About
WHEAT Institute
WHEAT Institute
Administration and Faculty
Darci Adam,
Founding Director and Practicum Support
MA, MEd, RCAT, REAT
Sharing the healing power of the arts with students, clients and communities in beautiful, natural settings across the central Canadian plains is a dream come true for Darci Adam, founder and director of WHEAT Institute. Supported by Masters' degrees in Drama and Educational Psychology (Counselling) and Diplomas in Education and Art Therapy, Darci has dedicated her career to understanding, practicing, and sharing the therapeutic use of the arts. Under her leadership, WHEAT has become known for developing and bringing together powerful faculty groupings and providing innovative programming. Engaging with the land and all our relations has been an underpinning of Darci’s work and play throughout her career in education and the healing arts. She has created Painted Sky Studio to provide an earth-connected alternative to traditional classroom settings, while living her life as a daughter, mom, friend, swimmer, walker, yogi and creator.
Stephanie Scott,
Registrar and
Operations Manager
MA
Stephanie is the Registrar and Operations Manager for WHEAT Institute. She has a background in Anthropology and International Development Studies, specifically focusing on children's rights during post-conflict recovery and development. Stephanie also works part-time as the Communications Director for Young Peacebuilders and is a Board Member for a local non-profit, Bridging Villages. Previous volunteer roles included serving as the Regional Representative of Manitoba Council for International Cooperation for War Child Canada and supporting the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Stephanie is motivated to grow WHEAT's presence locally, nationally and globally by cultivating relationships with people, organizations, and communities focused on using the therapeutic arts for social change. She is available and happy to support students through their journeys with WHEAT.
Contact Stephanie: outreach@wheatinstitute.com
Lindsay Ashmore, Program Support and Development, Instructor, Supervisor
RCAT, CCC, REAT, RSMT
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 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 holds a master’s degree in Psychotherapy and Art Therapy from St. Stephen’s College and is a Canadian Certified Counsellor and Psychotherapist, Registered Art Therapist, Expressive Arts, and Somatic Therapist. She supports folx from diverse backgrounds and experiences and in a variety of contexts, from working in communities, urban indigenous agencies, healthcare, the school system (including post-secondary institutions), and private practice.She offers trauma-informed, creative, and resource-based guidance for all seasons of life - to bloom where you are planted.Using a body-centered approach that integrates expressive arts modalities and the creative process, one’s lived experience can be accessed to explore challenges and opportunities and generate resources supporting navigating change, transition, and growth.
Mary Norton,
Research Navigator, Advisor
PhD, MPS-AT, RCAT, RCT-C
Mary is a settler in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. As Research Navigator and Instructor with WHEAT, she encourages the integration of arts-based approaches, various ways of knowing and reflective inquiry to share and build knowledge about art therapy and expressive arts. Her roles at WHEAT are informed by previous work as a community-based adult educator, researcher and trainer. Weaving arts-based approaches into programs and courses to support learning led her to study and practice art therapy (St. Stephen’s College) and expressive arts (World Arts Organization). Since moving to her heart home by the sea, Mary has resumed community-based and private practices, integrating art therapy, expressive arts and other body-centred approaches. She values these approaches as pathways to serious play, to express and address challenges, and to imagine possibilities. www.heartspacearttherapy.com
Tayler Schenkeveld, Research Navigator, Instructor, Supervisor
MACP, DKATI, RCAT
Tayler is a member of the Manitoba Métis 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 holds a post baccalaureate diploma in Art Therapy from the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University, and has special training in EMDR.
Bonface Beti, Expressive Arts for Social Change & Peacebuilding
Bonface Njeresa Beti is an international artist-peacebuilder and educator who applies theatre-based interventions with individuals and communities to create a story of peace. He integrates and applies embodied expressive tools into larger social justice issues as a language for social justice, decolonization, and structural transformation. He completed his undergraduate psychological counseling and theatre studies in Kenya and holds a MA degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and is currently working on his PhD at the same University. He is currently admitted to the European Graduate School in Switzerland where he’s pursuing an advanced certificate to join PhD studies in Expressive Arts and Conflict Transformation.
