Dr. Annette Vaccaro, EdD, LPAT, LCSW, SCPsyA, LPC, ATR-BC, ACS, ATCS, Dr. Annette Vaccaro maintains a general practice with a specialty in clinical supervision, in Livingston, NJ. She is the Director of Academic Affairs at the Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis (ACAP, http://www.acapnj.org/) and Director of Academic Affairs at The Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis (BGSP, https://nj.bgsp.edu) within the New Jersey Branch campus. Dr. Vaccaro is also an Associate Professor at Caldwell University and Coordinator of their Art Therapy Programs. She is currently preparing the Post Master's program for online participation from anywhere. Her research interest is in the professional journey of art therapists and psychotherapists.

Cindy Concannon, LPAT, LPC, ATR-BC, NCC is the Director of the Rolli Codey Center at Caldwell University. She hosts practicum and internship students at the center that provides outreach to the community as well as on-site psychotherapy and art therapy services. Cindy trains students to work with a range of problems and diagnoses including aphasia and grief work.

Anna O'Brien, LPC, ATR-BC is a therapist in private practice and co-founder of Be Well Private Practice Communities, hosting 60 therapists across two Philadelphia locations. She also co-founded Theravera, a grassroots, therapist-led company dedicated to ethical mental health care navigation through technology.

Through Theravera, Anna developed Consult List, a free platform facilitating ethical referral practices among independent therapists, while remaining independently funded to ensure decisions align with clinical excellence and therapeutic values. Through both ventures, she demonstrates her commitment to fostering professional connections and upholding ethical standards, providing free technological support for mental health advocacy initiatives.

As a clinician and leader, Anna advocates for sustainable therapy practices, working to protect the integrity of mental health care by keeping it in the hands of dedicated professionals.

Anna O'Brien, LPC, ATR-BC is a therapist in private practice and co-founder of Be Well Private Practice Communities, hosting 60 therapists across two Philadelphia locations. She also co-founded Theravera, a grassroots, therapist-led company dedicated to ethical mental health care navigation through technology.

Through Theravera, Anna developed Consult List, a free platform facilitating ethical referral practices among independent therapists, while remaining independently funded to ensure decisions align with clinical excellence and therapeutic values. Through both ventures, she demonstrates her commitment to fostering professional connections and upholding ethical standards, providing free technological support for mental health advocacy initiatives.

As a clinician and leader, Anna advocates for sustainable therapy practices, working to protect the integrity of mental health care by keeping it in the hands of dedicated professionals.

Erica Curtis is a board-certified art therapist, licensed marriage and family therapist, award-winning author, and sought-after speaker. With a private practice in San Juan Capistrano, Erica is also a core instructor for the Arts & Healing Initiative and Admissions Consultant for Loyola Marymount University’s Marriage and Family Therapy department. A trusted expert, she has been featured in over 100 media outlets, including PBS, USA Today, and Cosmo, and serves as a media ambassador for the American Art Therapy Association.
 
Erica’s books, The Innovative Parent, Art Therapy Activities for Kids, and Working with Anger Creatively, reflect her expertise in creative wellness, parenting, and mental health. She specializes in autism, ADHD, learning differences, and misophonia and provides consultation, supervision, and program development for organizations like The Getty Center and L’Oréal. A past president of the Southern California Art Therapy Association, Erica has received multiple honors for her contributions to the field.

Through her expressive arts programs, Nadia Paredes helps people connect with their inner creativity and empower their minds and souls. Nadia founded Nadia Paredes - Creative Studio, a bilingual resource for empowering, healing, and artistic inspiration. With expertise and training as an Art Therapist, Intuition Painting Facilitator, and Licensed Martial and Family Therapist, she creates programs for transformation, creativity, and art-making as a mindfulness practice. Nadia also works in corporate wellness as a speaker and workshop facilitator and is an Adjunct Professor and Art Therapy Supervisor at Loyola Marymount University.

Ping spearheaded the development of the Certificate Program in Social Emotional Arts (SEA) and the SEA Toolkit: Supportive Art, Movement, Music & Writing for Individuals or Groups in Any Setting. In addition, she co-developed and served as principal investigator for the evidence-based program, Beat the Odds®: Social and Emotional Skill Building Delivered in a Framework of Drumming. 

Ping is associate editor for the Creative Arts Therapies section of the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, and she is co-author of the 2019 National Parenting Products Award-winning book, The Innovative Parent: Raising Connected, Happy, Successful Kids through Art (Ohio University/Swallow Press). Ping was the founding administrator of the UCLA Collaborative Centers for Integrative Medicine (now the UCLA Integrative Medicine Collaborative) and UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, which led to the privilege of writing for Norman Cousins and co-writing the professional autobiography of George F. Solomon, M.D., founder of the field. 

