I am a Mental Health Counselor Licensed in Florida, a Professional Counselor Licensed in Connecticut, and have a Master’s in Art Therapy from Albertus Magnus College in Connecticut.

I was motivated to apply for the Art Therapy graduate program after working with At-Risk-Youth in an afterschool art program. The student’s stimulated my curiosity to know additional ways the creative process can be helpful to emotional and cognitive development. Specifically, I wanted to learn how I could support and encourage our children to use art making as a tool for self-expression towards self-actualization. My hope for our youth was for them to improve their ability to manage their emotions and behaviors while gaining technical skills.

My Art Therapy training included learning the theory of developmental stages, psychopathology, theoretical approaches to counseling, multi-cultural understanding, ethics, and research. I completed a thesis based upon my research of the assessment tool Draw a Person in the Rain as it relates to the ability to cope with perceived stressors, which was published in The Arts in Psychotherapy 37 (2010) 233-239. My training included internships at community mental health facilities, and a hospital where I was able to apply the theoretical knowledge of using art materials, and art making as a therapeutic tool.