Rachel Chainey
Instructor
MA, ATPQ
Rachel Chainey (she/they, elle/iel) is a mother, art therapist, social entrepreneur, educator and multi-tasking artist. She obtained her MA in Creative Art Therapies from Concordia University (2018), prior to which she has collected an eclectic undergraduate and experiential background spanning two decades in the intersecting fields of Cultural Animation, Social Entrepreneurship, Studio Arts, Psychology, Graphic Design and Communications. This ever-expanding creative toolbox is put to use through her Public Practice Art Therapy work with Art Hives (www.arthives.org). Beginning in 2010, she has been involved in starting and maintaining a few Montreal Art Hives, and currently is serving as the Concordia University-based Art Hives HQ and Network Coordinator (since 2014). Rachel is the Vice-President of the Quebec Art Therapists’ Association (since 2020) and was the Conference Chair of the Canadian Art Therapy Association in 2018. Since the 2022-23 academic year, she is a part-time faculty member at the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Art Therapies Institute. She is passionate about people, their stories and creativity, and specifically interested in developing ways in which we can live and work with more mutual care, creating sustainable futures for all living beings.
Conly Basham,
Instructor, Supervisor
MA, CAGS, AMFT
● Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Theatre Arts (University of Arkansas)
● Master of Arts (MA) in Counselling Psychology & Expressive Arts Therapy (California
Institute of Integral Studies)
● CAGS in Expressive Arts (European Graduate School)
● PhD Candidate in Expressive Arts (European Graduate School)
● Family Constellations Facilitator
● Trained Drama Therapy & Restorative Justice Facilitator
● Populations Conly has worked with include: elders; youth of all ages; family units; incarcerated individuals; perpetrators and victims of intimate violence and harm; adults; romantic partnerships; neurodivergent identified community members; and learners of Expressive Arts and restorative practices.
● twoonefour.org
Dianne Shannon, Instructor
MA, RCAT
Dianne Shannon is a registered art therapist with a private practice on Treaty 6 territory and Métis Nation homeland in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She strives to offer a therapeutic space of cultural safety and humility through self-reflection and respect for clients’ experience and wisdom. Her work is informed by the understanding that creative expression facilitates insights to better understand why we do the things we do and that help us work toward personal and interpersonal goals. Dianne has been an art therapist for 10 years working primarily with children, youth, and their families in private practice in Saskatchewan and for Indigenous organizations in British Columbia. Her creative mediums of choice are clay, painting, collage, and writing. Dianne looks forward to walking alongside students on their path to becoming expressive/art therapists and is grateful and excited to be part of the WHEAT community. For more information about Dianne visit dianneshannonarttherapy.ca
Kate Donohue, Lead Teacher, Consultant, and Supervisor
Ph.D., REAT
Kate Donohue is one of the Grandmothers of Expressive Arts and is a cofounder of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association. Kate shares her knowledge as a licensed psychologist and Registered Expressive Arts Therapist around the world, teaching at many international universities including the Chinese University of Hong Kong; HUST in Wuhan, China; Christ University in Bangalore, India; California Institute of Integral Studies; and Sofia University (formerly the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology) among many more. Kate has spent 35 years studying indigenous and ethnic dance forms, particularly West African and Afro-Cuban Dance. Kate leads Jungian expressive arts cultural journeys to Ghana and India.
Visit Kate's website: http://kate-donohue.com/.
Markus Scott-Alexander, Instructor, Supervisor
Ph.D, REAT
Markus Scott-Alexander is a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT) who teaches Expressive Arts for therapy, education, coaching and conflict transformation through World Arts Organization. Markus is a pioneer in the field of intermodal expressive arts therapy. His approach is phenomenological and somatic. He was senior faculty at the European Graduate School from 1997 to 2020. He is the Author of Expressive Arts and Education (2020) Brill Publishing. Markus’ approach to counselling focuses on presence, response and reachability. Learning is a balance of philosophy, theory and practice of counselling skills in EXA work.
Dr. Christine Lummis,
Instructor
Ph.D, RCAT
Christine is an internationally recognized art therapy instructor and presenter. She has 20 years of clinical experience in body-focused art therapy for people of all ages and also provides therapeutic support for professionals. Christine advocates for increased awareness of art therapy’s value in treatment programs and quality education. Her doctoral research was focused on Body-Mapping, a culturally sensitive trauma intervention based on neurobiology, and looked at multi-cultural responses to her work, done in 18 countries on three continents. Christine holds a Doctorate of Art Therapy and is a program director at the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy, and Adjunct Instructor at CiiAT and Adler University.
