Creative Arts Therapists on Art, Music, Dance and Drama Therapy.
For Creative Arts Therapies Week 2024, The Art Therapy Project asked therapists from various modalities the same three questions. Spotlighting each therapy individually while showcasing the unity between them.
Meet the Therapists:
Art Therapist Emily Hardy LCAT, ATR-BC
Emily is a licensed and board-certified art therapist. She holds master's degrees in art therapy and developmental psychology. She has worked in diverse clinical settings, including Rikers Island, inpatient psychiatric units, substance use treatment centers, and more.
She takes an attachment-based and trauma-informed approach in her work, and she particularly values the importance of mind/body connection as it relates to both physical and mental health. Currently, she runs art therapy groups for court-involved youth through The Art Therapy Project and sees clients of all ages and backgrounds through her private practice.
Music Therapist Toby Williams MA, LCAT, MT-BC, AVPT
Toby is a psychotherapist, music therapist, singer, adjunct professor of music therapy at NYU and the director of the music therapy program at The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Toby received her master's degree in music therapy from New York University and is a graduate of Dr. Diane Austin’s certificate program in Advanced Training in Vocal Psychotherapy.
In twenty years of practice, Toby has worked extensively in medical, psychiatric and school-based settings. BKCM's music therapy program serves nearly 2,000 New Yorkers. Teaching at New York University, Toby teaches Introduction to Music Therapy as well as The Voice in Music Therapy. As a Vocal Psychotherapist, Toby has a small private practice in Brooklyn, New York.
Dance/Movement Therapist Cateryna Kochan, BS, MS, R-DMT, LCAT
Cateryna Kochan (she/her) is a Dance/Movement Therapist currently working at NYU Langone’s South Brooklyn location.
“My current work is on an acute inpatient unit and I specialize in work with adults who suffer from severe mental health challenges and multiple comorbidities. I have a variety of professional experiences and have spent time working both outpatient and inpatient settings to provide group, individual, and family treatment to folks throughout NYC."
Cateryna received her Bachelor’s Degree from Muhlenberg College, majoring in Dance and Psychology, followed by a Masters of Science in Dance/Movement Therapy at Pratt Institute. She is licensed in NYS as a Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) and registered by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) as a Dance/Movement Therapist. Cateryna is currently pending approval as a Board-Certified Dance/Movement Therapist and hopes to receive the credential any day.
Drama Therapist Samantha Disador MA, LCAT, RDT
Samantha Disador MA, LCAT, RDT is passionate about creatively working to empower children in the NY metropolitan area as valuable members of their communities. She continues to actively work at this goal since graduating from the New York University Drama Therapy Program in 2016.
“Ms. Sami” utilizes the trauma-informed CANY drama therapy method, strength-based lens, and background in long-form improvisation to assist clients in meeting their personal goals. She is currently working as a Drama therapist with Counseling in Schools at a partnered DOE community school.
Question 1: Can you describe a technique or activity specific to Art|Music|Dance|Drama Therapy that facilitates emotional processing and personal growth?
Art Therapist Emily Hardy LCAT, ATR-BC
“When working with paint, I like to encourage clients to mix their own colors.
In the context of art therapy, color is often representative of deeply felt emotions. Mixing colors therefore helps clients explore nuanced feelings nonverbally, thus allowing them to practice emotion regulation in a safe, supported way.
When they are ready, I will encourage clients to take another step and begin thinking more intentionally about mixing colors that represent themselves and their different emotional states. With the assistance of a licensed therapist who is trained in trauma-informed approaches, this can be a very healing process.”
Music Therapist Toby Williams MA, LCAT, MT-BC, AVPT
“Music is vast and so are the ways that music therapists use music. One technique that I particularly like for emotional processing and personal growth is drawn from Dr. Diane Austin's Vocal Psychotherapy and involves improvising vocally over a two-chord holding pattern on piano or guitar.
Starting with breathing and body awareness, find two chords that can rock back and forth, containing sound. Make any sounds or melodies that want to come out. Possibly add lyrics, repeated words, and feelings. This exercise, when done alone, can facilitate a flow state and deep emotional connection to self. When facilitated by a trained Vocal Psychotherapist, who provides grounding, unison, harmony, mirroring, and doubling, unconscious conflicts can flow to the surface and insight can be gained. ”
Dance Therapist Cateryna Kochan, BS, MS, R-DMT, LCAT
“One directive that I find myself gravitating towards recently capitalizes the use of ‘opposites.’ What we do is explore the ways our body responds to words that represent opposite sizes, emotions, and expressions.
An example of a few opposites that patients embody can be concrete (big + small, high + low, far + close) or they can be very abstract or up to interpretation (direct + indirect, sad + happy, depressed + anxious, safe + unsafe). The exploration of opposites in an improvisational way supports individuals in finding what their movement comfort zones entail and then challenging them in a way that feels safe and supported.”
Drama Therapist Samantha Disador MA, LCAT, RDT
“Within my practice, I utilize distancing theory, the evaluation of how close and raw a client is to their therapeutic narrative or how far away from expressing their ideas they are. I heavily rely on projective techniques like puppetry, theatre games, playground games, interactive play, storytelling, and improvisation to allow my clients the space to process their emotions, shift their perspective on the lens of their narrative, and evaluate their coping skills. This is done by noticing what my client's inherent strengths are and applying them to the techniques I’m trained to utilize as a drama therapist.
Each of my clients has interests that make them feel powerful; plushies, music, writing, video games, etc. I evaluate their play, noticing their strengths, and then intervene using their strengths to disrupt maladaptive patterns and address goals that they, and their guardians, would like to work on.”
