Jordy Kornfeld (she/her) has been practicing deep silliness and deep seriousness across 11 years in group facilitation (with a special love for community connection) and 6 years in art therapy facilitation, both individual and group. She’s worked online and face-to-face, community, clinical and educational environments, youth work, visual arts, disability work and adult oncology art therapy. She created CAYA Art Space 5 years ago with her peer, Giulia, after stumbling through a magical study experience with the art therapy masters at La Trobe. Jordy balances two work roles, one with her wonderful CAYA Art Space community - mostly young clients navigating neurodivergence, family and queer-related joys & challenges - and the second with her role at a Cancer Centre - all adult clients living with cancer, supporting the psycho-social impacts that occur from point of diagnosis, during treatment, through survival and/or facing death.

Tilly Dawson (she/her) has been a registered and practicing art therapist since 2017. Tilly came to art therapy from a merge of interest in her studies in Psychology and work in design. Tilly specialises in clinical art therapy within healthcare and oncology settings. Tilly is a passionate clinician with experience in providing individual and group sessions for patients and their families across the life span. Tilly has supervised numerous students and has worked as a casual Academic at La Trobe University within the Master of Art Therapy program. Her areas of interest and application in art therapy include medical art therapy, palliative care, trauma-informed practices, and supervision.

Molly Stephenson is a registered Clinical Art Therapist (AThR) and practicing visual artist specialising in evidence-based, neuro-affirming therapeutic support for people living with limiting illness and complex psychosocial needs. Her clinical experience spans across integrative oncology, palliative care, aged care and child and youth mental health. She currently works in integrative oncology supporting adults undergoing cancer treatment and navigating the emotional and psychological impacts of diagnosis and treatment, whilst promoting wellbeing, resilience and quality of life. Alongside her clinical practice, Molly maintains an art practice exploring the intersections of ecology, embodiment, affect and materiality through sculpture, assemblage and painting.

Linkedin

Giulia (she/her)

Giulia has been practicing as an art therapist for the last 6 years in clinical and community spaces with a focus on adult and youth mental health and disability. She is one half of CAYA Art Space, a small organisation aiming to improve social and emotional health through creativity, connection and play (www.cayartspace.com).  Outside of CAYA she works in community wellbeing where she supports the social and emotional wellbeing of young people through operations, facilitation and mentorship. She is also currently expanding her practice by studying a Master of Social Work. Giulia describes herself as a genuine, playful and caring human who believes it is a privilege to journey with people. 

Jordy (she/they)

Jordy has been practicing deep silliness and deep seriousness across 11 years in group facilitation (with a special love for community connection) and 6 years in art therapy facilitation, both individual and group. She’s worked online and face-to-face, community, clinical and educational environments, youth work, visual arts, disability work and adult oncology art therapy. She created CAYA Art Space 5 years ago with her peer, Giulia, after stumbling through a magical study experience with the art therapy masters at La Trobe. Jordy balances two work roles, one with her wonderful CAYA Art Space community - mostly young clients navigating neurodivergence, family and queer-related joys & challenges - and the second with her role at The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre - all adult clients living with cancer, supporting the psycho-social impacts that occur from point of diagnosis, during treatment, through survival and/or facing death.

CAYA Art Space

Glenda has been using the Arts therapeutically for over 20 years and completed her training at RMIT in Melbourne. Glenda also has a Masters of Disability, a BA in Drama, Grad Cert in Neuroscience along with Certificates in counselling, business management, and teaching.   Glenda's background in multimodal Arts Psychotherapy, is broad, both with diverse client populations and in educational and supervisory capacities. 

Throughout Glenda's career, she worked in Community Mental Health and Disability, well before the advent of NDIS, for the Autism Association and for the Exceptional Needs unit of Disability SA.  Glenda established the Art Therapy program in Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s Paediatric Palliative Care service, and then took on the role of Head of Creative Therapies for Ikon for many years, establishing the higher education University program, before moving to a quieter, part time, private practice.   

Over the past 10 years, Glenda has also mentored and supported a group of Mongolian Professionals in completing post graduate qualifications in Arts Psychotherapy and establishing Art Therapy in the region. Currently she maintains a small client load, a busy supervision practice, and she continues with her teaching. 

Arts Therapy or Arts for wellbeing?