Visit Christine’s website: www.arttherapyservices.ca
Maria Riccardi Instructor, Supervisor
M.A., M.Ed., ATR-BC
Maria Riccardi is a registered art therapist, career counsellor and licensed psychotherapist. She collaborates with non-profit organizations and mental health institutions, developing community-based studio art programs for adolescents and adults living with mental and physical health issues, immigration issues and poverty. She has also worked with veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder, working on trauma prevention and evaluating art processes and products in treatment. Maria is an adjunct professor of art therapy at Concordia University, a part-time professor at l’Université du Québec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and an academic and art therapy supervisor. Her work with children and families in her Montreal clinic is grounded in the Expressive Therapies Continuum.
Tanja Woloshen, Instructor
BA (Hons), MFA, BEd
Terri Roberton,
Supervisor
RP, BFA, MIS, ExAT
Terri Roberton is immersed in the arts from various angles having practiced painting, illustration and animation for many years. She helped steward the Ontario Expressive Arts Therapy Association as Vice-President since 2009, and as president since 2015. She has an interest in arts-based research and has guest lectured at George Brown College and Ryerson University. In 2010 she presented her graphic story research in the poster session at the Health Equity Conference held at Ryerson, and in 2011 was subsequently invited to give a presentation at the Annual Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing Research Symposium. Using an Intersectional Anti-Oppression Feminist (IAOF) framework, Terri has worked with clients on the following issues: confidence, sexuality, stigma, addictions, relationships, trauma, depression, anxiety, isolation; identity, equity, intersecting, or compartmentalized worlds, age, class, image, physical / developmental / emotional ability.
Tanja is an Independent Dance Artist/ Educator. She has performed and studied across N.A., EU, and SE Asia. Recent activities include the creation and performance of "Beautiful Loser", for Art Holm (2021); National Dance Education Association Conf Presenter (2021); One Trunk Theatre's "Western Chronicle"- choreographer (2021); "Memorials for Lost Bodies"- death studies in performance research & performance with Happy Phantoms Collective (2020); MAWA grant recipient for costume design/construction (2020); MB Arts Council Dance Creation Research Grants investigating posthumanism/ wilderness (2019/20); Dance Studies Assoc. Conf. Presenter (2019); "A Short History of Crazy Bone" - choreography for Theatre Projects MB (2018); "Holy Wild"- choreography & performance (2017); International Expressive Arts Therapy Association Conf. Presenter (2017). She maintains a practice of dance making and performance and is currently on faculty with the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy Institute (WHEAT), and Winnipeg School Division, with prior teaching engagements at ULethbridge, UWinnipeg, UBC-Okanagan, MTYP, The Wellness Institute, and RWB. www.tanjafaylenewoloshen.org
Carrie Reid, Supervisor
RCAT
Carrie Reid is Coast Salish and resides on Vancouver Island. Her work has had a strong focus on Elders and youth, although she has worked with all ages. Her biggest areas of focus are on grief and trauma. She is a RCAT and has a post-graduate diploma in Expressive Arts.
Ellen Smallwood, Instructor, Supervisor
Art Therapist, MA, ATPQ
Ellen Smallwood is a Montreal-based art therapist (M.A. Art Therapy, ATPQ) experienced in clinical, research, and community settings. Ellen currently works at the Jewish General Hospital in youth and child psychiatry, providing art therapy for clients aged 4-25 experiencing challenges such as parent-child relational issues, depression, anxiety, social-relational issues, and complex trauma. Ellen maintains a private practice for adults, children and adolescents at Resilience Clinic and Connecte Psychology, and has been an active contributor to the Art Hives network. Ellen’s Master’s research was presented at the 2018 Canadian Art Therapy Association conference: a mixed methods pilot study that took place at the Museé des Beaux-Arts de Montréal art hive to explore the psychosocial components of chronic conditions, specifically how group art therapy can impact self-esteem, wellness and quality of life for people with epilepsy.
Linda Manitowabi, Grandmother's Advisory Council
BEd, ATDip
Linda Manitowabi is a Cultural and Ojibwe Language teacher and has recently retired as an elementary school teacher. Linda is an Anishnaabe-Kwe from Wikwemikong First Nation. She graduated from Laurentian and Nipissing University, holding a Bachelor of Education. She studied Art Therapy at the University of Western Ontario and uses this modality within healing circles of Indigenous people. For many years she has been learning the traditional teachings and ceremonies of the Ojibwe Midewiwin Society. These teachings and art therapy help her connect Indigenous people with their healing journey. An avid hiker, Linda has also travelled extensively, learning from other Indigenous Nations on her travels.
