A Master Class: Art Therapy with Refugee and Migrant Populations (Ticket Required) (N/NY-MC2286)

Master Class

Essam Daod, MD
Dr. Essam Daod, Co-founder and Mental Health Director of Humanity Crew is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who grew up in Israel in a small Arab Palestinian village in the Galilee. He specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry and graduated from psychoanalytic school. In 2015, he flew to Greece for a humanitarian rescue mission where he co-founded Humanity Crew and has been working with refugees ever since. Currently, he is an avid refugee mental health activist and researcher who has spoken in countless conferences and media outlets all over the world advocating for the importance of mental health support for refugees. In 2018, he became a World Health Organization (WHO) mental health expert team member, and a TED Fellow. Humanity Crew specializes in the provision of first response mental health support and psychological aid to refugees and people in crises, working to deploy mental health and psycho-social support to displaced populations in order to improve their well-being, to restore order in their lives, and to prevent further psychological escalation.

Lynn Kapitan, PhD, ATR-BC, HLM
Lynn Kapitan, PhD, ATR-BC, Professor and Director of the Professional Doctorate in Art Therapy at Mount Mary University. She is a former Editor of Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, Past President of AATA, and a cross-cultural research consultant with international nongovernmental organizations, primarily in Latin America. She is the author of Introduction to Art Therapy Research.

Jennifer Beasley, DAT, MA, ATR-BC
Jennifer Beasley, DAT, ATR-BC, is an experienced and creative expert in the field of art therapy. She believes in the power of art to address problems and provide a productive path forward. She has focused on a range of key areas in her career, including refugee and immigrant youth issues and children living with cancer.

Heidi Bardot, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT
Heidi Bardot, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT, Director of the Art Therapy Graduate Program at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is a licensed, registered, board certified art therapist and has created service-learning programs in India, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and Croatia, and assisted in creating a post-master’s program in Croatia. She has collaborated with organizations to train relief workers in art techniques, self-care, and trauma. Bardot has published and presented internationally on refugee and war trauma, resiliency, grief, ethics, and international education.

Holly Feen-Calligan, PhD, ATR-BC
Dr. Holly Feen-Calligan is Associate Professor of Art Education-Art Therapy, at Wayne State University (WSU), Detroit, MI. Holly completed her PhD in Higher Education at the University of Michigan, and her master’s degree in art therapy at Wright State University, Dayton, OH. Her research interests include the role of service-learning in higher education and using art therapy with individuals coping with addiction, poverty and homelessness. She co-founded ArtsCorpsDetroit, a community based university initiative aimed at strengthening volunteerism and community arts. In the last two years, Holly and her students participated in a pilot and a 12-week research study in conjunction with WSU’s School of Medicine exploring art therapy to address stress in Syrian refugee children living in Michigan. Holly is active in AATA and in 2018 served as Interim Editor for Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association.

Led by keynote speaker Dr. Essam Daod and a panel of art therapists whose work has served the psycho-social needs of displaced people, this master class will bridge global and local perspectives for attendees interested in developing resources in their own communities to address the tremendous need for accessible trauma-informed, culturally-relevant care for refugees and migrants.