World
ART THERAPY
Conference
2026

Leading researcher and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario, she is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the neurobiology of trauma.

Her research explores treatment outcomes across both psychotherapeutic and pharmacological approaches, with a particular focus on dissociation, traumatic memory processing, and the restoration of self. Findings from her laboratory are among the most frequently cited in the trauma field and have significantly shaped contemporary clinical understanding and intervention strategies.

Dr. Lanius is also the author and editor of several influential books, including: Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma: Harnessing the Brain’s Capacity for Change (2025), Healing the Traumatized Self: Consciousness, Neuroscience, Treatment, etc.
Her work continues to guide clinicians and researchers worldwide in developing effective, integrative approaches for trauma recovery.

Renowned expressive art therapist and the executive director of the Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute, she works as a consultant to the Department of Defense, and an investigator on a five-year grant with the US Department of Education, integrating trauma-informed expressive arts into classrooms.
A popular presenter and workshop leader, she has given over 700 invited keynotes and workshops throughout the US, Canada, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. She has authored 20 books, including the bestselling Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process and Understanding Children’s Drawings. Her publications have been translated in over 20 languages.

Internationally recognized art therapist and the Founder and Director of the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy. She is an accredited supervisor et professor, professional member of ANZACATA, IEATA, IACAET.
She studied expressive arts therapies at the School for Initiatic Therapy in the Black Forest, Germany and holds degrees in fine arts and arts education along with extensive postgraduate training in Jungian and Gestalt Therapy, Bioenergetics and at the Somatic Experiencing Training Institute (SETI).
Author of numerous books, she runs accredited online courses for art therapists, educators and mental health professionals looking to understand a body focused art therapy approach to trauma therapy.

Carlie (Caroline) Atkinson is a Bundjalung and Yiman woman and an accredited Social Worker with a PhD (Charles Darwin University, 2009). Associate Professor Atkinson is an international leader in complex and intergenerational trauma and culturally informed strengths-based healing approaches in Indigenous Australia. She is the CEO of her family organisation, We Al-li, designing and coordinating the delivery of Culturally Informed Trauma Integrated Healing Approaches (CITIHA) training and resource development for organisations and communities across Australia focusing on systems transformation and implementation and an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne and a Chief Investigator or 6 separate National research projects.  She is also the founder of the Northern Rivers Community Healing Hub, an Indigenous Framework response to the catastrophic floods in the Northern Rivers in 2022.

She pioneered and developed Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy (FOAT®) and Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts Therapy (FOAT®)—approaches grounded in over 40 years of clinical practice with adults, adolescents, children, individuals, families, and groups. She is the author of Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy: Accessing the Body’s Wisdom and Creative Intelligence and Mindfulness and the Arts Therapies: Theory and Practice, and numerous book chapters.  Her work is included as foundational approaches in Judith Rubin’s Approaches to Art Therapy (3rd edition), and Cathy Malchiodi’s Handbook of Expressive Arts Therapy.
Dr. Rappaport has served on the faculty of Lesley University’s Expressive Therapies Division for over 40 years, and has also taught at Notre Dame de Namur University and Sonoma State University.  She is the Founder/Director of the Focusing and Expressive Arts (FOAT) Institute,  offering training programs in the U.S., Guatemala, Hong Kong, Japan, and other countries. Dr. Rappaport is also  Certifying Coordinator, Focusing-Oriented Therapist, and Trainer with The International Focusing Institute in New York. 

Dance-movement psychotherapist and the creator of the Somatic Body Mapping (SBM) method, which integrates movement, authentic embodiment, and somatic trauma work. Trained at the Laban Centre in London, she has worked internationally since 1998 across private practice, NHS psychiatric wards, specialist educational settings, and women’s rights and maternity-home organisations in the UK, Kenya, and Pakistan. She also established a graduate training course in Dance Movement Therapy at Makerere University in Uganda and co-founded the Kenya-based collective Art2Be, focusing on marginalised communities and creative-arts interventions.
Annette is a registered practitioner with the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy (ADMP UK) and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). Her practice emphasises care, openness, and respect for each person’s unique journey, viewing symptoms not as obstacles but as gateways to growth and wholeness.

As a licensed art therapist and counselor in Maryland, USA, she has been professionally working within disability-serving settings for thirty years, including decades within non-public special education settings, Kennedy Krieger Institute Schools and St. Elizabeth School. In 2010, Cathy joined two professional colleagues, Dr. Jill Scheibler, LCPAT, and Stefan Bauschmid, in founding Make Studio, a non-profit, progressive art studio for adult artists with disabilities. As Associate Director, Artist Services and Outreach Coordinator, Cathy directs art therapy services within the organization, responds to studio artist and associated team needs, and maintains community partnerships that provide artists with impactful career development opportunities.
Cathy is also the Founding Director, now Chair, Undergraduate Program Director, and Field Coordinator, for the art therapy programs at Notre Dame of Maryland University (2018).  The department includes an undergraduate major in art therapy and a CAAHEP accredited MA in Art Therapy graduate training program.  The graduate program, the only in Maryland, has over thirty licensed art therapist alums to date and prepares clinicians to give back to and meaningfully serve their communities through delivery of culturally attuned, social justice forward, inclusive practices.