Tzafi Weinberg, Instructor, Supervisor
DAT
Tzafi Weinberg studied art therapy at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, BC, and Doctorate in Art Therapy at Mount Mary University, Milwaukee. She is knowledgeable in the area of attachment and trauma, specifically with Indigenous children and adolescents. She believes that Art therapy can contribute to the reconciliation process with Indigenous people. The creation of art as a personal vehicle of expression, which is common to both Indigenous cultures and the art therapy profession, could be the basis of increasing understanding and building relationships.
Visit Tzafi’s website: http://tzafiweinberg.com
Morris Ervin Jr.,
Instructor
BS, Founder/International Educator
CNVC Certified Trainer/
Racial Empathy Specialist
Wellness Coach/Mentor
Artist/Storyteller
Morris H. Ervin Jr. founder of Mansa Consulting; is an educator, speaker, coach, and youth development professional. Mr. Ervin has over 20 years experience pioneering social and emotional mentoring programs, leadership seminars, mindfulness retreats and community engagement initiatives. As a Social Studies Teacher in the early 2000’s; Morris created and designed a new innovative African American History Course/Curriculum that challenged the public school system by implementing a unique style of teaching and learning in the classroom called Nonviolent Communication. Morris H Ervin Jr. currently speaks on Non-violence, and Youth Development internationally, while teaching an embodied style of mindfulness called Soulful Meditation.
Csilla Przibislawsky,
Instructor
MA, (C.A.T), RDT, CCC
Csilla is a psychotherapist and drama therapist with over 20 years of professional experience working with children, youths, adults and families who have experienced simple to complex trauma. She has extensive training in Attachment Assessment and Interventions and synthesizes her knowledge of both Attachment and Drama Therapy in her clinical work and in her role as clinical supervisor to other Creative Arts Therapists. Csilla has taught at University of Winnipeg, Université de St. Boniface and the Aulneau Renewal Centre. She is also the Canadian Representative for The North American Drama Therapy Association.
Tasha Beeds,
Instructor
Ph.D Candidate
Tasha Beeds is an Indigenous scholar of nêhiyaw, Metis and Barbadian ancestry from the Treaty 6 territory of Saskatchewan. She is a creative artist, poet, community engaged Water/Land activist, Water Walker and Mide-kwe from Minweyweywigaan Lodge of Roseau River First Nations/Wiikwemkoong Unceded Reserve. Her creative and academic work carries messages, which mirror Indigenous ideas of relationality. She asserts that Indigenous ways of knowing and being are surviving, are valued, and need to be shared to help not only Indigenous people, but also all of Creation.
Asta Au (she / her/ 她), Student Writing Supporter
BA (Hons), ExAT
Asta is an Expressive Arts Therapist and a master’s candidate for Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University. She identifies as an asexual, aromantic, settler and Han Chinese. Her intersections of identities are what inspired her to pursue a career in counselling. In her own private practice, she works with neurodivergent, queer identified and BIPOC clients using arts, creativity, and imagination as vehicles for discovery and self-expression. She is a creative writer, with a particular affinity with poetry, short stories, and comics. She has been teaching English and writing skills for the last 6 years and specializes in helping students constructing an essay, organizing ideas, developing critical thinking, and making connections to themselves and the world around them. She is passionate about research within the creative arts therapies field with a vested interest in encouraging more BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ voices to be seen and heard.
Dr. Kevin wâsakâyâsiw Lewis, Instructor
ipkDoc
Kevin Lewis (wâsakâyâsiw) is from Ministikwan Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. He is an interpreter fluent in all five Cree dialects and is an active oskâpêwis whenever called upon. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Saskatchewan and developed and leads the Indigenous Language Certificate program. Kevin completed his iyiniw pitmâtisiwin kiskêyihtamowin Doctorate Program (ipkDoc) from the University of Nuhelot’ine Thaiyots’I nistamêyimâkanak Blue Quills in Alberta. His research interests include Indigenous Knowledge systems, Second Language Acquisition Methodologies and Cree Roles in traditional parenting. He works with numerous academic institutions and assists the Canadian government as an interpreter and translator.
Carmen Richardson, Instructor
MSW, RSW, RCAT, REAT
Carmen Richardson MSW, RSW, RCAT, REAT is founder and director of the Prairie Institute of Expressive Arts Therapy (PIEAT). Carmen is a Registered Clinical Social Worker, Registered Expressive Arts Therapist and Registered Canadian Art Therapist in private practice.
