MA, REAT, CAGS, PhD

Markus is a performance artist and musician who paints. He is a registered expressive arts therapist in private practice as well as the founder/director of World Arts Organization. Markus has taught at the European Graduate School in Switzerland and is on faculty of St. Stephen's College. He has taught recently in Sweden, Peru and Jamaica focusing on working with the arts to respond to community difficulty.

BSc, DKATI, RCAT

Laura (she/her) is an art maker, traveler, and art therapist who is passionate about land-based healing and environmental arts therapy. She is a faculty member and a supervisor in KATI’s online hybrid program. She has a private practice where she works in person and online with children, youth and adults, offering in-studio and land-based art therapy sessions. She holds space for her clients and students from a trauma-informed, feminist therapy framework, working in a person-centered manner.

Laura holds a post-graduate diploma from the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute and a BSc in Zoology from the University of Calgary. She is a registered art therapist with the Canadian Art Therapy Association.

RCAT, MPS-AT, CCC, SEP, REAT (in process)

Lindsay (she/her/they) is a Métis woman residing in Amiskwaciwâskahikan, Treaty 6 Territory, Metis Nation Region 4. Her roots include Indigenous and settler origins, holding Metis and Cree ancestry as well as Celtic, Scottish, French and Ukrainian; as such, walking in two worlds has been an instrumental part of her life path.

Lindsay is a body-centered, expressive-arts psychotherapist, coach, and guide. Her professional practice lies at the intersection of transformational learning, embodiment, creativity, and personal development. She offers trauma-responsive, creative, and resource-based guidance for all seasons of life - to bloom where you are planted.

She has a particular interest in clinical supervision and in supporting other emerging therapists in the praxis of their own personal and professional identities, along with supporting helping professionals in health and learning systems in developing the capacity for self-awareness and presence as reflective practice as a means to ethical practice through the process of embodiment.

MED, DKATI, BED, BSC

Martine is an art maker, a mother and an educator who lives her life inspired by the creativity she finds in nature, people and the world. She graduated from the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute in 1998 and completed a Masters in School Counseling in 2016. Martine has been an educator and school counselor in the public school system for nearly 15 years. She is the co-founder of Art for People Projects, an organization which raises money to support creative projects both locally and abroad. She is passionate for the outdoors and has enjoyed many slow adventures while bike touring the world with her family. Her approach is strongly flavoured with the gratitude she feels for the relationships in her life, and her commitment to living in the moment.

PhD, IP, C of Q,  BA

Dr. Marcia Braundy is a multidisciplinary academic feminist who keeps her hand in as a Red Seal construction carpenter, multimedia project manager, educator, author, archivist, independent research scholar and social change activist. She developed/delivered trades exploratory curricula used across Canada. Chairing the Equity Committees of the CLFDB National Apprenticeship Committee and the Provincial Apprenticeship Board in British Columbia, she was also the Founding National Coordinator of Women in Trades and Technology National Network (WITTNN) for eight years. She has since achieved a PhD in Technology Studies from UBC using arts-based research methodologies. She works men and with women, often separately, to bring about effective integration for women in trades & technology training and work. In 2017, Braundy completed a national study for the Federal Government on “Lessons Learned and Best Practices for Increasing the Successful Participation of Women in Apprenticeship and the Skilled Trades.” Many are using the ideas. Dr. Braundy is the Curator & Project Manager of KootenayFeminism.com.

MA

Inspired by the transformation experienced by KATI graduates and the positive impact of art therapy in people’s lives, Terence took on the role of Executive Director at KATI to assist the Institute in its current transition. In the 90s he had a successful career as a senior executive in the investment business on Bay Street, and previously worked as a financial advisor and publisher. After leaving the corporate world, Terence travelled through India and South America, taking groups to Peru with two close friends and helping to start a school in the Andes (www.kusikawsay.org). He has deep gratitude for Indigenous ways of being on the earth and in particular for the importance of reciprocity and respect for all life.

