The Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic
The mission of the Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic is to serve the community by offering clinical art therapy interventions to underserved children and families who have experienced trauma or are facing very serious obstacles in life. Thanks to the generosity of donors to The Campaign for LMU, the clinic has been able to do just that.
“We are not building a building, we are building a community of art therapists” is how Helen B. Landgarten described the clinic named in her honor at its inauguration last year. Landgarten is a pioneer art therapist and founder of the Graduate Department of Marital and Family Therapy at LMU. The clinic also serves the educational needs of the department’s graduate students by providing opportunities to participate in and observe art therapy services.
Programs in the HBL Art Therapy Clinic:
Clinical ServicesArt Therapy with Pregnant and Parenting Teens
The clinic's initial endeavor has provided sustained clinical frontline support to groups of pregnant and parenting adolescents. The teens visit the clinic weekly to cope with stress, learn how to become better communicators, develop their identities, manage their anger and enhance their parenting skills. Every semester over 30 students come to LMU to benefit from the program, which includes transportation to and from an LAUSD high school in South Los Angeles.
All participants are at a great risk of dropping out of high school. Judy Flesh, volunteer therapist, says the girls are confronting an emotional and challenging growing process, and some give birth while in the program.
“It is rewarding to know how our services have empowered them,” says Flesh, “Being at LMU has made all of the adolescents want to go to college and imagine new possibilities.”
“The program resonates with LMU’s mission, because it is service-oriented and serves the disenfranchised members of the communities we live in,” says Debra Linesch, chair and professor of the Department of Marital and Family Therapy. “It is getting really well-known, and we are acting on opportunities to expand our outreach.”
Practicum Training for Students in the MFT Program
The Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic provides administrative and training support for Marital & Family Therapy students engaged in practicum placements in the community. The clinic contracts with community outreach programs and schools that lack the means to provide needed mental health services. Art therapy is provided by students who receive additional supervision and clinical training in the clinic. A wide range of clinical issues are addressed including exposure to trauma and violence in the community, vulnerability due to poverty, immigration status, homelessness, and severe mental illness, as well as resulting depression and anxiety symptoms.
Hundreds or hours of clinical services are currently provided though the clinic’s art therapy program. These services include:
Daniel’s Place in Santa Monica
-Providing clinical art therapy services for young adults recently diagnosed with a severe mental illness who are at-risk for homelessness.
Dolores Mission School in Boyle Heights
-Providing group, individual and family, clinical art therapy services for the at-risk elementary school community.
Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) in Lafayette Park
-Providing individual and group clinical art therapy services to at-risk youth and their families connected to HOLA’s community resource center.
Proyecto Pastoral in Pico Aliso
-Providing clinical art therapy services for programs connected to the Dolores Mission parish outreach programs including the Guadalupe Homeless Project which provides emergency services, shelter and immigration sanctuary to adult men in community.
Thomas Riley Continuation High School in Watts
-Providing individual, group and family clinical art therapy services to at-risk pregnant and parenting teens.
Toberman Settlement House in San Pedro
-Providing individual and group clinical art therapy services to at-risk youth connected to the community center’s after-school assistance, food pantry and gang prevention program.
Clinical TrainingTrauma Training Opportunities for LMU MFT AlumniThe trauma training program is designed to provide students and alumni with training and information related to the trauma continuum from single episode/mass casualty disasters to long-term complex trauma issues in art therapy treatment. These modules are offered to alumni at no cost and continuing education credits are provided, but space is limited. Please contact the department via email.
American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health TrainingUpcoming training: January, 2012 (date TBD) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Art Therapy Studio, University Hall #2504, on the LMU Campus.
Trainer: Sandra Stark Shields, MA, ATR, LMFT; and Mary Chasin, RN.
Supports participants' learning of the key concepts required of anyone volunteering to respond in Disaster Mental Health (DMH). Prepares licensed mental health professionals to respond across the continuum of disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Unlicensed alumni are welcome; however, only licensed alumni can become certified DMH with the American Red Cross.
American Red Cross/Psychological First AidUpcoming training: February, 2012 (date TBD) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Art Therapy Studio, University Hall #2504, on the LMU Campus.
This basic level Disaster Services course consists of five separate segments and a self-review questionnaire which is completed after the training has been completed. The course provides a framework for understanding the factors that affect stress responses in disaster relief workers and the clients they serve. In addition, it provides practical suggestions about what you can say and do as you practice the principles of Psychological First Aid.
Trainer: Sandra Stark Shields, MA, ATR, LMFT
In the Eye of the Storm TrainingThis training is offered through The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Please click the link to find the schedule of upcoming trainings.
http://www.camft.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ChapterInfo/TraumaResponseNetwork/WorkshopsTrainings/default.htmCritical Incident Stress Debriefing for Art TherapistsUpcoming training: April, 2012 (date TBD) 9 a.m. to 12 pm
Location: Art Therapy Studio, University Hall #2504, on the LMU Campus.
Prepares participants to understand a wide range of crisis intervention services. Fundamentals of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) are outlined as well as group crisis interventions, including demobilizations, defusing and the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD).
Trauma Art TherapyUpcoming training: June, 2012 (date TBD) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Art Therapy Studio, University Hall #2504, on the LMU Campus.
Trainer: Paige Asawa, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC
Provides participants with an understanding of art in trauma treatment on the continuum of traumatic events. Topics include utilizing art therapy in disaster settings in the field, art therapy assessments for trauma, and best-practice models for trauma art therapy.
Save the Children: Child-Friendly SpacesUpcoming training: June, 2012 (date TBD) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Art Therapy Studio, University Hall #2504, on the LMU Campus.
Trainer: Paige Asawa, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC
Save the children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. For 75 years, Save the Children has been helping children survive and thrive by improving their lives in times of disasters and distress. The training will cover the following information: Children in Disasters, Introduction of Safe Spaces, Setting up Safe, Spaces, Staffing Roles, Working with the American Red Cross, Additional Information on Children in Disasters.
Clinic Director: Paige Asawa, Ph.D., M.F.T, A.T.R.-B.C.
Dr. Asawa is a full-time professor, admissions coordinator and Director of the Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic at Loyola Marymount University. She has been actively practicing art therapy since the early 1990’s and currently teaches all of the family art therapy courses at LMU. She mentors graduate student research projects and the clinical and research fellowships. Her work in the art therapy clinic is focused on offering art therapy services to underserved populations in Los Angeles. Since 2005, when she first engaged in disaster work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she has responded to many traumatic events and disasters. In 2007, she developed the trauma training and response program and recently signed a memorandum of understanding between LMU and the American Red Cross and Save the Children to facilitate Child-friendly Spaces in the Greater Los Angeles Region. Since 1992, she has worked in private practice providing art therapy for families, couples and individuals and has presented her clinical work at the American Art Therapy Association conferences and internationally.