Alana McLeod, Instructor
MA, ExAT, RTC, OEATA
Ellen Yang, Instructor, Supervisor
PhD(c), REAT, RCC, RCS
Ellen is a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT), Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), and Registered Counselling Supervisor (RCS) specializing in autism. She has over 25 years of experience in the education and mental health field with people of all ages. Her specialties: (1) stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and low self-esteem. (2) autism and other developmental challenges. (3) emotional support and addressing undesirable behaviours. (4) self-growth, empowerment, and well-being. (5) clinical supervision.
More info: http://www.therapythrougharts.com
Alana McLeod is an expressive arts and trauma therapist of Nehiyawak, Anishinaabe, Scottish and English decent. She comes from a strong line of women living on the Canadian Shield in Northern Ontario. She has a diploma in expressive arts therapy (EXAT) from The CREATE Institute in Toronto, Ontario and a Masters degree in EXAT, with a minor in psychology from The European Graduate School in, Switzerland. Her trauma training is from the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute ( level 1 and 2). She is committed to expanding her range of skills and has taken a variety of additional training in gender issues within the 2SLGBTQQIA communities, shame, human trafficking, trauma, addiction, grief & bereavement, suicide as well as the arts and Indigenous ways of knowing and being in relation to healing.
Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte, Instructor, Supervisor
Art Educator, B.A. | Art Therapist, M.A., ATPQ
Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte is an artist, art educator and art therapist from Kahnawake. She completed her Master’s Degree at Concordia University in Art Therapy with a focus on addressing First Nations multigenerational trauma through the creative arts. Situating her initial research on the intersections between art materials and Indigenous ways of knowing, Megan continually explores how art making can foster cultural identity and cultural safety. As an art therapist, Megan provides closed art therapy services to First Nations families within the public-school system, private practice and to male Indigenous inmates at a federal correctional institution. As a community-based art therapist, Megan also facilitates grassroots collective art-making initiatives such as group murals, sculptures and pop-up Art Hives that explore mental health, cultural accessibility and social justice.
Heather Stump, Supervisor
HBA, BFA, MSc., PMCAT, RCAT, CAGs, PhD Candidate
Heather got hooked on stories at an early age—lying on her grandmother’s bed and listening to what she and her sister called “Real Live Talking Stories”. Years later she makes a living empowering others—through visual images and words--to tell and embrace their own personal narratives.
Heather is a Registered Canadian Art Therapist and she has been in private practice since 2007. Formerly based in Calgary, she currently works as a full time Art Therapist with the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay in the Cree First Nation of Chisasibi, Quebec.
Heather’s practice is spiritually based, trauma informed, and focused on strengths. Heather is especially interested in how changing the plotline of personal and collective stories can have a miraculous effect on transformation and healing.
Visit her website: www.heatherstump.com
Dr. Vimalasara Mason-John, Instructor
(hon.doc), M.A.
Dr. Valerie (Vimalasara) was one of the lead facilitators who inputted into the creation of Dr Gabor Mate's Compassionate Inquiry year long course. She is an accredited Mindfulness teacher and co-founded Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery MBAR an 8-week course, as well as train the trainer. And co-founded 8 Step Recovery Using The Buddha's Teachings to overcome addiction with meetings in several continents and is also an award-winning book. An award-winning author of 9 books, including editing the first national anthology of African Canadian poets, The Great Black North Contemporary African Canadian poetry, and this year launched her social justice poetics collection of prose and poetry, I Am Still Your Negro, An Homage to James Baldwin, a timely book which speaks to racist deaths of black and brown bodies. She trained in Mime and Physical theatre, Augustus Boal Forum Theatre, and Gabriel Roth Five Rhythms and had several box office sell-out plays and one-woman shows. In the UK she was part of a team of artists who created a program for challenging behavior, and bullying that was delivered in schools, youth offending teams, and with the homeless. She is now training in the Internal Family Systems as taught by Richard Schwartz. She works as an international public speaker - and is a Compassionate Inquiry Facilitator and Practitioner.
Visit her website: www.valeriemason-john.com
Sharona Bookbinder, Instructor
TBSc, DTATI, MBA, DAT, OATR, RCAT, RP
Dr. Sharona Bookbinder has practiced as an art therapist for 25+ years and is a highly regarded expert in her field. She is a clinician presenter, author, educator, innovator and leader in healthcare and small business. She is the Founder & CEO of InnerArt Inc. and divides her time between work at a Toronto area hospital, managing InnerArt and newly on board with WHEAT. Sharona is also in the volunteer position of Governance & Government Relations for the Canadian Art Therapy Association (ex-officio Treasurer). She has also taught at The Toronto Art Therapy Institute, Mount Mary University, University of Toronto and looking forward to teaching at WHEAT. Sharona is eager for education opportunities and raising awareness about creative arts therapies.
