Half Full: Depth, Coping, and Containment in Inpatient Psychiatric Groups (N/NY-PS6178)
Papers
Spencer Stalloni, MA, ATR-BC
Spencer K. Stalloni, MA, ATR-BC is a Registered/Board-Certified Art Therapist, and Certified Adoption Counselor. She received her BFA from The University of The Arts in Photography with a concentration in Art Therapy, and went on to pursue a Master’s degree Art Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University. She has worked with adopting families, foster children, adults in an outpatient setting, as well as a focus on disordered eating. Currently, Spencer currently works at Friends Hospital, a 192-bed acute psychiatric hospital in Northeast Philadelphia, providing daily group art therapy. She is passionate about her work with patients in crisis, and is active in the mental health advocacy community of the City of Philadelphia. Spencer was the recipient of the Jungian Art Therapy Award from Drexel University in 2015, indicating an exemplary interest and understanding in Carl Jung’s practices and influences in the art therapy realm.
Using the symbolic and collective qualities of water, this paper will share a task, which assists individuals in acute psychiatric settings to identify three core issues: relationship between ego/depth, stress/coping, and optimism/pessimism. These three images evoke nostalgia, comfort, understanding, and an invitation into the depths of the self.