Children’s Services at Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (Long Island, NY) and an adjunct faculty member at New York University.

Jack S. Weller is Rudolph Schaeffer Professor of Arts and Creativity and for 20 years was the founding director of the Expressive Arts Therapy Program at California Institute of Integral Studies. One of the four founding executive co-chairs of IEATA, his main interest is in the meeting point of art, creativity and spirituality.

Daniel Wiener, Professor at Central Connecticut State University, practices as a psychologist in West Hartford, CT and Leverett, MA.

Rebekah Windmiller, MA, LCAT, REAT, is the founder and director of the New York City Expressive Arts Studio, where she trains practitioners in expressive arts. She has worked extensively with psychiatric patients. Her writing has been published in POIESIS, and in the book, In Praise of Poiesis. She has danced for more than 25 years.

Jean Winslow, an art therapist, psychodramatist and certified EMDR therapist, loves to make things happen, whether creating art or working with others to change the way things are in their lives, in the community or in the world.

Ann Sayre Wiseman, MA, is an art and dream therapist, painter and author of 12 books (including Making Things, Handbook of Creative Discoveries, Dreams as Metaphor, The Power of the Image and Nightmare Help, A Guide for Adults From Children.) She was adjunct faculty for 13 years at Lesley University in the Expressive Therapies and teachers training programs.

Joan Woodworth, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Appalachian State University, teaches interdisciplinary classes in the history of psychology, clinical applications of dreams, creativity and the arts, and eco-psychology. She has taught and researched dreams in the People’s Republic of China and is a member of the Expressive Arts Collective. 

Charlotte Yonge, PhD, is a teacher and a therapeutic expressive arts facilitator and coach for Creative Journal Expressive Arts. She uses a learning support approach with non-directive play and creative journaling for 5-year-olds in school. Charlotte also works as a Non-Directive Play Trainer with the Play Team Association for childcare professionals.

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