MA, BEd

Marie Butler is a Creative Arts Psychotherapist who operates her own private practice, The She Shed Studio, in Edmonton, Alberta. Her business motto, ‘where soil meets with soul' speaks to Marie’s passion in life and work. Nature’s ever-present offerings connect her to both the physical and mystical aspects of Creation, where she finds her most authentic expression. Her passion to co-create with the land, especially the willow tree, takes her outside of the studio. For years, she visited schools as the character of ‘Grandma Willow’ offering story-telling and creative projects with the willow tree. She also performed at The International Children's Festival in St. Albert. Recently she began working for the Northern Counseling and Therapy Services. She is a grateful alumni of St. Stephen's where she completed her MPS-Art Therapy specialization and is now an Associate Faculty Member. She began her professional career as an Art Therapist at the Cross Cancer Institute where she supported children and their families who were faced with a cancer diagnosis as well as facilitating the Arts in Medicine Program.

DKATI

Richard Campbell is a knowledge keeper, an art therapist, and a drug and alcohol worker. Since graduating from KATI in 2004, Richard has been working to combine art therapy with medicine wheel teachings. One of his recent projects involved the positioning of 36 white boulders into a 100-foot-diameter stone medicine wheel on the Boothroyd Indian Reserve as a healing tool for cultivating education, justice, safety and community. 

BFA, RCAT, BCATR, DVATI

Monica is the Founder of KATI. As of 2022, Monica transitioned into a new role: Professor Emeritus. This honourable designation will allow Monica to continue to contribute to the academic life of the Institute in ways that only she can, teaching specialty course work and advising. She has over 30 years’ experience as an art therapist, teacher, supervisor and clinical practitioner, has published articles in the CATA Journal and authored five books: A Geography of Dream Work and Art Therapy, Essence and Praxis in the Art Therapy Studio and A Traveller’s Guide to Art Therapy Supervision. She is the editor of Laughter at my Window and A Forest of Ideas: Rambling in Interpretive Frameworks.

Monica has produced three documentary films: Art of Lorraine Beninger, demonstrating the value of art therapy with a woman who has multiple disabilities; An Angel with a Broken Wing, art therapy for a woman with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder; and Not Broken, Richard Campbell’s film on the use of the Medicine Wheel in art therapy. She is co-designer of the Blue Heron series therapeutic communication games (available in both board and digital formats), distributed by Auxilium Horizons. She is a past president of the British Columbia Art Therapy Association, served on the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA) executive for eight years as Registrar and Vice President, and currently serves on several CATA committees. She is an Honorary Life Member of CATA.

Monica is a national and international presenter on a variety of topics: anticipatory loss & grief, hermeneutics and phenomenological approach to art and poetry therapy, supervision, storytelling and eco-art therapy. She has presented in Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Israel, Ireland, England and the United States.

For Monica, making “art” and making “special” has always been a part of her life. Drawing, painting, gluing and taping together have been ways of creating the world. Monica has lived for many years in the West Kootenays in British Columbia and was instrumental in developing an Eco Sculpture Park at the Vallican Whole Community Centre.

MA, DKATI, RCAT, BCACC

Millie is one of the KATI's Co-Directors and the Supervision Chair. Millie graduated from the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute in 2001 and completed a MA in Counseling in 2008. She has additional training in Integrated Body Psychotherapy and systemic family therapy. She is a Registered Canadian Art Therapist and a Registered BC Clinical Counselor. Areas of special interest and work experience include ending violence against women, trauma resolution, palliative care, grief and loss, mental health and addictions, child and youth mental health and family systems. Millie brings a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach to her work both as a therapist and educator. She is particularly interested in the integration of somatic experiencing, body awareness and mindfulness with art therapy practice. She currently has a part-time supervision private practice.

MA, DVATI, RCAT, LMFT, RMFT, RCC, RYT

Katrina (she/they) is a Registered Canadian Art Therapist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, Registered Couple and Family Therapist in Canada, and Certified Advanced Practitioner of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. She is a graduate of the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute, (DVATI - 2001) and holds a Masters in Ecosystemic Clinical Practice with Children Youth and Families from the University of Victoria (2006).