Chrystal Sparrow, Instructor
Coast Salish Multidisciplinary Artist
Chrystal is a traditional and contemporary Coast Salish artist residing on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples of Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Her art represents feminine expressions and movement that are inspired from her Coast Salish, Cree and Shuswap heritage; and cultural teachings in land-based knowledge.
In 2019, Chrystal received a Diploma in the Expressive Arts Therapy Program at the Vancouver School of Healing Arts in Vancouver, BC. In 2018, Chrystal completed the Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy Complex Trauma Certificate at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Expressive Arts Therapy (with a Minor in Psychology) at The European Graduate School in Switzerland.
Chrystal is teaching Indigenous therapy and expressive arts therapy from a person-centered approach that offers healing and cultural teachings to individuals and communities.
Steve Levine, Instructor
Ph.D., D.S.Sc.
Stephen K. Levine is Paul Celan Chair of Philosophy and Poietics in the Arts, Health and Society Division of the European Graduate School EGS. He is also Dean of the Doctoral Program in Expressive Arts. His early training was in Eastern thought, particularly Buddhism and Taoism, at the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to a rigorous education in Western philosophy at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York, where he studied with Hans Jonas and Aron Gurwitsch in particular, themselves students of Martin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl respectively, the founders of phenomenological philosophy. He later completed a second doctorate in Anthropology at the New School under the supervision of Stanley Diamond, with a thesis on Rousseau's dialectical anthropology. In the 1970's, Stephen underwent a five-year training in psychotherapy at the Toronto Institute of Human Resources, where he subsequently became a Supervising Consultant and then Training Director. In 1985-86, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Expressive Therapy at Lesley University, where he studied and later collaborated with Paolo J. Knill, Shaun McNiff, Elizabeth McKim and others. Upon returning to Toronto, he founded, with Ellen G. Levine, International School for Interdisciplinary Studies Canada, a three-year training program in Expressive Arts Therapy, now entering its twentieth year of operation.
Stephen has written numerous publications in the field of Expressive Arts. He has also had a career in the arts as a poet and theatre artist. His primary interest lies in bringing together philosophical theory, Expressive Arts practice and poetic inquiry in order to help students find creative approaches to their professional work and to their ways of being in the world.
Lori Boyko, Supervisor
MC:AT, RCAT, CCC, RSW
Lori has been working in the art therapy field in Manitoba since 1996. With her background as an Educator, it was important for Lori to bring art therapy to the school system. She pioneered a school art therapy program in rural Manitoba in the early 2000s’ and some of those programs have expanded, offering art therapy services to more rural schools in Manitoba.
Lori believes that art therapy should be available to all, including people who reside in communities outside of large urban centres. She has made it part of her lifework to do so, with art therapy access in rural and northern communities.
After relocating to Gimli, Manitoba Lori established a private practice where she offers art therapy, supervision, Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), supportive counselling and provides supervision to WHEAT students. Working in a trauma informed, participant led manner, Lori invites people to use the healing power of the arts and the wisdom of the body to heal.
Ellen Levine, Instructor
MSW, Ph.D.
Ellen G. Levine is a Professor and Core Faculty member of the European Graduate School. In Toronto, she is co-founder and faculty member of The CREATE Institute (formerly ISIS-Canada), a three year training program in Expressive Arts Therapy. She also has an on-line practice of therapy, supervision and teaching. Ellen holds a Ph.D. from York University in Toronto in the program in Social and Political Thought. Her interdisciplinary dissertation was titled: Psychoanalysis and Symbolism: The Space Between Self and World.” In this work, she examined the later work of Freud and the Object Relations School (Winnicott and Klein) as a base for understanding the role of the arts in therapy. Ellen is a graduate of the Toronto Art Therapy Institute (D.T.A.T.I.), a Board Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC) a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW, Massachusetts), a member of the Royal College of Social Work (RSW, Canada) and a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT). She is a graduate of the Toronto Child Psychotherapy Program and a registered psychoanalyst (NAAP, New York). Ellen has exhibited her paintings in Canada, the United States and at the European Graduate School. She has also studied clown and mask work with Richard Pochinko (in Toronto), Phillippe Gaulier (in London) and others. She performs as part of the clown couple, Max and Sadie, with her husband Stephen.
