Heather McLaughlin, MA, ATR-BC, RMFT-S, is an art therapist with over 20 years’ experience specializing in relational and trauma work. She is also a registered couple and family therapist, licensed psychotherapist, and clinical supervisor. An assistant professor and program coordinator for Concordia University’s Art Therapy program, she is the founder and Director of the Concordia Arts in Health Centre which is a service-first, campus-based creative arts therapies clinic offering free, equitable, and accessible therapy. Her work focuses on creative and systemic approaches to community care and climate action, with an emphasis on supporting and connecting community initiatives, mobilizing resources, and engaging in research that strengthens these efforts.

Peggy Kolodny, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT, earned her master’s in art therapy from GWU in 1982. Specializing in trauma-focused multimodal art therapy across the lifespan, she is trained in IFS and in EMDR. She is adjunct faculty for GWU and FSU Art Therapy Graduate Programs trauma tracks and is workshop faculty for the Ferentz Institute and Chesapeake Beach Professional Seminars. Currently Peggy is Co-Chair for the EMDR Special Interest Group for the International Society on the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) and recent past Chair of the Creative Art Therapists Special Interest Group. Past positions include Vice-chair of the Maryland Chapter of American Professional Society on Abuse of Children; Chairperson of Central Maryland Sexual Abuse Treatment Task Force; and President of Maryland Art Therapy Association. Past faculties include University of Maryland School of Social Work, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Goucher College.

Peggy recently published several chapters on neurosequential art therapy in Art Therapy in the Treatment of Addictions and Trauma (Quinn, 2021), co-authored (Mazero) a chapter on “The Interweave of IFS, EMDR and Art Therapy” in EMDR and The Creative Arts Therapies (Davis et al, 2023). She has 3 more chapters in press for 2025-2026 including “Active Imagination: Jungian Underpinnings of IFS, EMDR and Art Therapy” in IFS-informed EMDR (Polidi, Dec. 2025); Dissociation & DID in Art Therapy” in Wiley Handbook of Art Therapy (Gussak & Rosal, 2025); and “Create, Destroy, Transform” in From Mourning to Meaning: The Expressive Arts in Grief Therapy (Thompson & Neimeyer, in press).

Lilla Ohrstrom, MA, ATR-BC has had her research and artwork have been published in the Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Art Therapy, Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, International Journal of Education through Art, International Journal of Education and the Arts, Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art; Art Education, Liminalities: A Performance Studies Journal and Music Therapy Perspectives. She is also a major contributor in the volume, Art for Children Experiencing Psychological Trauma: A Guide for Art Educators and School-Based Professionals. She has published two books Therapeutic Approaches in Art Education (2020) and Restorative Practices in Education through the Arts (2025).

Kathy Marmet is trained as a lawyer and an educator but has been impaired in her ability to find vocational fulfillment until her recent blossoming as a poet and artist. Healing has been a lifetime quest and a full time occupation for more than eleven years now. In the most recent five years, she has received effective help from a team of highly qualified professionals using neurofeedback, Somatic Experiencing, bodywork, art therapy and psychedelic assisted therapy. She has participated in at least seven psychodrama workshops and has consistently found them helpful.

Marmet was born to parents who were ill-equipped to meet the needs of children. The first of her mother’s eleven full term pregnancies, her being has been marked by the effects of chronic childhood traumatization. Wounds of maternal depression during her infancy are the deepest. Self-help has been Kathy’s life-long practice. Self-expression through poetry, art and song began early.

At this point, Marmet has survived for the average U.S. span of life. Ten years ago she had the good fortune to connect with the growing body of innovative scientific and clinical work which increasingly illuminates possible paths to healing. This led to her receiving help from professionals skilled in several modalities which have proven effective in helping her nervous system learn to be more fully embodied and alive.

Marmet’s art and writings give voice to her struggle to become her self. She published her poetry collection, Freeing the Voice of a Less Than Fully-Mothered Child: Poetic Artifacts of a Healing Journey in 20205.

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.

Dr. Bethany Altschwager is an art therapist, art therapy educator, and art therapy supervisor. She has twelve years of clinical experience in community-based and healthcare settings with people from diverse backgrounds and across the lifespan. She serves as the President Elect and Continuing Education Chair of the New York Art Therapy Association and as an adjunct faculty member at New York University, the School of Visual Arts, and West Liberty University. Her primary areas of interest are trauma, digital media, and fiber arts.

