[Self-Study] Mexican Huipil-Making and Photoembroidery to find Connection: Integrating Textiles, Photo and Embroidery in Clinical Practice

Recorded On: 09/24/2024

About the Event

Join Gabriela Osorio Fajardo, MTFS, MTA for a Virtual Continuing Education session.

Embroidery, weaving, threading, and working with fabrics and colors—these actions represent more than just crafting; they symbolize the process of building, creating, and expressing our world. They connect us to ourselves, highlight our pain, and mark what we've left behind or lost. When we translate these concepts and emotions into wearable art, we celebrate life, embodying a "second skin" or reflecting on ourselves through embroidered self-portraits. In this 2-hour online session, participants will learn how to begin their own art piece or a traditional Mexican huipil by exploring five key questions that deepen the symbolism behind stitches and colors. We will examine various examples of embroidery and textile-based activities, discussing how each can be integrated into clinical practice. Additionally, it will provide a brief overview of the history of embroidery and community projects in Mexico, where embroidery holds profound cultural and emotional significance.

Learning Objectives

- Participants will be able to identify 1 or more ways that the creation of a huipil or a self-photo embroidery art piece could help clients (adults, adolescents, and children) through a grief process, integrate loss, and express deep content.
- Participants will be able to state 1 or more different alternatives in the use of fabrics and textiles that can be explored with clients facing trauma, traumatic events, or PTSD.
- Participants will be able to describe 1 or many examples of how Mexican Indigenous groups have been using embroidery to express their voices and how we can integrate this knowledge into groups of victims of violence and abuse.

Registration Information

Attendees who have paid for the session will receive 2 CE credits.

Gabriela Osorio Fajardo

MTFS, MTA

Open Art Therapy Studio ExpresARTE

Gabriela Osorio Fajardo, MTFS, MTA is a Bilingual, creative, and eclectic art therapist with over twenty years of clinical experience. She holds two masters—one in Family Systems from UNIVA in México and the other in Clinical Art Therapy from Loyola Marymount University. Gabriela has been teaching for 15 years across different educational levels, up to masters, at the Universidad del Valle de México in Guadalajara, Jalisco. She also trained as a Montessori guide for children from 2 to 6 years old, focusing on teaching creativity and arts for 10 years.

Gabriela is a textile artist with extensive experience and background, having organized and participated in collective art shows for women in public spaces like “Casona Pardo” in México. She trained in fine arts at the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, Canada, where she also connected with Canadian art therapists. Gabriela is an active member (15 years) of the American Art Therapy Association in the United States, where she has also presented clinical work. Currently, she lives in Zamora, Michoacán, México, where she has her office and a project called “Casa Corazón,” offering art therapy workshops for children, adolescents, and adults, among other art workshops like music, painting, and embroidery.

Gabriela is also the director of the “Open Art Therapy Studio ExpresARTE” in San Miguel de Allende, México, where she has worked with adolescents and children since 2019. She is the author of the Art Therapy workbook for children “Manual de Terapia de arte para niños de 6 a 12 años” in Spanish.