Clinical Director, Professor and Supervisor PhD student in psychology, scientific-professional profileM.A., M.Ed., ATR-BC Maria Riccardi is an art therapist, guidance counsellor and psychotherapist. She collaborates in the development of community-based programs for adolescents and adults who are marginalized due to mental and physical health issues, as well as for people living with immigration and poverty-related challenges. She has developed expertise with Canadian military and veterans related to post-traumatic stress disorder. She founded a clinic in Montreal based on the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC), which offers therapeutic, educational and career guidance support to children and families. She is a part-time professor at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, a visiting professor of art therapy at Concordia University, and a faculty member at the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy Institute. She is registered by The American Art Therapy Association (ATR) and certified by The Art Therapy Credential Board (ATR-BC). She is a member and past president of the Quebec Art Therapy Association (AATQ). Her research includes media properties and their role in evaluation.
Collaborator, Trainer and Professor PhD student in psychology, scientific-professional profileM.A. Gabrielle Constance Gingras is an art therapist with a master’s degree from Concordia University, a professional member of the Quebec Art Therapy Association (AATQ), a transformational coach with a creative approach, as well as co-founder of Canevas: Art therapy Centre. Her professional experience in art therapy is primarily in mental health in community settings, as well as in private practice with various neurotypical and neuroatypical populations, young and older. Her focus includes self-esteem, difficult life transitions, burnout and self-care. In recent years, she has developed a passion for professional training to help coaches and therapists gain greater professional strength. Having worked in Quebec and internationally, she has seen that art therapy is a tool that transcends differences and brings us closer to our human values and our potential. She sees art therapy as a process of co-creation through which we can deepen self-knowledge, discover new perspectives, find the right words and images to better express your feelings in order to achieve emotional and psychological well-being as well as to anchor yourself in our power. Her approach aims not only to help clients understand themselves, but also to make concrete changes with awareness in therapeutic context. She works with a humanistic (gestalt) approach that emphasizes the recovery of personal responsibility and the recovery of power over your own life in the here and now, and participatory that emphasizes and respects the richness of lived experiences, and the unique strengths of each.