Melissa is mixed race, Chinese American, multidisciplinary artist and licensed and board certified art therapist. She is currently on staff with the Mental Health Services team at Apex for Youth, a non-profit organization serving Asian American youth from low-income and immigrant backgrounds in NYC. Before joining Apex, Melissa worked providing therapeutic support to survivors of torture and asylum seekers, as well as with children and families in various clinical and educational settings. She practices a strengths-based, client-centered, and trauma-informed approach to healing, and as a multi-racial therapist, Melissa values the intersections of identity, culture, and community. She received a B.A. in Design from the University of California at Davis and an M.A. in Art Therapy from New York University. As an artist and art therapist, Melissa values the creative process as a means to discovering narratives of resilience.

Harapan Hope Limansah is a Queens-based art therapist and interdisciplinary artist. She received her B.A. in Studio Art from Florida State University and her M.P.S. in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute. She currently works as an art therapist in acute inpatient psychiatry and has past experience working with: families and elementary-aged children in school/ community-based settings, older adult populations & folks with dementia, and individuals with SPMI in supportive housing and shelter settings. Her work as an artist spans a variety of mediums, though she is particularly moved by writing, performance, and all things sculpture. Familiar themes within her artwork include: intersecting identities & the biracial experience, intergenerational trauma & inherited versus chosen paths, living with mental illness, past lives, the unconscious, animism, and perceptions of god.

Mayra Iris Guevara, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT, is a bilingual licensed Creative Arts Therapist with over 16 years of experience. Mayra has expertise in clinical supervision, program administration, psychotherapy, client treatment, and state/local child welfare systems. She works extensively with various multicultural groups such as LGBTQIA+, refugees, unhoused, undocumented populations of all ages. Mayra is currently enrolled in KINT Institute for the Certificate Training Program in Creative Arts for Trauma. In her creative practice, Mayra creates fiber arts sculptures, mixed media collage, and painting. She currently splits her time between practicing in Texas and her private practice in New York.

Shirin Mazdeyasna, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT is an Iranian artist, a board certified and registered Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. As a certified rape crisis counselor, she offers trauma therapy to survivors of crime and prolonged abuse in the Upper Hudson Valley, NY. Shirin received her MA in Art Therapy from New York University (2021) and has subsequently been trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, and is IFS informed. Her work with Iranian women on sexuality under the influences of social, cultural, and family impacts through the sensible approach of art therapy was published in the Art Therapy Journal of the American Art Therapy Association in 2023.

Jenson Maydew, M.Ed., ATR-BC is the acute and critical care art therapist at Texas Children's Hospital. She serves as the internship director and a research clinician. She has worked in several different settings including in-home crisis therapy, adult psychiatric hospitals, adult oncology, and pediatric medical hospitals. Jenson is active in the art therapy community and serves as a board member of the Southern Texas Art Therapy Association (STATA). When Jenson is not advocating for the field she is traveling, at a professional sporting event, or trying a new Houston restaurant.

Rachel Kentor, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Pediatric Palliative Care Psychologist at Texas Children’s Hospital. She has made significant contributions to the field through her publications in numerous peer-reviewed journals and played a key role in developing the recently published Competencies for Psychology Practice in Pediatric Palliative Care. An active participant in the academic community, Dr. Kentor frequently presents at national and international conferences and has been featured in prominent news outlets, including CNN and NPR. She co-founded the Palliative Care and End-of-Life Special Interest Group for Division 54 of the American Psychological Association (Society of Pediatric Psychology) and served on the inaugural Executive Steering Committee of the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care (NCHPC) Pediatric Division.

Nicholas “Nick” Denson, MA, LCPC, LCADC, ATR-BC, NCC (he/him) is a queer art therapist, licensed professional counselor, and clinical alcohol and drug counselor based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He works full time as a Military and Family Life Counselor with the United States Air Force, offering brief, solution-focused, non-medical support to service members and their families. His work centers on affirming care, trauma-informed practice, and expressive therapies that support agency and connection.