She has a BA in psychology with honors from Stanford—where she was appointed to initiate the still-thriving Health Improvement Program for faculty and staff, an MA in counseling psychology with a specialization in exercise physiology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MPH in community health sciences from UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Theresa Van Lith is currently the Course Coordinator for the Master and Graduate Diploma of Art Therapy programs at La Trobe University. Previously, she joined Florida State University's faculty, focusing on coordinating clinical placements and engaging in practical research in art therapy and mental health. Her research primarily centers on developing and implementing art therapy studies aimed at practical improvements in quality of life, assessing intervention effectiveness, and determining best practices. A significant part of her work includes the ongoing development and implementation of a practical art therapy research strategy, with a future focus on practical techniques for reducing anxiety, and stress, and improving overall mental outlook through mindfulness and art-based practices.

She actively contributes to the American Art Therapy Association, serving as Associate Editor for its academic journal. She is also a Board Member of the Australian, New Zealand, and Asian Creative Arts Therapy Association (ANZACATA). Her practical contributions to the field have been acknowledged with several awards, including the American Art Therapy Association Seed Grant (2021), the National Endowment for the Arts Research Award (2020), and the Department of Art Education Faculty Teaching Award (2019).

Hayley Arjona (MAT MFA AThR) is an Australian contemporary artist and registered art therapist dedicated to studio-based practice and social justice work. Since 2020, she has provided art therapy in the women’s prison system and family violence counseling programs. Hayley has adopted innovative ways of harnessing the transformative potential of artmaking for profound change. She designed the Expressive Post program, which to date, has engaged over 85 women in prison. Currently a guest lecturer in the Master of Art Therapy course at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Hayley teaches subjects regarding art therapy with adults and the effective application of diverse materials and processes.

Patricia (Pat) is a Registered, Board-Certified Art Therapist, licensed in New York State. For more than 30 years she directed the MS in Art Therapy program at The College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY, where she developed the research component of the program, among many other initiatives. The college awarded her the title of Professor Emerita. Soon after the college closed in August 2019, due to financial difficulties, she began teaching undergraduate and graduate art therapy at Springfield College, Springfield, MA. She teaches various courses including research. She mentored over 300 master's thesis studies. As an active member of the AATA for the past 30 years, she has served on the Education & Training Board and co-chaired the Task Force for the preparation of Education Standards & Guidelines for our accreditation group, CAAHEP. She is currently a member and previous chair of the Education Committee and Research Committee, previously Associate Editor of the Journal, and previously elected to the AATA Board of Directors. She is a recipient of the AATA Research Award and the Distinguished Service Award. She has presented many papers, workshops, and panels at AATA Annual Conferences, as well as published papers in the Journal. Her mixed media artwork has been accepted into juried exhibits across the USA and internationally.

Dr. Danielle Tidwell Chen is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Registered Art Therapist, and Registered Play Therapist with over a decade of experience in art therapy and family therapy. She holds a Ph.D. in Art Education with a concentration in Art Therapy Theory and Practice from Florida State University, where she also earned her M.S. in Art Therapy. In addition, she obtained a Master's in Family Therapy from Mercer University and a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Studio Art from Georgia State University.

As an AAMFT Clinical Fellow and an Approved Supervisor in Training, Danielle’s research focuses on the intersections of multiracial and multicultural identities. Her work explores how art therapy and systemic theories can help individuals navigate complex identities, particularly through the lens of cultural humility and social justice. She is passionate about using response art as a tool for therapists to engage in self-reflection and personal development. Danielle has been published in the Art Therapy Journal, contributing to important discussions on identity, social justice, and therapeutic practice. Her professional affiliations include the Association for Play Therapy (APT), the American Art Therapy Association (AATA), and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

Nancy Gerber, Ph.D, ATR-BC is Associate Clinical Professor Emerita and founding and former director of the Ph.D Program in Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University.  She currently is Teaching Faculty at Florida State University. Previously she was the Director of the Graduate Art Therapy Program at Drexel University. Dr. Gerber has presented and published on doctoral education for art therapists, mixed methods research, aesthetic intersubjective worldview in research and practice, arts-based research, and the mechanisms of change in the creative arts therapies.  She was a former vice-chair of the IRB and currently chairs the Doctoral Education Subcommittee for the American Art Therapy Association. She co-facilitates  the Arts-Based Research SIG at the International Congress of Qualitative Research.  Dr. Gerber has developed the Arts-Based Research Global Consortium to advance socially responsible arts-based research. Dr. Gerber was the first recipient of the first Distinguished Educator’s Award from the American Art Therapy Association.