Question 2: How do you collaborate with other mental health professionals or interdisciplinary teams to integrate Art|Music|Dance|Drama Therapy into treatment plans for clients?
Art Therapist Emily Hardy LCAT, ATR-BC
“When I worked on inpatient psychiatric units, I worked closely with an LCAT who was a Drama Therapist. She and I would often collaborate on our groups so that the artwork created in art therapy groups could then be utilized by participants in drama therapy groups. For example, creating masks in art therapy that would then be actively used in dramatic play during drama therapy.
Additionally, throughout my professional experiences, I have found that the insights that I gain from clients through the art therapy process is invaluable in a multidisciplinary treatment setting. For example, a client who may present one way with a social worker who is helping them navigate various life challenges may present totally differently when navigating the nonverbal, tactile, and experiential processes. Often, the observations I make in art therapy sessions help inform on a client's functioning, and their readiness for other levels of treatment or support.”
Music Therapist Toby Williams MA, LCAT, MT-BC, AVPT
“Music Therapists work across the lifespan and in all kinds of settings. In school settings, we collaborate and often co-treat with speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, counselors, teachers, and paraprofessionals.
In hospital settings where the treatment is medical, a music therapist might assist a nurse by playing music and facilitating breathing and sounding to help a patient accept a treatment or draw blood.
We are part of a mental health treatment team in psychiatric settings and can add valuable insight into the state of mind of patients reflected in the way they play music and interact with others in a group or individual session. In memory care facilities, music therapists collaborate with caregivers and treatment teams to use live music making, singing and discussion to stimulate memory and orientation to the present.”
Dance Therapist Cateryna Kochan, BS, MS, R-DMT, LCAT
“Our collaboration between Dance/Movement Therapy and other modalities is crucial. The way a person physically shows up in group can inform their level of comfort, somatic symptomology, or their overall progress in treatment.
We share our experiences with the treatment team and provide evidence to support the level of care needed both in the hospital and in treatment after discharge. Additionally, as part of an interdisciplinary team, I work with the other creative arts’ modalities to facilitate integrative care. We even combine our work directly to facilitate Dance/Art groups or Music/Dance groups, providing more holistic and inclusive therapy groups.”
Drama Therapist Samantha Disador MA, LCAT, RDT
“I am a part of an interdisciplinary team at my school. We are a dyad of an art therapist and a drama therapist that facilitate Yalom structured creative arts therapy groups with children from grades k-5.
As a team, we also facilitate drama therapy-based classroom push-ins and art therapy-focused community events. We also provide consultation with Community School team members, school mental health workers, administration, teachers, and parents. We model these group-minded practices for two interns, one art therapy and one drama therapy, providing both individual and group supervision to open up conversations about similarities and differences in methodology. ”
Question 3: How do you prioritize self-care and maintain your creativity as an Art|Music|Dance|Drama Therapist to ensure you're able to best support your clients' therapeutic journeys?
Art Therapist Emily Hardy LCAT, ATR-BC
“As a therapist, and particularly as an art therapist where tactile experiences are central to a lot of our therapeutic work, I am a firm believer in the importance and value of mind/body connectivity. To that end, I prioritize moving my body in physically challenging, and often creative ways. I am a former competitive swimmer, and to me, exercise is a meditative experience that helps regulate my nervous system and center my mind, enabling me to bring my full self to all sessions with clients.”
Music Therapist Toby Williams MA, LCAT, MT-BC, AVPT
“For me, I get up early and make sure I have time to myself in silence every morning. I write, tone, do yoga and meditate if I have time.
I do some of those things every day, though I might not have time for all of them every day. I also make time to sing during the day, even if it's just humming or singing along with a song I'm listening to. Teaching at NYU keeps music fresh, keeps me up to date with the profession and is gratifying. It's an honor to be part of emerging music therapist's training. I run a large non-profit music therapy program. Going on-site visits and observing the work that our 18 music therapists and 3 clinical interns are doing in the field is endlessly inspiring to me and makes the administrative work come alive.”
Dance Therapist Cateryna Kochan, BS, MS, R-DMT, LCAT
“Prioritizing self-care has been an integral part of my growth and maintenance as a clinician.
One thing I will never forget from one of my mentors at Pratt, Elissa White, is that we are first and foremost dancers. Finding time and space to have joy in dance and moving my body is crucial for my own creative process and emotional processing. I take at least an hour out of my week to enjoy a studio dance class or another form of therapeutic movement, like yoga, and I find that it gives me space to process my own emotions somatically, making my body more available to help others process emotions.”
Drama Therapist Samantha Disador MA, LCAT, RDT
“What has been important for me is the maintenance and the reevaluation of my boundaries within the different spaces of my life. I am wearing multiple hats at all times in all places. When I’m at work I’m a counselor, therapist, community support, colleague, silly playmate, grown-up, mom, sister, helper, advocate, guide, kid, the list goes on and shifts within each room, within each relationship.
Noticing what role I’m embodying and prioritizing responsibilities of these roles within the moments helps me to not be all and everything all at once. It helps me say yes to the things I can say yes to and to say no to things I must say no to. Sometimes I even pretend to take off an imaginary costume to note to myself I am shifting gears and at the end of the day, when I’m home I will actually go through a “costume change” by changing into home clothes to differentiate my school self from home self. By doing this for myself it gives me first-hand practice and modeling for my clients, humans evaluating and practicing their own boundaries in the relationship.”
🎨 🎵 🎭 👯
As we honor Creative Arts Therapies Week and continue to advocate for the power of creativity, we hope you make time to experience the transformative potential of art, music, dance, and drama this week.
Support our mission to make art therapy accessible to all by donating today! Together we can open the doors for better access to all creative arts modalities in the future!
Graphics courtesy of Brianna Valenzuela