Expressive Arts for the Present Moment

In this Clinical Lecture Series event, you’ll experience a self-care break while also modeling how to incorporate various expressive arts activities within client sessions. These art-based approaches are particularly important at a time when anxiety, isolation, and losses are high and access to healthful outlets are limited.

Participants will be asked to have access to a few simple art supplies at home — for example, paper; pencil, pen, or other tools for writing/drawing/painting; scissors; glue; magazines that can be cut; and/or or other craft materials. The primary goal is to allow participants to experience the power of expressive arts personally, while reflecting on ways to engage clients in an expressive arts practice. The presenters will weave didactic elements into the workshop regarding the therapeutic role of expressive arts and ways to adapt practices for diverse populations in this current moment.

Continuing Education Credit: 2 hours
This program is available by Zoom livestream only.
Fee is waived for current UNC School of Social Work students, faculty, and staff.

Meet The Presenters

Hillary Rubesin, Ph.D., LPCS, REAT, is clinical director of the Art Therapy Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Carrboro, N.C. She received both her Ph.D. and her MA in expressive therapies and mental health counseling from Lesley University, where she was trained to incorporate various expressive arts modalities within psychotherapy practice.

Rubesin provides supervision to new clinicians and graduate-level interns and continues to see clients in both individual and group sessions. The majority of her clinical work is with refugee and immigrant women and children in local schools and community-based settings. She also co-facilitates the Arts and Peer Support Group, a free weekly community-based arts group for adults living with severe and persistent mental illness. Beyond her work at ATI, she is currently an adjunct professor in Lesley University’s expressive therapies graduate program.

Laurie Selz-Campbell, MSW, CPRP, is a clinical associate professor at UNC School of Social Work, where she teaches courses in social justice, disability, the life course, and mental health recovery, among others. She is also a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner and has worked for many years with adults living with severe mental illness. She was part of the team that implemented the first structured peer support programs in psychiatric hospital and community settings in North Carolina.

In 2011, Selz-Campbell partnered with Rubesin to co-found the Arts and Peer Support Group, which she continues to co-facilitate. She is committed to bringing the voices of individuals with lived experience into social work education, frequently inviting group members to the School of Social Work to share their experiences and their artwork (as well as art making) with students.