twenty14 on the go :: autumn offerings & happenings

“….autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together…” ~ Edwin Way Teale, Autumn Across America

Fall is quickly approaching, which means lots of art therapy and related offerings & activity happening– Yay!

The kick off for me starts this week with attending Ohio’s 33rd Annual BATA Symposium in Columbus, Implications of Research in Art Therapy Practice. I am looking forward to these couple of days to be inspired, meet up with art therapy colleagues & friends, as well as make some art!  Throughout the next couple of months I am also excited to be guest lecturing for undergraduate and graduate art therapy courses, facilitating a local art gathering dedicated to self care & emotional resiliency, and teaching again for the Expressive Therapies Summit in New York City, and at Ursuline College:

Tokens of Strength & Affirmation: Artist Challenge Coins (ACCs)

September 19-20: 2014 Buckeye Art Therapy Association (BATA) Symposium, Columbus, Ohio- Laurel Larson, MPS, ATR and me will be offering the workshop “Tokens of Strength & Affirmation: Artist Challenge Coins (ACCs)” as part of this year’s BATA Symposium program on Friday afternoon. Used in the military, a Challenge Coin is a medallion symbolizing achievement, membership, or recognition, as well as given to increase morale and community among belonging members. In the spirit of Challenge Coins, participants will learn how to use Artist Challenge Coins (ACCs) as tokens of affirmation, strength, and recovery. Participants will engage in making their own ACC with mixed media, as well as create an ACC to exchange with other participants.

September 24: Guest lecturing at Ursuline College’s Master of Arts in Art Therapy & Counseling Program about the inspiration of Dr. Bruce Perry in relationship to art therapy & trauma as part of Dr. Amy Jacob’s Psychopathology course.

October 3: Guest lecturing at Ursuline College’s Master of Arts in Art Therapy & Counseling Program as part of Sr. Kathleen Burke, PhD’s Arts and Social Justice intensive course.

Self Care through Creative Practice & Intention: An Evening of Art Making for Helping Professionals

October 15: Self Care through Creative Practice & Intention: An Evening of Art Making for Helping Professionals, Cleveland, Ohio- Explore & strengthen emotional resilience through art-making and creative practice within this small and artful gathering of helping professionals. This evening of art-making will focus on creating a mini, mobile accordion matchbox art journal that can serve as a tangible reminder of support, strength, & the importance of self-care for the work we do in service & care of others. For more information and to register, visit this link.

October 20 & 21: Remote lecture for undergraduate psychology students at the University of Cincinnati, Clermont College focusing on the topic of using art in trauma intervention.

November 6-9: 5th Annual Expressive Therapies Summit, New York City- On November 6, Mindy Jacobson-Levy, MCAT, ATR-BC, LPC, DVATA HLM and me will be teaching the Master Class Destruction & Transformation in Art & Therapy: Re-Framing, Re-Forming, Re-Claiming at this year’s ET Summit. Participants in this all day offering will explore key concepts surrounding the therapeutic role of creative destruction and the reparation of images that fosters the fertile ground for self-repair and personal growth. A self-directed journey will commence as we discover how art making affects each of us; this enhanced by group discussion. Case material will be presented as a bridge to our work with various client populations.

Throughout this semester I am also teaching Art Therapy Studio I again, a core course for Ursuline College’s Art Therapy & Counseling Program to explore creativity, self expression, and lots of studio, art-making time.  In addition to personal art making and creating a portfolio of work throughout the semester, students will also learn how to create digistories and use the medium of digital storytelling to share narratives about their artist identity.

This fall I also have some new supervision times available for art therapists seeking the Art Therapist Registration (ATR) credential, whether you are local to or outside NE Ohio.  Skype supervision sessions are available for art therapists living outside NE Ohio and abroad.  Check out this link for more information and how to connect with me if you might be interested.

As always during this busy and inspiring time of year, I hope that there might be a place or opportunity above or between for us to connect and meet up off the grid!  ❤

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Creative Planning: Mind Mapping

Below is my valuable mind mapping guide I’ve been using for creating this round of 6 Degrees of Creativity online workshops.

Creative Planning: Mind Mapping

Over the last year, I’ve started to use this visual technique to organize ideas and thoughts and have found it super helpful for projects, meetings or presentations, and things I need help in better understanding or making sense of. Simply said in this article from LifeHacker, “a mind map is basically a diagram that connects information around a central subject.”

