Art Therapy Professor Leads Workshop at International Conference

By: Erik Pedersen, Senior Communications Manager

BALTIMORE – A Notre Dame of Maryland University art therapy professor had the opportunity to share her knowledge on the international stage after serving as co-leader of a workshop at the 16th European Arts Therapies Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Yasmine Awais recently presented “When Memories Diverge: Art Therapies Supervision Across Differences” at the European Consortium for Arts Therapies Education (ECArTE) conference. The biennial conference took place from September 14-17 and welcomed presenters, students and global representatives from across the world, with 24 countries represented.

In their workshop, Awais and co-presenter Daniel Blausey used artmaking to explore the supervisory relationship, with the intent of preparing participants to understand how honest and vulnerable disclosures, supervisory relationship building, and difficult discussions can occur across differences. The content of the workshop was based on a 2021 book co-authored by the pair titled Foundations of Art Therapy Supervision: Creating Common Ground for Supervisees and Supervisors.

“There are so many aspects of the ECArTE conference that enrich my teaching and clinical practice,” Awais said. “The focus around education; the multiple perspectives brought in from different countries and ways of teaching, working, and practice; and the fact that various creative art therapies disciplines  are represented – not only art therapy, but also drama, and music therapy.”

Awais joined NDMU’s Art Therapy Department in August 2022. She is an associate professor and research coordinator for NDMU’s Master of Arts in Art Therapy program, where her responsibilities include working with students to create their final thesis project. NDMU became the first school in the state to offer a master’s degree in art therapy back in 2018.

Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.