A Word About Our Conference Keynote Speaker
When an email from Dr. Lisa Hinz revealed itself in my inbox this past summer, I had little idea what would transpire of it for our Creative Arts Therapy community. Following her words line by line, I felt more compelled with each to present to her ITA’s conference keynote opportunity. We had not met in person, but her language patterns struck a heavy chord of acquaintance – I was familiar with Dr. Hinz’s work on the Expressive Therapies Continuum. The Continuum is vital to my work as an Art therapist and serves as the underlying theory by which I have come to understand the therapeutic arts, the intervention process, and creativity. Hinz’s work severely transformed and encouraged elasticity in my thinking while in graduate school, and it has proven to be a relentless tool in deepening my approach to my clients. Let me attempt to give a brief explanation of this work body’s value.
From a history of separate creative arts fields (art, music, dance, and drama), Dr. Hinz proposes a merged structure of creativity within the human body and mind. This structure can be translated into each of the 4 creative arts professions at once. She describes three levels of creative processes that begin with a basic human instinct of sensory and kinesthetic needs, and ultimately increase to levels of perception or affection and cognition or symbolism. She addresses the way the brain takes in information, experiences that information, and categorizes or processes that information. She suggests that art, in each form, has the power to address a particular concern by being molded to lead the client to a particular brain response.
Now, you may ask why or how the aforesaid is relevant… Imagine a client arrives to ITA. This client has struggled with emotional outbursts towards authority, such as teachers and parents. An ITA therapist can respond to the client with art material, such as musical rhythm or dramatic movement, that tapers to those struggles. With the aid of art, the therapist is capable of eliciting an emotional response within the pinpointed portion of the brain. The art introduces the client to a newly-discovered cognitive (thought) response that allows easier access to expression and language form. In essence, the client learns how to move from their original emotional response to a newfound thoughtful response.
This is just one example of how Hinz advises the creative arts therapies can be used.
The ingenuine beauty of Dr. Hinz’s theory is its flexibility, its range of application, and its underlying scientific support. Are you are seeking the chance to dig down within therapeutic arts process and sharpen your clinical approach? This year’s keynote presentation is for you. Practitioners, students, academics, and beyond, please join me in welcoming Dr. Lisa Hinz to ITA’s 3rd Annual Integrated Creative Arts Therapy Conference.
Dr. Lisa Hinz will be delivering her keynote speech on Friday afternoon and conducting a limited-seating workshop on Saturday morning.