MFT Faculty Honored with SCATA Awards
The Southern California Art Therapy Association (SCATA), presented LMU faculty members Louvenia Jackson and Kathleen Fogel Richmond with recognition awards for their distinguished contributions to the art therapy field. Jackson, an assistant professor, was honored with the Distinguished Service Award, a tribute to her groundbreaking and tireless efforts to ensure that inclusion, equity and diversity are considered throughout the field of art therapy. SCATA presented Fogel-Richmond, the practicum coordinator, with the Distinguished Educator Award following her transformative success pivoting practicum sites to virtually delivered telehealth.
MFT Alumni Faculty Member Honored with the AATA Pearlie Roberson Research Award
Madoka Urhausen, LMFT, ATR-BC is a senior lecturer at LMU, and received the prestigious Pearlie Roberson Research Award for her phenomenological study investigating the experience of post-master art therapists of color who underwent Arts-Based Supervision to accrue hours toward ATR credential. Her research involves multi-level data collection of qualitative research and iterative processes of Arts-Based Research. She is working toward her Ph.D. in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University.
Art Making Workshops
During the pandemic, the Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic has been hosting online art-making workshops facilitated by 2nd year LMU Art Therapy graduate student trainees. The workshops were intended to offer a non-threatening creative space for students to build community, explore, reflect experientially and gain support. The workshop schedule included mindfulness exercises, art-making, and reflection.
Art Therapy Graduate Students Launch Telehealth Therapy Services During Pandemic
LMU’s Marital and Family/Art Therapy Department expanded their services to provide free or low-cost virtual therapy to some of the most marginalized communities of Los Angeles through the Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic during the pandemic. Ten of the MFT graduate students have been providing art therapy services through the HBL Clinic to ten different schools in the Catholic Schools Collaborative. The MFT Art Therapy Program has been thrilled with the number of services they were able to provide with Catholic School Collaborative’s schools, families, and communities, and are now doubling their services thanks to a $25,000 grant to increase art therapy services with the schools.
Peaceful Community Art Installations Respond to Self-Isolation and Racial Injustices
LMU Marital and Family Therapy alumni and students directed two public art installations over the summer with the intent of providing families and community members with an outlet to express the many complicated feelings that have sprung from the pandemic, social isolation, and frustration at racial injustices, all of which have boiled over in recent months. The installations were born from a desire to promote peace and unity, while fostering an appreciation for diverse cultures and ethnicities.
The events brought neighbors together to connect and express complex feelings with sidewalk chalk and engaging conversations. The first installation was called Separate/Together and was directed by graduate student Nicole Rademacher. The second installation, which was untitled, was facilitated by alumna Cindy Bryant and student Susan Lee. The inspiration for the untitled installation sprung directly from the Black Lives Matter movement, which has ignited in recent months. Over 100 people participated over the two days of the Separate/Together installation.
Joyce Yip Green Joins MFT as an Instructor
Joyce Yip Green earned her Ph.D. in International Psychology, Organizations and Systems concentration at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and received her Master’s degree in Marital & Family Therapy/Clinical Art Therapy at Loyola Marymount University. For over 20 years, she has worked as an art therapist serving individuals and families across the lifespan. Her extensive experience includes program oversight of community-based programs serving children 0-5 and their families as well as the mental health programs at several community college health centers in LA County. She has worked on national initiatives to identify cross-sector core competencies for multidisciplinary service providers of the Birth-age 5 population. Green has presented nationally and internationally on her cultural research examining socialization goals and parenting beliefs of Rwandan infant caregivers and recently published an edited book chapter, “The Rwandan way of parenting: Promoting a culture of peace.”
Louvenia Jackson Receives LMU 2020 Ascending Scholar Award
Assistant Professor Louvenia Jackson from the Department of Marital and Family Therapy (with Specialized Training in Art Therapy) was honored with one of the 2020 LMU Ascending Scholar Award. This award was created in 2019 by the Provost Office to recognize excellence and promise in faculty whose scholarship or creative activity exemplifies LMU’s mission and standard of excellence. Jackson was honored for her progress in scholarly and creative activity, including her 2020 publication “Cultural Humility in Art Therapy: The balance of creativity, introspection, and advocacy”, which for her represents the capstone of 10 years of scholarship efforts, clinical leadership, research, and original creative work.
MFT Alumna’s E-Book Provides Solutions and Interventions for Recovering Addicts
After years of running groups geared towards recovery, marital and family therapy graduate Anna Pirkl ’11 collected all of her most successful art therapy interventions and instructions for running successful groups and compiled them into an inventive e-book, 12 Creative Experiences for Personal Growth and Recovery. The guide, which is designed for individuals in recovery as well as clinicians specializing in recovery, offers a series of experiences to expand an understanding and internalization of the “12 steps.” Also included in the guide is a careful protocol for creating safe spaces for the art-making process, which can elicit important but vulnerable material in all, and is a complete guide for harnessing creativity to deepen the healing and recovery process.