Name: Aili, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Associate Professor of Theatre Arts
Location: Minot, North Dakota

1. Music Therapy Program at Minot State University.

2. Movement. I began my journey in high school with choreography and studied theatrical directing during my undergraduate and graduate studies. This lead me to discovering pilates & yoga for rehabilitation purposes.

3. Skills to enhance my teaching in Public Speaking, Theatrical Movement and Music Therapy.

Name: Ally, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Arts Engagement Coordinator
Location: Los Angeles, California

1. I serve UCLA students, staff, and faculty as an Arts Engagement Coordinator.

2. I have been dancing since a very young age. My movement practices inform my perspective and how I navigate the world personally and professionally. I'm excited to see how they interact with this program.

3. I hope to gain a solid foundation in social emotional learning to inform arts programming and initiatives that I am working on, especially with students during remote learning. I hope to connect my creative practices with mental health subjects.

Name: Amorette, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Program Coordinator, UCLA Visual and Performing Arts Education Program
Location: Highland Park - Los Angeles, California

1. I serve in a position that supports undergraduate students interested in the teaching artist field and who are currently enrolled in courses that teach in K-12 classrooms. I also participate on the anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion commission at my place of work, as well as a staff advisory council.

2. I grew up surrounded by many different disciplines in the arts. I play several different instruments, grew up doing theatre camp instead of summer camp, took dance lessons for 10+ years, studied writing and visual arts. I feel most comfortable in the visual arts, specifically drawing and painting, and in writing poetry and prose.

3. I hope to be able to reconnect with different disciplines in the arts and connect that with my interests in social emotional wellness. I also hope to be able to hone in on these skills that I learn so that I may use them to inform my work as an administrator and educator.

Name: Catalina, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Soul Coaching Practitioner, Expressive Arts Coach & Educator
Location: Houston, Texas

1. I intend to serve my community in both English and Spanish, in the US and Colombia though a variety of programs and gatherings which involve personal growth and empowerment through creativity and spirituality. My mission is to guide people who have lost their north and feel disconnected and wandering through life, not necessarily unhappy but know something is missing. They search endlessly on the internet always resulting in frustration. I myself was this person until I found the Healing Arts and began my own transformation. Like the caterpillar to the butterfly, it is a journey to a life full of purpose.

2. I am an artist at heart but I feel most connected to the visual arts, dance, writing and music along with spiritual practices. While going through the Dark knight of the soul in 2017 is when I found the Healing Arts and through it my freedom to express. I learned to tell my story and reconnect to my authentic self. The healing arts has given me the tools to my own healing, transformation, and purpose. I am on the journey to reclaim the healer within me and invite others to do the same.

3. My intent and hope is to obtain knowledge, guidance, and the necessary tools to prepare and deliver meaningful gatherings and workshops that bring transformation and healing especially in areas that are underserved as well as under privileged.

Name: Emy, sher/her/hers
Profession/Title: Educator/ Artist
Location: Egypt

1. I intend to focus on serving children through schools, centers and workshops. Specific interest groups also include those with anxiety, mental health issues and underprivileged children living in poverty.

2. It’s tough to pick just one but I have always enjoyed painting nature and got that from my grandma as a child. It helps me release anxiety. I also play the piano and recently find dance and yoga quite healing in ways that art forms where one is still can’t.

3. I hope to learn ways by which social emotional development can grow through the arts, how one can guide and/or teach those skills as well as hopefully connect with others along this program. Excited!

Name: Emma, sher/her/hers
Profession/Title: Dancer/Writer/Teacher/Actress
Location: Los Angeles, California

1. I’m building a performing arts academy and intend to serve students age of all ages seeking to grow artistically.

2. I have a professional background in ballet and modern dance. I’m also a writer and actress.

3. I hope to gain valuable tools to help my students heal and grow artistically. I also hope to deepen my knowledge of different art forms.

Name: Gabby, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Yoga Instructor & Poet
Location: Highland Park - Los Angeles, California

1. I currently work with students who range from ages 22-75 all along the West Coast as a yoga instructor fully online. I also work with artists to help create movement practices that promote their creativity.

2. Theatre and spoken word - I began acting on stage when I was 10, and became enamored with the more poetic works from the classical cannon as I grew up. I received my BA in Theatre and while studying playwriting learned that I had urgent, important things to say in works of my own and the medium of plays along with poetry zines made me excited to create.

3. I hope to create my own curriculum that combines yoga movement therapy with social emotional arts practices. I want to gain facilitation skills for in person learning and make meaningful connections with other working artists also interested in this field.

Name: Gigi, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Trainee/Student
Location: Los Angeles, California

1. I currently work with k-8 students, serving as a counselor for academic, emotional, behavioral, and social support.

2. Art, Music, and story writing are the mediums I feel more connected to. I feel Art and story writing may be used simultaneously when trying to express themselves. As for music, it's always helped me relay my emotions when words can't.

3. I hope to gain skills to utilize in my professional career when working with Latinx children.

Name: Isabel, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Social Worker
Location: Los Angeles, California

1. I currently serve in South Los Angeles as a therapist for transition-age youth (16-25).

2. Music and Poetry. Throughout childhood - singing and writing songs and poetry helped me to push past numbness and being emotionally shut down to the freedom of feeling and expressing my emotions.

3. Emotional tools to have in my toolbox to help youth and young adults find the freedom in expressing themselves and their emotions.