As a somatic and creative arts psychotherapist, she works through liberatory, decolonizing, feminist, embodied relational neuroscience, and ecological views, primarily with themes of complex personal and collective trauma, primarily with Queer, Trans, BIPOC, and Neurodivergent folks. She runs a private practice offering psychotherapy and consultation (www.katrinacurrymft.com) and teaches internationally as faculty with the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. She has trained deeply in movement and play and weaves these modalities into her practice and her teaching.

Over the past 25 years Katrina has worked in feminist antiviolence, Drug & Alcohol harm reduction, urban, rural, and remote Indigenous communities, psychiatric care, and community mental health in Canada and the USA. She now lives in the Ancestral Territory of the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations, in Victoria, and offers her practice online.

BA, BFA, RCAT

Evie Dunville was born, raised and is currently practicing Art Therapy in the beautiful K’jipuktuk (Halifax), Nova Scotia.

Evie began her journey to art therapy at Mount Saint Vincent University (2004), completing a BA in Psychology and English, followed by a quick trip around the world, teaching English in South Korea. Once back in Nova Scotia, she completed a BFA in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing from NSCAD University (2010), before earning her certification as an art therapist from the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute (2016). She continues learning each day, from her clients, from the earth, and through her colleagues and other professionals.

Evie believes in creating a sustainable and accessible environment for creativity and wellness to flourish. She often intertwines the written word with art, creating a body of work wherein the form is either emphasized or accentuated by prose and inspired by nature.

BAACS, DKATI, RCAT

Nikki Featherstone is a Registered Canadian Art Therapist who enjoys lifelong passions for art, healing, spirituality, cats, trees, and the sacredness of the everyday. Her therapeutic approach is Feminist, Anti-Oppressive, Person-Centered, Trauma Informed, and Spiritually Integrated.

Nikki is the author of an e-book titled, Shapeshifter: One Woman’s Journey through Creative Spiritual Transformation as part of the completion of her studies with the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute.

RP(Q), RTC, DKATI

Ashleigh (she/her) is a professional art therapist, outdoor enthusiast and educator originally from Ontario, Canada. Since moving to Nelson and graduating from the art therapy training program on campus, Ashleigh has transitioned into the roles of school-based art therapy clinician and clinical placement coordinator at KATI.

Ashleigh brings a strength-based, spiritually-integrated, trauma-informed, and relational therapeutic approach to her work. She integrates neuroscience informed art-therapy, mindfulness techniques and somatic experiencing in her art therapy work with clients of all ages healing from trauma. Ashleigh directly specializes in child & youth art therapy services and facilitating eco-art therapy workshops and groups.

As part of her completion of studies at KATI, Ashleigh authored a self reflective art book grounding her own art therapy training experience in neuroscience, somatic and spiritual theories. It is entitled, "Soul Bodied: a creative journey of self exploration integrating mind, body and spirit."

BFA, DKATI, RCAT, MA (in progress)

Jennifer graduated from the institute in 2004. Having completed her thesis on the benefits of art therapy with the elderly, she went on to work in private practice at Clear Water Art Therapy Services and specialized in the area of brain injury. She continued to pursue this interest with her work at the West Kootenay Brain Injury Association, and then co-founded the Brain Harmony Centre in Nelson, BC.

After years in the field of art therapy Jen still is amazed at the empowering and reflective qualities the work inspires. Jen enjoys supporting the student's journey to becoming Canada's next art therapists.

Joan has been working in the hospice/palliative field as a volunteer and office manager since 2004. She formed a Grief and Trauma team to enable volunteers support people who had a loved one die from a drug overdose, suicide or homicide. She continues this work privately. Joan also has a business background.

In 2013, the Groundwater committee was formed at KATI with the goal of initiating an Aboriginal stream into the KATI art therapy training. Joan was an original member. She continues to be involved with KATI, as an Aboriginal Elder.