This episode is a deep dive into the practice of Art Therapy in special schools. Rather than hearing just one persons experience, I thought it would be powerful to sit in conversation with three Art Therapists working in special schools in Narrm/Melbourne Australia. 

My hope is that this episode shines light on the expertise and creativity of Art Therapists practicing in this setting, and gives listeners a real sense of the complexity and richness of the work.

Guests:

Isabella Dinale (she/her) is an ANZACATA-registered Art Therapist with a passion for using creativity to support the emotional well-being and development of children and young people. She currently leads the Art Therapy program at Hume Valley School, a specialist setting for students with mild intellectual disabilities, where she has designed and facilitated a range of innovative therapeutic initiatives. These include group and individual art therapy sessions that foster emotional regulation, self-expression, and social connection; sensory-based art programs supporting students with complex needs; and creative wellbeing mural projects that engage the whole school community.

Isabella holds a Master of Art Therapy and a Bachelor of Psychological Science from La Trobe University and has worked across diverse clinical and educational contexts. Her practice is grounded in compassion, playfulness, and trauma-informed approaches, supporting young people to express themselves, process emotions, and build resilience through art-making.

Through her work, Isabella continues to advocate for the transformative role of the arts in education and mental health, helping young people to find their voice and thrive through creative expression.

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Rachel Holland (she/her) is an Art Therapist working across education, justice and community settings in Victoria. Her practice spans across a specialist school, substance use recovery programs via the Magistrates' and County Courts (Vic) and private art therapy services supporting children and families impacted by mental health challenges, trauma and domestic violence. Rachel also runs creative workshops from her home studio and within community spaces, where she brings people together through artmaking, reflection and shared stories.

farfalletherapy.com

@farfalle.therapy

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Tori Day (she/her) began her journey into the world of Art Therapy after completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts, photography, and discovering that there was a way to weave together her love of creativity with her interest in humans, wellbeing, and mental health. After completing a Masters of Art Therapy, she began a professional journey at what was previously my first student placement – a school for young people with mild intellectual disabilities, where she continues to work today, while sub-contracting additional work.

Tori's art therapy practice is centred around neurodiversity-aQirming principles, ensuring autonomy, self-advocacy and advocacy, and a strengths-based lens are at the fore, always. Tori's work sees her utilising interoceptive and somatic lens’ frequently, in conjunction with approaches such as DBT-informed art therapy, mindfulness-based art therapy, and both a trauma-informed and relational approach.

Dr. Annetta Mallon is a specialist grief, loss and trauma recovery psychotherapist with 35 years of experience. As a creative arts therapist Annetta engages with her textile art background a good deal in her work, especially for those in mourning and processing the grief 'afters' of a death or deaths as soft textures support us in processing all the Grief Beastie brings us. 

In her private practice Annetta offers secular end of life and after-death support following the deaths of both people and pets. In addition to her private services as a grief psychotherapist she runs in-person training for grief literacy for end of life workers, including creative arts therapists. 

When teaching grief workshops creative components of her practice inform her education and information transfer approaches, and participant input is encouraged. 

Annetta regularly holds online and in-person talks and education events to promote death literacy and awareness of rights, options and choices at end of life.

[email protected]

https://linktr.ee/gentledeathep

Sarah Tucker has extensive experience as a prison Art Therapy facilitator and aims to foster rehabilitation, healing, reconciliation, and recidivism prevention among offenders and in society.  Sarahs unique perspective stems from 25 years of involvement in the arts and tattooing, offering her profound insights into marginalised and underground communities. 

Sarah has consulted and advised Correctional Services, employing various creative therapeutic interventions, particularly with prisoners. Her expertise also extends to facilitating children's group therapy art workshops, individual therapy sessions, and trauma-informed creative therapy practices. 

Sarah also holds multiple undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in criminology, neuroscience and arts psychotherapy.

[email protected]

https://www.unsw.edu.au/hdr/sarah-tucker

Nora Swan-Foster, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, NCPsyA is a Jungian Psychoanalyst and board certified and registered art psychotherapist in Boulder, Colorado where she has been adjunct faculty at the graduate art therapy program at Naropa University.