Name: Jacquie, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Wellness Center Coordinator
Location: Santa Clarita, California

1. Currently, I am working as a Wellness Center Coordinator at two local high schools. I serve students in 9th thru 12th grade and love every minute of it. In my role I provide individual and group counseling as well as develop workshops and trainings that raise mental health awareness and assist students with developing healthy coping strategies.

2. I feel most connected to dance and theater. I started tap dancing and acting at the age of three and always felt most alive and present when I was on a stage performing.

3. I hope to be able to walk away from this training with the confidence to develop, implement, and evaluate an arts based program. I would love to bring more of the arts to the students, families, and staff I work with and be able to present the efficacy of an arts based program.

Name: Kenji, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Fine Artist, Professional Artist in the Schools
Location: Monterey, California

1. I'm serving Monterey County K-6, MPUSD, SCESD, GUSD, PVUSD and DLA, as a Professional Artist in the schools teaching art to students of all nationalities, including SPED. I have also facilitated art classes for teachers.

2. Fine Arts. As a young child I always enjoyed painting, drawing and making cards. I was obsorbed in creativity. When I entered high school, the art instructor recognized my gifts and encouraged my art journey. When I'm painting its very freeing and I loose myself into a world of color.

3. Skills that will enhance my connection to my students on a deeper level so as to assist me in becoming more sensitive to their needs. Also, applying this knowledge and practices to uplift and inspire their future.

Name: Lara, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Teaching Artist
Location: San Francisco, California

1. I currently serve K-5th graders in SFUSD as a remote creative dance teacher. I will also start an after school, in-person pod of 4th graders at the end of April.

2. Dance, abstract doodling/painting. I started dancing when I was 7, various art forms, at a studio in Claremont that became my second home. I have always enjoyed making my own cards for others and I currently do so with oil pastels and watercolors.

3. Curriculum building and scaffolding skills to use in my teaching. I am also eager to build community and language to center social emotional skills through multimedia art activities.

Name: Mehera, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Life Coach
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

1. I currently serve parents of kids with special needs as well as teens and adults with special needs as a life Coach in TheraPeeds Family Center.

2. My first art form is figure painting studying at The Art Institute of Chicago, Italy and Greece. I then became a photographer and textile designer when I lived in India. I became a creative writer in Asheville NC and now have studied dance in South Florida.

3. I hope to integrate my coaching practice with my creative practice. I also look forward to learning from the teachers and fellow students.

Name: Nancy, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Wellness Center Coordinator
Location: Santa Clarita, California

1. Currently, I am the wellness center coordinator at a high school serving about 2300 students grades 9-12. My role includes individual and group therapy, providing workshops related to mental health awareness and coping strategies, and bringing community partners into the center to provide classes (yoga, mindfulness, essential oils, nutrition, animal therapy) for students to add to their toolkits of support.

2. I love music. I learned how to play the flute, the violin, the guitar, and the piano; though I haven't played any of those instruments for quite some time. The rhythm has always helped me in grounding.

3. To increase my comfort level with using the arts to provide yet another source of support for my students.

Name: Olivia, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Artist and Educator/Elementary Art Teacher
Location: Whittier, California

1. I currently serve the East District of LAUSD as an itinerant elementary visual art teacher. I work with students, faculty, staff, and school communities to create engaging and culturally responsive art curriculum that is relevant to their socio-emotional needs.

2. Visual Arts. I've always been a creative visual art thinker and practitioner all my life and first learned about Art as a meaningful career path in college.

3. Knowledge about the connections between psychology, creativity, learning and healing to inform my teaching and practice as a contemporary artist.

Name: Ricka, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Creator/Executive Director
Location: Brentwood - Los Angeles, California

1. I currently serve several schools all over Los Angeles and beyond through my arts nonprofit. I combine social skills and other mental health practices with cultural understanding and movement, promoting empathy, community and philanthropy.

2. I feel most connected to dance and theater. My dream to become a choreographer was born when I was in high school, though I also had heart string tugging towards helping others in some way. I have creatively and successfully married to two with the program I have developed.

3. I love learning. I never want to feel stale or stifled in my process as an educator. Learning to implement new information and improve my curriculum l is exciting to me.

Name: Sarah, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Teacher
Location: Dyersburg, Tennessee

1. I intend to serve K-12 students in my local community. For the past year, I have mainly worked with students in special education. I would love to learn methods I can use to support them!

2. I feel most connected to photography and videography, but I like doing various crafts in my free time. I have done some acting, but I am still not a super confident person!

3. Strategies to help students with trauma and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Name: Shonell, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

1. I am serving a population from the age of 3 to 80 yrs. My practice concentrates on serving those who have experienced trauma.

2. Music and dance have been very therapeutic to me. To listen and to watch those forms of art have been more than beneficial in my life.

3. I hope to get greater insight on how to use different arts in my practice to promote healing.

Name: Zuly, she/her/hers
Profession/Title: School Social Worker/Family & Child Therapist
Location: Palmdale, California

1. I currently serve different schools k-12 grades. I also provide therapeutic sessions and classes to clients ( minors and adults) with DFCS and Probation involvement.

2. I began my journey in 2004, when I was a social work intern in the city of Pasadena, CA. I enjoy all forms of arts, but specially paining, dance and drumming.

3. I hope to learn teaching, mental health counseling and social emotional techniques.