Dr. Daod is a child psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He is an avid refugee mental health activist and researcher.

Jessie Woolhiser Stallings ATR-BC, LIMHP, LPC, LMHC is the clinical director for a large nonprofit serving the Omaha metro area. Jessie also teaches undergraduate art therapy classes for the University of Nebraska Omaha. Jessie was instrumental in the Nebraska Art Therapy Licensure Coalition's successful licensure bid, and as of 2025 Nebraska has an art therapy specific certification/licensure. Jessie is also the author of Special Interests in Art Therapy With Autistic People: A Neurodiversity-Positive Approach to Empower and Engage Participants published in 2022 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers based on her extensive experience working with people with Autism. Jessie is a late identified adult with ADHD and is working to center neurodiversity positive methods in our field.

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.

Gioia Chilton, Ph.D., ATR-BC, LCPAT has taught art therapy internationally, and currently conducts art therapy near Washington, DC with active duty military in collaboration with Creative Forces. She is the co-author of the book, Positive Psychology in Art Therapy: Integrating Wellbeing into Theory and Practice, published by Routledge in 2018.

Dr. Mitra Reyhani Dejkameh, LCAT, ATR-BC, is a New York State licensed and board certified creative arts therapist. She has recently launched the Creatives Arts Department at NYS Office of Mental Health at Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center were she works with children ages 6-17. She also provides monthly art therapy services at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital's adult inpatient behavioral unit, teaches at Hofstra University. She has several years of experience working with individuals of all ages in museum based and clinical settings. Mitra is an Iranian American visual and video artist. She works to increase the scope and diversity of populations served with the ongoing objective of making individual realities more visible in public discourse. Mitra has an MFA in Visual Arts, and MA in Creative Arts Therapy, and a doctorate in Art Therapy.

Michael J. Hanes, MAT, ATR-BC, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Registered Art Therapist-Board Certified. He received his Master’s of Art Therapy from Wright State University in 1990 and his license as a professional counselor in 1996. Michael has over 25 years of experience working with mental health and substance use disorders in a variety of settings, including acute hospitalization, residential, outpatient and corrections. At Red Rock Behavior Health Services, he served as director of Jordan’s Crossing, a gender specific residential treatment center for women with children and co-occurring disorder. Prior to joining INTEGRIS Arcadia Trails, he served as CEO of Eagle Ridge Institute where he oversaw the Family Treatment Center, also a gender specific residential treatment center for women with children and co-occurring disorders. He has served as a graduate faculty member at the University of Oklahoma and an undergraduate faculty member at Oklahoma State University-OKC. He is a well-respected author, having multiple publications in peer reviewed journals including the American Journal of Art Therapy, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association and The Arts in Psychotherapy: An International Journal. He is author of the book Roads to the Unconscious: A Manual for Understanding Road Drawings. Michael has lectured at national and international conferences, seminars, and workshops.

Tracy Councill, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT is both Program Director for Tracy's Kids and Art Therapist in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Georgetown University Hospital's Lombardi Cancer Center. She has taught Medical Art Therapy, Studio Art Therapy and Art Therapy for Trauma at The George Washington University, Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Florida State University and creates paintings, block prints and sculpture. She has served as on the Board of AATAand as Chair of the Membership Committee

Dr. Amy Backos, PhD, ATR-BC is the Chair of Graduate Art Therapy Psychology Program at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Backos’ clinical and research interests include: trauma recovery, social justice, Art Therapy to treat PTSD, and psychological assessment. She serves as Research Committee member of the American Art Therapy Association. In addition to serving as Thesis Director in the Art Therapy MA program, she also teaches in the PhD program and is Chair of the NDNU Internal Review Board (IRB) at NDNU. Her clinical work includes 21 years of work with children, teens, and adults who experienced sexual assault and intimate partner violence, combat trauma, and substance abuse disorders. Additionally, she has six years experience with the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital providing evidence-based treatments and Art Therapy for veterans with PTSD, as well as working as a research associate and conducting independent research on PTSD with Vietnam and Iraq veterans. Dr. Backos has presented at many local and national conferences, including the American Psychological Association, The National Coalition against Sexual Assault, and the Buckeye Art Therapy Association. She serves a guest lecturer in undergraduate and graduate psychology classes at Alliant International University and San Francisco State University. She is published in the areas of domestic violence, sexual assault, Art Therapy, and PTSD.

Richard Carolan, EdD. ATR-BC is the Program Director of the Ph.D. in Art Therapy in the Art Therapy Psychology Program at Notre Dame de Namur University. He is an art therapist and licensed psychologist, in addition to his work as a department chair and professor at the University, he has a private practice and serves as a clinical consultant to multiple treatment centers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Gwen J. Sanders, PhD, LMFT, ATR-BC, has taught in graduate programs since 1999. She is an artist, graduated from CCAC in Oakland, California with a BFA in 1975. She is the Practicum Director and Assistant Professor in the Art Therapy Psychology department at Notre Dame de Namur University.

Professor Louvenia Jackson, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC is an assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University in the Marital Family Therapy/ Art Therapy Department. Her work on cultural humility in art therapy has earned her May 2016 Outstanding Service Award in the Art Therapy Ph.D. Program from Notre Dame de Namur University and the AATA 2016 Pearlie Roberson Scholarship.

The focus of Lisa's (LMFT, ATR-BC, PhD Candidate) clinical work has been developing and providing day treatment services to SED adolescents within New Directions Adolescent Services, known for its integrated and innovative approaches within art therapy. She has a background in residential treatment, and was involved in a collaborative intervention providing art therapy services to families affected by HIV, homelessness, and mental health issues. An Adjunct Professor at Notre Dame de Namur University, Lisa is also a PhD candidate in the Clinical Art Therapy doctorate program within the university. Lisa is a practicing artist who exhibits regularly. She believes that art is a way of creating community, vision, and voice.

Dr. Melissa "Missy" Satterberg holds a Doctorate in Art Therapy, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and is a Board Certified Art Therapist. Melissa works for large California hospital, has a small private practice in Berkeley, and is an adjunct faculty at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA, her alma mater.