Kyrsten Harper (she/her) holds a master’s degree in Arts Administration from Southern Utah University. With a rich background as a performer and choreographer at various theatre companies, she has recently transitioned to working in museum education, focusing on STEAM initiatives. In her role as the K-12 Education and Family Engagement Manager at The Neon Museum, Kyrsten spearheaded the development and expansion of STEAM centered programming for students and families. That work continues in her role as the Community Outreach Coordinator at Discovery Children’s Museum. Kyrsten is deeply passionate about informal education and believes in the powerful role nonprofit organizations play in supporting teachers and students within their communities.

Winona Jane Caro is a YPL Children's Services Assistant for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and has over six years of professional experience working with children and families of all backgrounds. Moving to the United States from the Philippines, she started her journey as an educator within the walls of her own home and her first students being her family. After working a full-time job while going to college, she graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a B.A. in English in 2021. From there, she became an educator for the Clark County School District where she found she wanted to continue impacting larger audiences while maintaining a passion for equal access to education and resources across all borders. While working at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas during the 2024-2025 school year as a Learning Support Assistant, she had overseen over 3,000 K-12 students across Nevada in just field trips alone, ensuring each student left the museum doors with a positive and knowledgeable experience. After working with The Neon Museum, she continues to put these passions to use in her programming and daily interactions at the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. When she’s not working with children or families, she’s baking cookies for her six guinea pigs.

Maegan “Cloud” Osmond (they/she) has been involved with K-12 museum education for over 9 years. With a B.A. from Smith College in Art History, they have interned and worked at museums big and small across the United States. Through their research in their undergraduate education, they have taken a focus on how museums, mindfulness and education can provide for visitors of all ages and backgrounds. Working at the Neon Museum in Las Vegas for the ‘24-’25 school year as the Education Coordinator they would take a focus creating, facilitating and improving STEAM education programming for the museum. This work continues to follow her in her current role as the Ford Learning Center Coordinator at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Joanna Flora, LPAT, LCAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, PMH-C is a licensed and board-certified art therapist with over 15 years of experience supporting individuals across the lifespan using the transformative power of creative expression. She holds licenses in both New Jersey and New York and is also an Art Therapy Credentialed Supervisor and certified in Perinatal Mental Health.

Joanna is the founder and clinical director of Flora and Associates, a group therapy practice dedicated to providing accessible, mental health care for children, adolescents, and families. Her clinical approach emphasizes emotional regulation, identity development, and developmentally sensitive care.

Joanna recently designed and implemented a school-based art therapy program to support high school students in acute crisis. This initiative offered structured, therapeutic interventions for youth at high risk of psychiatric screening and served as a model for integrating creative arts therapy into school crisis response systems.

In addition to her work with youth and families, Joanna has extensive experience supporting first responders—including police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and veterans—through programming focused on prevention, intervention, and recovery. Her work in this area aims to reduce stigma, expand access to care, and foster resilience among those in high-stress professions.

Joanna currently serves as the Public Relations Chair for the New Jersey Art Therapy Association, where she is committed to advancing the visibility and impact of the art therapy profession statewide. She is also pursuing advanced training in psychoanalysis to deepen her clinical work and continue developing systems of care that are creative, collaborative, and community-centered."

Alissa Paulison MA, ATR-BC, LPAT is a Licensed and Board-Certified Art Therapist with over seven years of experience providing art therapy to adults, adolescents, and children. She earned her Master’s degree in Art Therapy from New York University and is currently pursuing a second Master’s degree in Social Work at Rutgers University.

Alissa brings a diverse range of clinical experience, having worked in inpatient psychiatric units, forensic settings, shelters, supportive housing programs, and therapeutic schools. She has provided both individual and group therapy across a wide spectrum of client populations, including individuals with dementia and those involved in the criminal justice system.

In addition to her clinical work, Alissa is an active advocate for the field of art therapy. She serves as the Government Affairs Co-Chair for the New Jersey Art Therapy Association (NJATA). In this capacity she works to advance legislation and public awareness related to the profession.

A practicing artist herself, Alissa creates and sells original oil paintings and graphite drawings, and regularly participates in live painting events and artist panels. Her dual identity as both therapist and artist deeply influence her practice.

Alissa’s therapeutic approach is client-centered and strength-based, emphasizing the use of the creative process to foster self-reflection, build self-esteem, and support emotional healing.