Art Therapy & Self-Compassion

Mindful Self-Compassion is the act of embracing ourselves with care and concern in the midst of our life challenges. This session will offer mindfulness-based art therapy resources for the cultivation of self-care and self-empowerment.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS // Patricia D. Isis, Ph.D., LMHC-QS, ATR-BC, ATCS

Patricia Isis holds a Ph.D in the expressive therapies with an emphasis on art therapy. Dr. Isis is a licensed mental health counselor and qualified supervisor in Florida and a registered board certified art therapist and credentialed supervisor. Patricia became a Certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher in 2017 She facilitates mindful self-compassion classes, and mindfulness trainings as well as providing direct services in the public schools and private practice. More information is available on her website www.MiamiArtTherapy.com.

Christianne Strang is a board-certified art therapist with 25 years of clinical art therapy experience. She earned her M.A. in Art Therapy from Vermont College of Norwich University in 1987, and has served as treasurer for the American Art Therapy Association and for the Art Therapy Credentials Board. In July 2015 she took office as the President-Elect of the American Art Therapy Association.

Dr. Strang received her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2004, followed by a position as a Research Associate in the lab of Dr. Kent Keyser. She joined the faculty of the Department of Vision Sciences at UAB in May 2011. Dr. Strang’s primary research focus is the study of the expression patterns and physiological roles of nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in the retina. Her work uses RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescence microscopy to identify the complement of AChR mRNA transcripts and proteins in the mammalian retina, and patch clamp electrophysiology to characterize the effects of AChR activation on basic retinal processing.

Recently Dr. Strang has begun extending her research towards increased clinical relevance using molecular, imaging, and electrophysiological techniques to characterize the pathophysiological changes in the retinas of transgenic mice that serve as a model for Alzheimer’s disease. She is actively involved in the didactic and laboratory training of students in the Departments of Vision Sciences, Psychology, and Neurobiology, and received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in March of 2015. She is co-course director for the UAB introductory undergraduate and graduate introductory neurobiology courses held at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.