ISSUE NO. 70 | April 2025 | | |
Dear Friend,
Spring is in full swing, and so is our excitement for the month ahead! With just a few weeks until our biggest annual fundraiser, we’re gearing up for a season filled with creativity, connection, and community impact.
| | 2025 Spring Spectacular isn’t your average gala- we create and celebrate art while supporting access to mental health services. Join us on May 1st to be part of this meaningful evening! | | Interested in volunteering for our event on May 1? Let us know! | | Our New York State of Mind mural at Affordable Art Fair brought together smiles, colors, and connection. With the community’s help, we created a vibrant mosaic of meaningful expressions. We’re grateful to everyone who took part in bringing this project to life! | | |
"My time with TATP and Center for Recovery and Wellness at Educational Alliance is almost over. As I look back, I am reminded of how far my clients and I have come over the past few months. I was able to start a new weekly group to teach clients how to use fiber arts (knitting, crocheting, sewing, beading, etc.) to support their recovery journey.
Throughout the different groups, clients explored themes of identity, being witnessed, reconciling their past, present, and future, and freedom. I was glad to be a part of their journey and am sad to say goodbye. I also gained valuable experience working alongside the clinicians and interns at CRW. I am thankful to have had this opportunity and I am excited to bring the things I learned with me into my adventure as a new professional." - Kira Scala, Clinical Intern
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Through participation in art therapy, people who have lived through sexual assault are able to tap into their current emotional experience as it relates to their past experience of trauma through non-verbal means. This may mean releasing overwhelming feelings through the art process, reflecting on and identifying feelings to make sense of them or creating art with symbols related to their experience of trauma as a way to process it. Oftentimes, creating art in a therapeutic setting supports individuals in finding the words to talk about and understand their experience, as well as increase insight about their thoughts and feelings. At its core, this work is about rediscovering one's identity in the wake of trauma; an uncovering of authenticity by reclaiming one's story.
Jenny Asaro, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT, Art Therapist
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Black Maternal Health Week (April 11 – 17)
Our friends at the Seleni Institute are committed to supporting women’s mental health through all stages of reproductive life. To address critical gaps in Black maternal care, they offer two workforce trainings: Black Perinatal Mental Health and Eliminating Implicit Bias in Maternity Care. These programs help clinicians provide culturally competent care for Black women.
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We’re grateful for our volunteers who help drive our mission every day. They juggle a lot—but many will tell you how rewarding the experience is! In honor of both Volunteer Appreciation and Stress Awareness Month, we asked volunteer Amalia to share a moment when creating art helped her feel more centered and calm:
“While painting the woman watering her head of flowers, I felt a deep sense of calm, as if I were visualizing the act of self-care. The process of working on the piece became a reminder that mental health, like a garden, requires patience, nourishment, and kindness to truly flourish.” - Amalia, Volunteer
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1,825
Wellness Workshop Participants
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As we look ahead to a month filled with creativity and connection, we’re grateful for the community that makes our work possible. Thanks to your support, we’ve surpassed another major milestone – providing access to more than 10,000 art therapy sessions—and we’re just getting started. Thank you for being part of this journey with us!
Warmly,
| | Martha Dorn, Executive Director | | Arts and Mental Health News | | Ideal Glass Studios I May 11, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. I 9 West 8th St. NY, NY 10011 | | Copyright 2025 The Art Therapy Project. All rights reserved. | | | | |