Jesse Dollimont, Instructor
BMT, MTA
Jesse Dollimont is a certified music therapist based in Calgary, Alberta. In her own clinical practice, she provides music therapy primarily in the areas of neurologic rehabilitation, mental health, and community outreach. Jesse is a passionate advocate for music therapy and the arts - and views music and expressive arts as powerful catalysts for self-discovery, growth, reconciliation and healing.
Tereza Gomes, Instructor
Amanda K Gross, Instructor
Adriana Marchione, Supervisor
MA, REAT, RSMT
Tereza brings a passion to her teaching and years of learning from many life teachers. Her work in the world is to help people live into their heart`s longing. She guides people so that their lives can become a masterpiece and so that they can become the authors of their lives while deepening their relationships in community. Tereza's integrates deep spirituality, communion with the natural world, somatic inquiry, science, depth psychology, systems thinking, the expressive arts and mindfulness in her offerings. She works as a Family Therapist, teaches Mindfulness in the community, teaches Spirituality and Family Therapy in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Winnipeg, and trains the BIPOC community to become Teachers of Mindfulness at the Freedom Together organization. She has designed and led Mindfulness based groups like “Restoring yourself, Re-storying yourself and Restoring your Self “, (an art- meditation series), “Delighting in Movement, Overcoming Inertia, (a movement series), and “Sitting with Yourself, Sitting with Your Client.” Tereza has a Master’s degree in Counselling, a Master`s degree in Psychology, and is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher by the Awareness Training Institute & The Greater Good Science Centre at the University of California, Berkeley.
Amanda is an anti-racist organizer and artist. She blogs about the interconnectedness of racism, patriarchy, capitalism, and white womanhood at MistressSyndrome.com and is currently working on a full-length book on that same theme. A certified yoga instructor trained by YogaRoots On Location‘s Anti-Racist Raja Yoga School, Amanda has taught Anti-racist Raja Yoga classes at Pittsburgh Mennonite Church, at the Kingsley Association, and, since the pandemic, weekly classes online. In addition, she holds an M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and is in the midst of doctoral studies in Expressive Arts Therapy at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
Adriana Marchione is a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist and Registered Somatic Movement Therapist. Adriana is a leader in the creative sphere with over 25 years of experience in the arts as a visual artist, movement educator, Argentine tango dancer, arts curator and filmmaker. She has an MA in psychology and teaches internationally, as well as at the world-renowned Tamalpa Institute in Marin County. She also has an expressive arts practice in San Francisco with a special focus on supporting people who have struggled with addiction, trauma and grief. Adriana works to be a force for creative change in the world through film, writing, teaching and supervision.
Visit Adiana’s website: www.adrianamarchione.com
Shannon Cyr, Instructor
M.Ed, WHEAT Expressive Arts Certificate Graduate
Shannon is an elementary school teacher who has been supporting learners through her role as a Student Services Teacher since 2008. Prior to becoming an educator, Shannon worked in areas of social services including intimate partner violence shelter, corrections, and youth experiencing homelessness. This background led her to pursue an education degree in hopes that education would be the proactive space where she could affect greater social change and foster wellness. She has completed a PBDE focused on School Counselling, an Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate, as well as continuous learning in the areas of arts, play, nature as healing, mindfulness, trauma and regulation. Shannon infuses Expressive Arts Therapeutic practices within her educator role. Through expressive arts modalities and interventions, Shannon supports students to connect with their experiences and emotions, to move toward a greater space of wellness, regulation and self-advocacy, as these are essential for freeing minds and hearts for learning. Shannon is excited to share her practices with others seeking impactful multi-modal techniques for solution focused healing, and emotional growth.
Maria Gonzalez-Blue, Instructor
MA, REAT, REACE
Maria Gonzalez-Blue is in private practice as a registered expressive arts therapist and registered expressive arts consultant/educator. She is a founding member of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association where she currently serves on the board of directors. Maria authored the first qualifying standards for registration of expressive arts consultant/educators and currently sits on the review committee for expressive arts consultant/educator applicants. Maria was a core faculty member of the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute for 15 years where she worked closely with its founder, Natalie Rogers. She sees the Person-Centered approach as a formula for compassion and long-term healing. She is an international facilitator and has taught in Hong Kong, Guatemala and Argentina. Since the start of Covid, she has offered Zoom programs focused on resilience for Beijing-China, Japan and Hong Kong. A 35-year relationship with indigenous shamans from Mexico has influenced Maria’s personal commitment to the arts as a spiritual pathway and has inspired her to bridge theoretical approaches with spiritual concepts. She currently teaches Mixed Media Intuitive Arts at a community college and enjoys mentoring individuals seeking to define a personally meaningful direction in the field of expressive arts.