Joan has trained at Nechi in counselling and has worked with Aboriginal people in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Her passion is to be there for the wounded and hurting by listening and communicating from the heart with presence and integrity. She prefers to work in Circle with ceremony, creating safety and intimacy

Enya-Morgan is a fibre and mixed media artist, a lifelong learner, and a mother — bringing a unique perspective to her role as a Marketing Assistant. She supports KATI in creating awareness of art therapy and the programs offered by the school. She finds her job at supporting KATI, and its students, meaningful and understands the importance of effective and timely promotion of the important work that happens at and through the Institute.

In her free time, she enjoys reading fiction and non-fiction literary work, exploring culinary techniques, and chasing cats.

MA

Lisa is an artist, and has a strong background in social planning, public administration and project management. She holds a Master of Arts from the University of Victoria, and over 15 years’ experience with needs assessment, collaborative program development & progressive management. Lisa's work is rooted in the non-profit sector, social justice, conflict transformation and decolonization. She was the City of Edmonton liaison for Edmonton's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's Inquiry and has worked alongside Indigenous leaders to reclaim our interconnectedness and tend to reconciliation throughout her career. She worked for three years as a grants administrator and received a UBC award of Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.

BFA (hons), DKATI, RCAT

Blake Henry (she/her) is an art therapy clinician of mixed ancestry (Métis & Ukranian) and believes in supporting individuals through an anti-oppressive approach informed by trauma theory. Blake believes in radical acceptance and that we can heal in meaningful ways through relationship.

Blake has work experience in a wide variety of clinical and community settings.

BA, DKATI, RCAT

Chelsea (she/her) is a graduate of KATI and has been working as a private practice art therapy clinician since 2017. She is passionate about healing and connection through land based practices and integrates a relational approach to her work and way of being in the world.

Chelsea is a mother, a friend, a teacher and art therapist committed to ongoing learning and growth.

BSc, DKATI, RCAT

Juanita is an avid painter and clinician who offers mental health and substance counselling and art therapy services primarily focused on Indigenous populations. She is devoted to the preservation of traditional knowledge, the use of traditional healing methods and all efforts toward mending our relationship with the Earth. She facilitates workshops and healing circles and offers clinical and art therapy supervision. Her work is grounded by ethical, cultural, and spiritual sensitivity from an ancestral trauma-informed and anti-oppressive approach. Juanita is a Kutenai Art Therapy graduate (2013) and holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Communications from the University of Idaho (2004). Juanita celebrates the creative and playful spirit in each of us and our endless capacity for change and healing.

BA

Lindsey moved to Nelson in 1991 after completing her degree in Social Psychology at the University of British Columbia. She spent several years supporting youth at risk in the Nelson public school system and in group homes. Shifting direction, she took on a variety of administrative roles with Nelson organizations including Career Development Services and Kootenay School of the Arts. In the early 2000s, she moved to Grohman Creek and took a hiatus from work to raise her daughter. She has recently returned to working outside of the home to join the team at KATI. Lindsey is appreciative to be in an environment that combines creativity and therapy. She believes that access to a variety of options to respond to our country’s mental health crisis is extremely important and is happy to provide support to the students who are training to address this issue.

MA, DKATI, RCAT

Nicole Le Bihan is one of KATI's Co-Directors and the Research Chair. As a mother, educator, art therapist, artist, musician and advocate, her fundamental belief is that a career should be meaningful and contribute to the well-being of self, others and the world. She has been a practicing professional art therapist since 2006 and a faculty member at Kutenai Art Therapy Institute since 2010. Nicole approaches leadership, education, supervision and therapeutic practices through an anti-oppressive, feminist lens, with the intention of cultivating collaborative dialogues and leaning into the creative spirit.

BA (Hons.), DKATI, RCAT

Kate Leppard is an art therapist who works with marginalized and homeless people and their families to create a sense of belonging, heal traumas and transform lives through art making. After spending 15 years using art as a tool for social change, Kate believes that art therapy is one of the most potent tools on the planet for creating change. She is passionate, conscientious, and positive.