The article’s author Melanie Pinola describes mind mapping is way more than “just note-taking” and “can help you become more creative, remember more, and solve problems more effectively.”  She recommends that mind mapping can be used for an endless amount of thought related, learning, or planning activities.

One of the benefits she highlights is that creating this type of visual tool combining images and words can “be more memorable and enjoyable to create and review“.  Pinola also points out the value of the Picture Superiority Effect: “the combination of words and pictures is six times better for remembering information than words alone“:

For my 6 Degrees of Creativity mind mapping fun above, the 6 workshops surround and reach out from the center with all their different parts….ranging from idea content, art making prompts, intention, PDF and video resources, as well as ways for participants to engage this workshop community.

Creating this in visual form was fun to organize everything (to focus on in pieces, as well as a whole) and provided clarity on the purpose of each workshop space.

It’s nice to see what is on paper now ready in virtual form.  Lots more creative goodness begins here this week to artfully enjoy together during the rest of the year– Yay!

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Resources:

How to Use Mind Maps to Unleash Your Brain’s Creativity and Potential

Mind Mapping for Positive Health

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Related Posts:

Creative Goodness Alert: Spotlight on 6 Degrees of Creativity Workshops

Self Care through Creative Practice & Intention: Anchoring

Inspiration from the 2013 TLC Childhood Trauma Practitioner’s Assembly

gretchen-miller.com: Re-designing & Re-visioning

My official website gretchen-miller.com was recently updated with some re-designing and re-visioning.  The site highlights my work, services, and interests:

gretchen-miller.com

Content featured on gretchen-miller.com includes:

• Autobiographical Information: Learn more about my work as a Registered Board Certified Art Therapist and Certified Trauma Consultant, my educational training, clinical experience and specializations, interests, as well as professional affiliations with organizations such as The Combat Paper Project, The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children, and community organizing with The Art Therapy Alliance and Art Therapy Without Borders, Inc.
• Information and Resources About Art Therapy– Learn more about what art therapy is and what art therapists do, including definitions, resources, and links from organizations such as The Art Therapy Alliance, International Art Therapy Organization, Art Therapy Without Borders, The Buckeye Art Therapy Association, and The Art Therapy Credentials Board, Inc.
• Services– Learn more about art therapy services that I provide in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio area, which includes working with agencies and organizations serving traumatized and grieving children, adolescents, and families who have experienced illness, loss, and family violence. Other services highlighted include art therapist supervision, providing art therapy workshops and professional continuing education for agencies, schools, and community groups.
• On the Grid– Information about my love and passion related to art therapy and technology, including blogging, on-line art therapy communities, podcasts featuring my work and interests, and the art therapy e-zine FUSION.
• Presentations– View some of my SlideShare presentations about art therapy with children from homes of domestic violence, working with youth coping with grief and loss, as well as the impact of Bruce Perry’s work on my practice as an art therapist and trauma specialist working with traumatized youth.
• Film/Art Gallery– Watch some of my favorite short videos and films featuring my collage art, altered books, community art events, and initiatives of The Art Therapy Alliance and Art Therapy Without Borders, Inc.

Art and Soul

Art and Soul- 2009 Buckeye Art Therapy Association Symposium

I am excited to announce that  program offerings are now available and registration open for The Buckeye Art Therapy Association’s 28th Annual Symposium – ART & SOUL.  BATA’s Symposium will be held September 11 and 12, 2009 in the Columbus, OH area at the Embassy Suites Dublin.  Keynote speakers include Bruce L. Moon, Ph.D., ATR-BC and Catherine Moon, MA, ATR-BC  who are nationally recognized art therapists, authors, and educators in the art therapy field.  Their Friday night keynote address will be In the Thick of Things: Considering the Material and Immaterial Essence of Art Therapy and they will be providing a workshop on Performing Art Therapy’s Essence Saturday morning. Read more about these offerings and Bruce and Cathy here. 

The BATA Symposium will also include many other presentations, workshops, and forums about art therapy throughout the two days. Topics range from medical art therapy, art therapy and social media, supervision, ethics, as well as many opportunities to make lots of art in the workshops being offered. There will also be an open forum and dialogue with BATA founder and AATA co-founder Don Jones. For more information and descriptions about what is being offered, check out the program schedule here. 

This gathering in September is not to be missed!  Register today! If you are interested in learning more, visit BATA’s Symposium website at: www.batasymposium.org. I hope to see you there!