[Self-Study] RE-102 An Arts-based Empowerment Program for Special Education Needs Children and Their Teachers

Mimi Tung, MA, ATR-BC, MFT, is the founder of ArtMazing Counseling Centre (also known as ArtMazing Space) who received her Master degree in California. She worked at the Comprehensive Care Program of the Children and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, California and Beijing Agape Center for Counseling as art therapist and professional counselor before. Apart from her private practice, she also offers individual and group therapy at various social services centres, hospitals and schools, and supervision since coming back to Hong Kong. She is the Head of “Make it Better” Programme of the Sovereign Art Foundation which uses expressive arts to help underprivileged children with special education needs. In the past 15 years, she has worked with a wide scope of populations including children, adolescents, cancer patients, elderly, family, and adults of substance abuse, chronic illness and mental distress. She works extensively with teens suffering from anxiety, poor self-esteem, social phobia, depression, bipolar, psychosis, trauma, eating disorders, suicidal and self-mutilating behaviors. Her clients also include SEN students, adults with emotional and family issues, and elders with dementia. Her practice consists of the use of verbal and non-verbal expressive arts namely drawing, Chinese ink, clay, photography, writing, and sand tray etc.

Prof. Rainbow T. H. Ho, PhD, DMTBC, REAT, AThR, CMA, CGP is currently the Professor at the Department of Social Work and Social Administration and the Director of the Centre on Behavioral Health at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She established the Master of Expressive Arts Therapy program at the University of Hong Kong in 2013 and has been the Director of it till now. Prof. Ho holds degrees in Biology, Anatomy, Social Work and Social Administration, professional diplomas in performing arts (dance) and movement analysis, and credentials in expressive arts therapy, dance movement therapy, somatic movement therapy and movement analysis. She has been the principal investigator of many research projects related to expressive arts therapy, dance movement therapy, psychophysiology, and mind-body practices for healthy and clinical populations and has published extensively in refereed journals, scholarly books, and encyclopedias. Prof. Ho has received many awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award (2015) and Research Award (2015, 2019) from the American Dance Therapy Association, the Research and Development Award from Australia, New Zealand, and Asia Arts Therapy Association (2016), the Outstanding Teaching Award (2015), Social Sciences Outstanding Research Output Award (2020), Knowledge Exchange Award (2021) and Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award (2022) from HKU.