In 1986 she completed her masters from Lesley College in Expressive Arts Therapy and several years later she completed her Jungian analytic training (a PhD level training) in 2010. She has worked with people of all ages in various settings. Nora is a senior training analyst with the Inter-regional Society of Jungian Analysts (IRSJA) and the Memphis-Atlanta Seminar MAJS.

She has presented and published internationally on trauma and Jungian analysis, pregnancy, group art therapy and various issues related to Jungian psychology and art therapy, and analytic training. She has two book titles: Jungian Art Therapy and Art Therapy and Childbearing Issues and chapters focused on Jungian art therapy. She also served as a North American editor for the Journal of Analytical Psychology.

[email protected]

https://jungchicago.org/blog/product/image-or-art-from-jungs-red-book-to-jungian-art-therapy/

https://jungchicago.org/blog/jung-in-the-world-image-or-art-with-nora-swan-foster/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6N4FTIZIG0

** we experienced technical difficulties reocrding this eposide, a big thank you to Jennifer for persisting and sharing her insights with us **

Jennifer Naa Ayorkor Koney is an Art Therapist, educationist, and researcher with nearly eight years of experience working with children with special needs, survivors of trafficking and vulnerable populations in Ghana. She holds an MPhil in Art Education, with a research focused on children rescued from trafficking in the fishing industry on Volta Lake in Ghana and an MSc in Creative Art Therapy, which focused on engaging young women affected by sex trafficking and street life in Kumasi.

Her research and practice emphasize trauma-sensitive care, educational, special needs care and therapeutic interventions, and strategies to support the emotional and psychological recovery of survivors of trafficking, and children with special needs particularly through improving attention and executive functioning.

Jennifer is married to an amazing husband, who is a medical doctor in Ghana. They are blessed three beautiful children.

Please email Jennifer with any further questions or interest to collaborate: [email protected]

Dr Jessica Collier (she/her) has practiced as an NHS art psychotherapist with violent offenders in prisons, secure hospitals and a modified forensic therapeutic community. She currently leads a team developing arts psychotherapies services for women and men in prison.

Jessica is co-convenor of the Forensic Arts Therapies Advisory Group, and formerly a council member of the British Association of Art Therapists and the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapists. Jessica has presented her work at conferences nationally and internationally. She lectures on postgraduate arts psychotherapy and forensic psychotherapy programmes and and is a visiting fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was the inaugural co-editor in chief of the International Journal of Forensic Psychotherapy and has published widely including co-editing the book Intersectionality and Art Psychotherapies. Jessica's PhD considered the interdisciplinary dialogue between feminist criminology and art psychotherapy as a means of understanding gendered identities in prison and she remains passionate about working with criminalised women.

Jessica also has a private practice providing clinical supervision and reflective practice to psychological professionals and teams working with complex forensic patients across prisons, secure hospitals and community settings. In addition, Jessica has an interest in Social Dreaming and has trained with the Social Dreaming International Network.

https://uk.jkp.com/products/intersectionality-in-the-arts-psychotherapies

Dr. Savneet Talwar (she/ her) is a Chicago based American Studies scholar, fiber artist, educator, art therapist and somatic coach. She is currently a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the art therapy and fiber and material studies departments. Her art and therapeutic practice is informed by her doctoral training in anti-oppressive frameworks, social justice and intersectional feminism. She strives to embrace abolitionist concepts to enhance her art practice and pedagogy.

 As an interdisciplinary fiber and feminist artist, her work exists at the intersection of archives, memory, language, feminist politics and questions of resistance. She is interested in the contradictions of feminist and archival matters – what and who is worthy of being a subject of discourse? What colonial narratives and images continue to define matters of the global south?

 Talwar has initiated various community based projects such as the Wandering Uterus Project; the CEW (Creatively Empowered Women) Design Studio and most recently the Mending Lab, a pop up art studio to facilitate conversation on the role of repair in communities.  She is also a member of the P O Box Collective, a social practice space in Rogers Park, Chicago.

She is the author of Art Therapy for Social Justice: Radical Intersections and has published numerous articles in national and international journals on ethics of care, intersectional feminism, feminist pedagogy, the politics of crafting, culture and identity, ethics, law and cultural competence and trauma informed art therapy.

https://www.savneettalwar.com/

Art Therapy for Social Justice: Radical Intersection

Publications List - Copies of articles can be access on Research Gate