Kate holds a post-graduate diploma from Kutenai Art Therapy institute and a BA Hons in Fine Art and History of Art from Goldsmiths University, London. Kate also has a private practice in Nelson, runs transformational online courses and one-to-one therapy via www.kateleppard.com.

PhD, DKATI, RCAT

Christine is a Registered Art Therapist, Instructor, Clinical Supervisor and International presenter with 16 years of experience providing Art Therapy services to people of all ages specializing in body-focused art therapy, trauma, grief and loss, sexual abuse and addictions. She offers clinical presentations and experiential workshops including body-focused art therapy, expressive movement, neuroscience and trauma, and “Healing the Healers” and Body-Mapping Workshops.

Christine presents internationally as part of a Doctoral research on neuroscience and trauma-focused on the value of non-verbal expressive therapy and cultural awareness.

She is former Vice President of the Canadian Art Therapy Association and President of the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute Association. www.arttherapyservices.ca.

BA, MES

Will Parker teaches research and land-based healing at KATI. Specializing in ecological identity work, he enjoys stacking rocks and building trails. Will has over 10 years’ experience in designing and facilitating arts-based environmental education programs and workshops, in schools, rural and remote communities. His approach centers around acknowledging strong feelings for nature and appreciating the little connections between magical elements of the world. As a board member for the Dumont Creek Cemetery, he supervises grave digging and plays an important role in community support. 

BA (Hons), DKATI, RTC, RCAT, CCTP

Cheryl is a clinical counsellor and trauma-informed art therapist. She is also a certified NARM therapist. NARM (The NeuroAffective Relational Model) is specifically designed for working with complex trauma by addressing the attachment patterns that cause life-long psychobiological symptoms and interpersonal difficulties.

Cheryl began her career as a senior residential social worker in a therapeutic unit, using a play therapy approach. After moving from the UK to Canada in 2018 and completing the KATI program, she discovered the ‘missing piece’ she had been looking for in working with trauma. She is now passionate about integrating art therapy with NARM and Internal Family Systems Theory. She is particularly drawn to working with those with trauma-related diagnoses and marginalized populations, including survivors of human trafficking.

Alongside her work as an instructor, Cheryl facilitates art therapy groups and has a private practice where she welcomes individuals of any age, both online and in-person.

BScH, BEd, DKATI

Judith is a trained teacher and professional art therapist. She has over 25 years as an outdoor educator with Outward Bound schools, leading character development expeditions in the wilderness and training staff. Judith integrates nature and art making for experiential, healing, and therapeutic work. Living off the grid, her nature-based art therapy private practice is based out of a yurt that is nestled in the cedar forest and is alongside a glacier-fed river.

BA, DKATI

Ana (ella/she/her) is a Mexican feminist art therapist. She graduated from KATI in 2022 and currently offers online feminist art therapy accompaniment with a trauma-informed lens for English & Spanish speakers. In the last year, she has focused on researching the potential use of art therapy as a collective care tool for activists and for making the spaces she inhabits less adverse for racialized bodies. Ana is also interested and has work experience supporting women survivors of gender-based violence.

DKATI, RCAT

Tayler Schenkeveld holds the spirit name White Thunderbird Woman and is a member of the Manitoba Metis and the Bear Clan. She has roots on Treaty 1 territory in Win-nipi (also known as Winnipeg, MB) and now gratefully resides on Treaty 7 territory in Mohkinstsis (also known as Calgary, AB). She is an artist and a Registered Canadian Art Therapist specializing in Indigenous cultural reconnection, identity formation, community-based healing, and breaking the cycles of intergenerational trauma. Tayler is currently working towards completing the Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology program at Yorkville University with plans of future registration with the College of Alberta Psychologists.

B.Ed, DKATI, RCAT

Jennifer Schwartz is a Registered Canadian Art Therapist, Mental Health Therapist, Supervisor, and Instructor with over 20 years experience in Child & Youth Mental Health. She works in private practice virtually and in-person as a Child & Youth Mental Health (CYMH) & Sexual Abuse Intervention (SAIP) Therapist.

