Program

Keynote | 9-10 a.m.

Looking Into the Well: Deep Equity in Creative Arts Therapy

Leticia Nieto, PsyD, LMFT, TEP, Professor, Counseling, College of Education and Counseling, Saint Martin’s University
This interactive keynote will apply interlocking models from Dr Nieto’s Book, Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment, to help bring into focus deep equity in creative arts therapy practices.

By looking into the well of embodied image and expressive narrative, participants will identify patterns of authentic liberation. Social Justice praxis requires attunement, presence, witness, and clear maps to evoke intrinsic longing for transformation. We will oscillate between experience and analysis with a focus on building musculature for sustained engagement in social justice in our healing and advocacy work. During this session, participants will: 

• Deepen abilities to effect change by examining operations of systemic structures in creative arts therapy.

• Recognize the role of dynamics such as implicit bias, and micro-aggressions while addressing accountability when working with clients, colleagues, and supervisees.

• Recognize, and learn to use, social justice wisdom inherent in embodiment and narrative when working with individuals, families and communities.