N/NY-MS-347 - Digital Art Therapy Reframes Feelings With Youth-In-Crisis In The Pediatric Emergency Department

Kendra Carlson MAAT, ATR-BC - Registered and Board Certified Art Therapist at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, and Adjunct Professor at Springfield College Art Therapy/Counseling Graduate Program. Kendra’s work includes lifespan populations with a focus on adolescents and experience in chronic physical and mental illness. Developed and implements a grant-based digital art therapy program for behavioral health patients in crisis as well as hospitalized adolescents and children with co-morbidity diagnoses and trauma. She is project leader and co-facilitator of the PRN International multi-disciplinary mental health team for Jamaica Homestead, West Indies where she leads art therapy with the Homestead students and staff for mindfulness, affect identification, community building, self-expression and coping strategies. Kendra supervises post-graduate students for art therapy registration, and instructs courses including Family Art Therapy, Art Therapy with Children & Adolescents, Art Therapy & Counseling in a Digital World and Research. Presented at the UN Education - Learning & Literacy Committee, Yale’s Humanities in Medicine, Yale Child Study Center, Expressive Therapies Summit, Connecticut Art Therapy Association’s Colloquium and served on its Board of Directors. Honor graduate of Masters of Arts in Art Therapy, Albertus Magnus College, New Haven CT.