Jennifer has completed numerous trainings in complex trauma and child development and has recently started training to become a Mentalization-based therapist. Jennifer’s approach emphasizes play, imagination, and symbolization with a firm footing in attachment, mentalization and object relations theories.

BFA, DTATI, RCAT, RP

Afsaneh Shafai is an interdisciplinary artist, Registered Art Therapist and Psychotherapist, and a person of diaspora of Iranian-Canadian heritage. She graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba and she continued her studies in Art Therapy at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. She is based in Tkaronto (Toronto), the ancestral territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and the home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. She has decades of clinical experience helping a diverse population of all ages with their mental health struggles. She has considerable knowledge in working with neuro-diverse populations, BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+, refugees, newcomers, and war and torture survivor.

MA

Judith Siano is a Registered Art Therapist, supervisor and was the chair of the Israeli Association of Creative and Expressive Therapies Ethics Committee. Judith works with adolescents, young adults, clients, and therapists. She advises the Ministry of Welfare regarding therapeutic interventions for youth at risk. She is the initiator and head of the DROP IN – WIN WIN project; lectures on trauma, adolescence, and ethics in therapy; and has published articles in professional journals in Israel and abroad.

Judith has co-produced three art therapy documentary films - Totem: To Create a Safe Place for Adolescents in Art Therapy; The Little Toe Has a New Meaning: Art Therapists Merging with the Desert’s Shades; and DROP IN – WIN WIN: Art Therapy with Adolescents at Risk.

In Judith’s dream, it is possible to change a gloomy reality by means of art which instills hope. She lives in Haifa, Israel with her family.

DKATI

Samuel is a graduate of KATI and has been working at the school since 2014. He is a facilitator and the author of the facilitator's manual for Transitions for Men, a pre-employment program for men with a history of trauma. His other areas of therapeutic focus include trauma, grief & loss, making sense of identity, relationship navigation, and existential exploration. He sees his role as IT & Communications Manager as a way to facilitate ease in relationships. Samuel is a husband, a father, a poet, an art therapist and a heart-centred lover of technology and pattern.

BSc (hon), PhD, ME Des., MSW

Frank Tester is a social worker, a geographer, and Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Native Studies, University of Winnipeg and at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, Nelson, British Columbia. Frank is co-author of books dealing with Canadian social policy and Inuit social history and culture. A photographer and filmmaker, he as a commitment to social justice and human rights, influenced by the theoretical ideas of Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, Victor Frankl and their contemporaries. He has also worked with Indigenous communities in West Africa and the South Pacific. Frank is a recipient of the Gustavus Myers Award for his contributions to the study and promotion of human rights in North America and of the 1995 Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize for his co-authored book, Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic, 1939-62.

RCC-ACS, RCAT, REAT

Keith is an artist, musician, yogi, gardener, and highly experienced art therapist, expressive arts therapist, somatic psychotherapist, and clinical supervisor with extensive experience of supporting people to heal and grow from the impacts of trauma and concurrent problems such as addictions, eating disorders, emotional dysregulation, and relationship issues. Originally from England, he currently lives and works on the west coast of Canada.

BA, RTC, DKATI

Kat is a professional Art Therapist and Artist. Originally from Scotland, Kat is now privileged to live, work and play amongst the traditional territories of the Sinixt, the Syilx, and the Ktunaxa peoples, Nelson BC. Kat supports her clients using a relational, trauma informed approach, and believes passionately in drawing resources from the natural world.

Kat has experience working with children, youth at risk and adults in both indoor and outdoor settings. She currently co-facilitates an Equine Art Therapy practice, named Horses with Heart, which brings together the magic of art therapy with therapeutic experiences with horses.

Donna Wright is a Métis Elder who identifies as Nehiyawak (Cree)/Métis on her father’s side and Norwegian on her mother’s side. Connecting with community members and supporting families inspires her and brings her the greatest joy. Donna has volunteered and worked in community for almost 33 years in the human services field. Donna offers a warm and welcoming presence with a good dose of humour.