Free Mental Health workshop at Grace Lutheran on Saturday

Submitted

“Art Therapy and Mental Health” is an interactive and hands-on workshop that will be hosted by the Grace Lutheran Church Mental Health Ministry on Saturday, April 18, at 10:30 a.m.  The church is located at 131 West Gettysburg Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The workshop is free and open to the public.

The program will be presented by community counselors Emma C. Burgin and Amanda DeDiego, both of whom are doctoral students in counselor education at the University of Tennessee.

The workshop will provide information about creative approaches to counseling. The presenters will explain basics of art making and how it is used by counselors to help clients. They will offer tools and techniques that can be used for coping and maintaining wellness and will lead attendees in an activity with mandalas.

(Mandalas are geometric, concentric figures representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism, according to Wikipedia. They symbolize unity and harmony and may be used in an individual’s search for wholeness and self-unity. The mandala was introduced into modern Western thought by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung in his pioneering exploration of the unconscious in his own art making, according to art therapist and mental health counselor Susanna F. Fincher.)

Burgin has a master’s degree in clinical/community psychology. Her clinical work focuses on providing quality community mental health services to severely mentally ill populations as well as infusing the practices of mindfulness and art making into counseling. Her research interests include art making in counseling and supervision, mindfulness, the cause and treatment of eating disorders, and other issues.

DeDiego is a national certified counselor and has a master’s in community counseling. She has been providing counseling services in community settings and schools for four years and has conducted workshops at local, regional, and national conferences about creative and art-based tools for counseling work and client wellness. She also serves as a teaching assistant for undergraduate and graduate level courses in counseling and related topics at the University of Tennessee.

The workshop is free, interactive, and participatory. It will be held in the Grace Lutheran Fellowship Hall, beginning at 10:30 a.m., and will last for one hour.

For more information, call (865) 385-3556.

Grace makes a world of difference.