Lisa D. Hinz, Ph.D., ATR-BC is a licensed clinical psychologist and board-certified art therapist. She is an associate professor and director of the Art Therapy Psychology Doctoral Program at the Dominican University of California. Dr. Hinz is the author of many professional publications and three books on art therapy. The second edition of her book, Expressive Therapies Continuum: A Framework for Using Art in Therapy was released in January 2020 and builds upon her interest in materials and methods in art therapy. Dr. Hinz specializes in the treatment of eating issues, substance abuse, and lifestyle medicine; she maintains a private practice in St. Helena, California.

Rebecca is co-founder of Creative Wellbeing Workshops which provides therapy, supervision, consultation, and training to help individuals and organizations manage stress, reduce burnout, and improve wellbeing. Creative Wellbeing Workshops is a National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) approved continuing education provider in Positive Ethics, Creativity, Art Therapy, and Positive Psychology. CWW has offices in DC and Tucson, AZ. Rebecca is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Licensed, Registered, and Board Certified Art Therapist, and a Certified Trauma Therapist in the Instinctual Trauma Response ®. She completed the 250 hr training as a Certified Psychedelic Therapist with the Integrative Psychiatric Institute (IPI) and Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS/Lykos). Rebecca serves as adjunct faculty at the George Washington University Graduate Art Therapy Program, teaching Positive Psychology and Art Therapy, Art Therapy and Mental Illness, and Supervision.

Rebecca also served as a Wellness Specialist at the internationally renowned Miraval Spa in Arizona and a regularly featured creativity facilitator at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts for clients affected by life-threatening illnesses and providers working with them. She was a regular trainer for Business Health Services providing professional development and training to private corporations and government agencies in the DMV area and she coordinated the Washington Adventist Hospital Expressive Therapies Department. She was awarded Clinician of the Year by the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) for outstanding contributions to art therapy for adults from diverse cultural backgrounds, her skills as a therapist, and for serving as a model of excellence in service to others. She was instrumental in developing AATA's Institute for Continuing Education and helped the Potomac Art Therapy Association and Smith Center gain NBCC provider status. She served as President of the Arizona Art Therapy Association. Rebecca's focus has been on crisis stabilization and it is through this work both personally and professionally that she has developed an appreciation for the power of the human spirit to prevail even in the darkest moments.

Specialties: trauma resolution, art therapy, psychedelic facilitation and integration, improving well-being, creativity, end-of-life issues, crisis stabilization, stress management, burnout prevention, substance abuse, codependency, affect regulation, group presentation, positive psychology, individual psychotherapy, ethics.

Amelia Laver, originally from the UK is a qualified Attorney, who later became inspired to pursue a career as an Expressive Arts Therapist, after being in a workshop with acclaimed Art Therapist, Rebecca Wilkinson. She has been working with psychedelic medicine for 3 years, facilitating 1:1 sessions with MDMA and Psilocybin mushrooms, holding workshops on micro-dosing, and utilizing Expressive Arts Therapy tools that she gained during her first year's training and internship whilst enrolled in the Masters of Expressive Arts Program. Since then she has pivoted from that program to pursue licensure to work with psychedelic medicine.

Charmaine Husum RCAT, DKATI, RTC, CT is a Professional Artist, Registered Canadian Art Therapist, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor, and Kundalini Yoga & Meditation teacher. Within her private Somatic Art Therapy Practice, Centre of the HeArt she supports clients both in person and online to move through difficult experiences from trauma, depression, anxiety, suicidality, addiction, and other mental health symptoms towards a path of transcendence and healing.

Helping people find a personalized route to healing using trauma-informed art therapy, clinical psychotherapeutic approaches, transpersonal psychology, mindfulness, yoga, and somatic counseling is the foundation of her work. Believing that true and lasting healing lives within every individual; the work she does focuses on one’s inner strength, power, and innate capacity to thrive beyond difficult experiences in life.

For the past 10 years, she has also been working to help others prepare for and Integrate the powerful experiences that take place during Altered States of Consciousness and Psychedelic Journeys. To support this, she teaches courses and workshops both online and in person around the world using Art Therapy, Dreamwork, Somatic Processes, Kundalini Meditation, and Yoga that follow the trauma-informed protocols outlined by Bessel van der Kolk and Judith Herman. They can be found at www.courses.centreoftheheart.com.