Bevan Klassen, Instructor
WHEAT Art Therapy Diploma Graduate
Bevan has been an art therapist and owner of Deep Focus Art Therapy since 2021. He specializes in video making as art therapy with teens, adults and children who have challenges with anxiety, depression or trauma. Bevan has clients using his therapeutic video making process through CancerCare Manitoba, Ndinawe drop-in centre, Tanis Dick & Associates and Manitoba School Divisions. He offers a variety of creative activities that go into the making of a video including storytelling, drawing, drama activities or video editing to encourage individuals to express their voices, discuss their challenges and reframe their story.
Learn more at https://www.deepfocusarttherapy.com
Juli Rees, Instructor
Juli Rees is a popular educator, EXA facilitator, social justice arts activist, dancer, mother and grandmother who offers her creativity, wisdom and skills in service of creating a socially just world. Juli is a white settler of Welsh, Irish descent who lives and works on the traditional uncededterritory of the Xwméthkwyiem (Musqueam), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Coast Salish peoples. She has worked with Labour Unions for over 30 years and is the Director of Education and Human Rights with the Hospital Employees’ Union. Juli holds a Certificate for Conflict Resolution, Negotiations and Mediation with the Justice Institute in BC, Canada, a Certificate in Expressive Arts Teacher Training with the Tamalpa Institute and Master’s Degree in Expressive Arts for Conflict Transformation and Peace Building (2017) with the European Graduate School in Switzerland.
Phoenix Song, Instructor
Phoenix Song is a queer, non-binary, Korean American adoptee teacher, facilitator, performer, and sound healer based in the Bay Area, California, featured in SF Magazine's Best of the Bay for yoga music. Phoenix started out as a community organizer and now bridges art and activism for personal and collective transformation. They are a Tamalpa Associate Teacher of expressive arts and a Somatic Voicework, the Lovetri Method™ level 3 graduate. Phoenix specializes in helping people free their voices and sing, sound and speak their truths with confidence. They co-facilitate a number of courses on collective emergence, ancestral legacies, and the art of solidarity. Phoenix also holds grief rituals, offers sound healing, and performs live improvisational music. They offer both private and group classes online and in person. https://phoenixsongmusic.com/
Christina Manchulenko, Instructor
BA, BEd, RSME/T, YT500
Christina is Métis artist, educator, and somatic therapist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She has served in public, private, and international schools as a classroom teacher, inclusion specialist, learning and behavior support specialist, teacher mentor, and professional development facilitator. After receiving her certificate in Advanced Expressive Arts Therapy from WHEAT Institute, Christina trained in Movement-based Expressive Arts Therapy at Tamalpa Institute. She later served as teacher apprentice for Tamalpa Institute’s Level 1 Program. She holds a professional registration with The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association. Christina has also completed her qualification as a 500hr Master of Yoga with the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. Christina’s work embodies a commitment to social justice. Christina provides a course introducing the Tamalpa/Life Art process in WHEAT Institute’s Rivers of Solidarity Certificate Program. She currently provides clinical somatic-based expressive arts therapies to children in care of Child and Family Services in Winnipeg. She also offers movement-based expressive arts therapy groups for women in Winnipeg.
Tatum Albert, Indigenous Practicum Support
BISW, BEd, MSW
Tatum is a cree/michif/polish woman from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Her family originates from the Red River Settlement and Turtle Mountains, moving into Batoche, Saskatchewan. Tatum graduated with a Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work in 2001. She received a Bachelor of Education with honors from the University of Saskatchewan-SUNTEP program in 2018 and a Master’s in Social Work in 2020 from the University of Regina. Tatum has worked in the social work field in various capacities with children and families in social work/indigenous social work in preventative services and educational settings as a community development and counselor and First Nations Metis Consultant focusing on Trauma Informed Practice in the classroom. Tatum has taught Indigenous Studies, English, Social Studies, and Art Education in Secondary schools. She is currently an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University and a sessional lecturer at First Nations University of Canada. Tatum incorporates Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing into curriculum and classrooms through the land, social justice, and expressive art practices in secondary subjects and Indigenous social work practice.