Check out this Art Therapy Alliance Favicard On the Go photo submission from art therapy student Jocelyn Thoemke from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in Minnesota:

Jocelyn included this note with her Favicard photo:

"I am currently studying marriage and family therapy and art therapy. I am planning on graduating in the fall of this year.   I’ve been lucky enough to have art therapy internship experiences working with students in public schools, adults with various types of disabilities, medically ill children, and residents of a long-term care facility.
Right now I am in two internships.  The first I just started, and it is working with 2-5 year olds on the autism spectrum.  I’ll eventually also be working with the children’s families.   The second is working with a therapist in private practice and the hope is to put together
an art therapy group for adults who identify as having a disability. My image is in honor of the children I have started working with.  We use PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) quite a bit, and I found this wonderful collection of art related PECS. I am so grateful for the Art Therapy Alliance Network, it’s important that art therapists have communities where we can share ideas and support each other."

Thank you Jocelyn!   You can also check out previous Art Therapy Alliance Favicard photos and stories here.

It's great there's been a few Art Therapy Alliance Favicard on the Go photos submitted this week!  Earlier in the week I received a photo contribution from the Favicard that traveled the shortest distance so far through the mail for this project. This Favicard photo below received from Janet McLeod in Auckland, New Zealand I believe has traveled the farthest!  It is nice to see it arrived safely!

Here is what Janet included with her favicard photo submission:

"Last evening was a beautiful warm summers evening here in Auckland. After work my husband and I took our dog, my kayak and my Favicard to the beach.  We kayaked, played and had a picnic and it felt so good to be alive!   It is not always possible to play in the evening sun at the beach so sometimes I find my fun in other creative ways including photography, painting and art journaling.  

I am a newly qualified Art Therapist.  I came to Art Therapy through a personal journey that has been challenging yet rich and rewarding.  Every day as I work with clients who suffer from chronic pain I am amazing by the power of the process as it allows people to unlock years of trauma and start to heal.

I am very grateful to all those involved with the Art Therapy Alliance.  You are doing such a great job of providing us with an international community to share our experiences and learn from each other.  Art therapy is a young and very small profession here in New Zealand and it has been of huge value to me to be able to expand my network and connect with so many wonderful resourceful people worldwide!

This photo was taken using a Lensbaby, it has the Auckland iconic volcano, Rangitoto Island, in the background, and includes my kayak and Graeme playing with Winnie (our dog) and of course the Art Therapy Alliance Favicard."

Thank you Janet!  Visit Janet's website to check out more of her photography and also her blog.

Throughout the last six months, The Art Therapy Alliance has been posting photos from our Favicard On the Go project and I want to thank everyone who has participated this year!

Below is a short film featuring all the Art Therapy Alliance Favicard photos received throughout 2011 from art therapists and art therapy students across the US, in Canada, Australia, India, and Singapore:

Great news!  The Art Therapy Alliance Favicard On the Go project has been extended for another 6 months!  It would be great to receive more photos and continue to showcase art therapy through this creative collaboration! If you are interested in participating, check out this past post on how to make a request and submit your photo.   Please only make a request if you are serious about following through with your photo between now and June 2012.  Looking forward to what 2012 brings!

Happy New Year to everyone in the Art Therapy Alliance community!

Art Therapy Alliance Favicard On the Go Photo submitted by Petrea Hansen-Adamidis Hons BA DTATI, RCAT (Registered Canadian Art Therapist)  from Toronto, Canada:

Petrea's photo was taken in response to her participation in the 6 Degrees of creativity e-course via Art Therapy Alliance as a result of sock monkey fever. She managed to get her two sons to make one each but has not been able to stop making then herself. If you look closely you'll see that these monkeys are works in progress and this how Petrea sees herself as a therapist, always learning new ways of working with clients.

Petrea has been working with children and their families for over 18 years as an Art Therapist. She currently works in a children's mental health centre where she uses expressive arts therapy with individual children for trauma work and parent child  dryads with a focus on attachment work.  

Petrea loves to use story telling with her clients as well as puppet making. When she is not at the children's mental health centre she is busy running her online businesses which have a prevention focus of using art therapy for inner exploration http://www.arttherapist.ca  (formally the Art Therapy in Canada website established in 1997) as well as her new website http://www.offbeatfamily.com  which focuses on using expressive arts therapy for building deeper connections between parents and their children.

Petrea is a member of the Art Therapy Alliance via LinkedIn and enjoys reading about what others are doing in the field of Art Therapy internationally.

Thanks Petrea!

Check out the Art Therapy Alliance Favicard Virtual Map with sightings from the last 6 months:

Another Art Therapy Alliance Favicard photo makes it in for 2011!  This photo was submitted by Art Therapist Heidi Wagner, MAT, ATR-BC, LSW in Ohio. 

Jeanette Chan from Singapore just sent The Art Therapy Alliance her Favicard On the Go photo- :)  Check out her photo and read more about her art therapy studies: 

Jeanette is a final-year Master of Arts Art Therapy student with LaSalle College of Arts in Singapore.  Her love for art and aspiration to work in the helping profession motivated her mid career switch after 13 years in the financial sector. 

Jeanette strongly believes that many psychological and mental health issues stem from mal-attunement during childhood.  Individuals who were unable to experience positive or secure attachments in early childhood may also lack the reflective function to either identify their own internal experience or reflect on that of other people.  Because of this, she's passionate about working with children in early childhood education and intervention programs using art as a tool to facilitate their learning and developmental process.  Working through art has enabled her clients to reflect, experience and see their unspoken world, and gradually help them understand themselves beyond what they say and how they behave outwardly.  As a trainee therapist, her role is to create a safe space to facilitate this therapeutic process.

Jeanette's photo aims to show how art making can be a powerful process to reflect upon oneself and to bring the unconscious into conscious level.  

As art therapy is a very new profession in Singapore, Jeanette is very grateful for the ideas, reading materials and support from the Art Therapy Alliance network.  

Thank you Jeanette!

There's also been some 6 Degrees of Creativity blogging from instructors and community members:

• Powerful Words from Sock Monkey Therapy @arttxalliance!
• Operation Random Acts of Creative Kindness
• Monkey Business!
• A New Way of Seeing
• Meditative Journey with Saldage: Creating Space
• Meditative Journey with Saldage: Gratitude Scroll

The feedback, responses, art, and creativity taking place within this community space is amazing! It truly captures the spirit of the workshop's concept of connection, collaboration, and community through the use of social networking. Wow!  

If you missed out on this round, no worries- you can still follow updates, new blog posts, and inspiration from 6 Degrees of Creativity on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/6degreesofcreativity