We will be hosting our annual BCATA Conference on October 18th and October 19th.

Join us on October 18th for our Evening Social event, which is followed by our Annual Conference on October 19th.

 

Date: October 18-19th, 2024.

Times: 1) Evening Social – 5:00pm-9:00pm. 2) Full-day Conference – 10:00am-5:00pm.

Location: Adler University 520 Seymour Street Vancouver, BC V6B 3J5

 

We offer two packages for the conference:

Package One – Full-Day Conference. This includes attendance to both the Evening Social and Full-day Conference. Lunch will be included from Salmon n’ Bannock, a local Indigenous restaurant.

• Cost: Members – $150.00 — Non-Members – $175.00 — Students: $100.00

Package Two – Conference Only. This ticket only includes the Full-Day Conference and lunch from Salmon n’ Bannock, a local Indigenous restaurant. DOES NOT include the Evening Social.

• Cost: Members – $100.00 — Non-Members – $125.00 — Students: $50.00

Register for Package One – Full Day Conference.  Members must include Membership Number when registering.

• Members $150.00 
• Non-Members  $175.00
• Students: $100.00

   

 

Register for Package Two – Conference Only. Members must include Membership Number when registering.

• Members $100.00 
• Non-Members  $125.00 
• Students: $50.00

​Marco Esccer

Workshop Title: Integrating Dance Movement Therapy Principles in Art Therapy Processes: Enhancing Wellbeing through Embodied Expression

Workshop Overview:

In this workshop, Marco Esccer will introduce participants to the principles of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) and their application in enhancing art therapy processes. With a unique blend of technical dance expertise and therapeutic practice, Marco will guide attendees through an experiential exploration of how movement and creativity can synergize to foster holistic wellbeing.

About the Facilitator:

Marco Esccer is a versatile queer Mexican dance artist, writer, and Dance Movement Therapist. His extensive background spans both technical and therapeutic aspects of dance, and he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Ballet from Mexico City’s National Ballet and Contemporary School. Marco’s diverse certifications include Research, Experimentation, Contemporary Art Production, Dance Movement Therapy, and he is currently training in Somatic Experiencing by Peter Levine. Marco’s recent work has been performed with various prestigious organizations, reflecting his commitment to exploring the intersections of art, movement, and therapy. As an embodiment facilitator, he creates spaces that promote awareness of motion, feelings, and thoughts, believing in the power of art and movement to enhance our humanity and connect us with creativity, each other, and our environment. Currently serving as Communications & Programs Coordinator at New Works and Artist in Residence at the Roundhouse for 2023-24, Marco is dedicated to using art as a bridge or compassion and understanding, finding common threads between cultures and fostering a deeper connection to our shared humanity.

Workshop Title: Knowledge Mobilization: Where research meets creativity

Workshop Overview:

Knowledge Mobilization (KM) is a process connecting research findings with the people and organizations moving evidence-based practices, programs and policies from ideas to action. Historically, knowledge mobilization efforts tend to begin near the end of a project and findings are shared via insular academic communities through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. This model of knowledge exchange excludes other potential beneficiaries, often in community settings or the public, from engaging with evidence-based resources. In Canada, there is a growing movement by funding agencies to embed knowledge mobilization across the research continuum, making knowledge mobilization plans explicit from the proposal to the sustainability of resources developed beyond completion. This process aims to bridge the research-practice gap and aims to democratize research findings by encouraging researchers to reflect on questions: “who could benefit from this research?”; “which audience(s) will be involved?”; “when and how will each audience be engaged and how does this shape the project?”; and “what is the best way to communicate with each audience?”. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and community partnerships, research teams are becoming more diverse, including and amplifying voices often left out of the research process. Knowledge mobilization could also be described as transforming study findings into human-centric, evidence-based stories presented in the most compelling medium for the target audience to inspire change. This presentation explores how art therapists are well positioned to contribute to research teams by applying their interdisciplinary lenses to the development and production of engaging evidence-based knowledge mobilization resources and tools.

By attending this session, participants will be able to:

– define knowledge mobilization (KM)

– summarize current KM approaches in Canada

– identify skills as an art therapist applicable to roles on research teams

– access resources to learn more about KM

About the Facilitator:

Cari Randa-Beaulieu, Provincial Coordinator, Knowledge Mobilization at the Alzheimer Society of B.C., is a Certified Professional Gerontologist and Vancouver Art Therapy Institute-trained Art Therapist. In her previous role as DemSCAPE Project Manager, she worked with teams across the province to identify physical and social barriers within neighbourhoods that can be addressed by adopting dementia-inclusive planning and design guidelines for policy-makers, decision-makers and the public along with a short documentary video. Cari has honed her skills for connecting with diverse collaborators in community, health care, and academic settings. She largely attributes finding her niche in knowledge mobilization to her years as an art therapist in long-term care, where she practiced building relationships with people living with dementia by communicating creatively to learn about their life stories.

Shauna Kaendo

Workshop Title: Bilateral Drawing Workshop

Workshop Overview:

Bilateral Drawing is a form of bilateral stimulation …it lights up both hemispheres of our brains. It is a process that allows us to connect our (whole) brain and body

through rhythm, repetition, and making marks with both hands. 

For this hour together, we will meander into this process as a thing that we can do to attend to our frazzled nervous systems (and weary hearts), in a bonkers world. As a sensory and somatic-rooted practice that we can build (in community and/or alone) that helps us to be more self aware …more attuned with our bodies, and our lived experiences IN our bodies. 

I’ll share some prompts, and ramblings …we’ll draw together, and start to imagine building a PRACTICE of noticing, of repetition, of sensory experience. Noticing shape, colour, texture. Getting curious about pace, pressure, tension… movement. We will start to get a FEEL for how we can rest in movement, and make a habit of bringing our bodies into the conversation of our well-being. 

About the Facilitator:

Shauna Kaendo, Art Therapist | BFA, RCAT Art therapist in Victoria BC – located on the unceded ancestral territories of the Lekwungen speaking people, Songhees, Esquimalt & Wsanec nations. I AM ACTIVELY LEARNING how to show up better. And maybe you’d like to come bumble along with me. My workshops are rooted in building and maintaining CREATIVE CARE PRACTICES …practicing creative curiosity …a curiosity that we can feel and carry around in our bodies. That affects how we show up in the world, and in (all of) our roles and relationships. 

Gretchen Ladd

 

Workshop Title: Rooted: Bringing Local Plants into the Creative Process

Workshop Overview:

This workshop provides an introduction to integrating plants into the art therapy practice. We will explore the benefits of plants as art materials, healing elements and an opportunity to build reciprocal relationships with the land we live on. We will look at examples of plants in mixed media projects as well as elements of the mindful harvest.Participants will have the opportunity to learn how to make their own cordage and incorporate additional elements to create a healing talisman. Resources for ongoing learning will be shared and encouraged.

About the Facilitator:

Gretchen Ladd RCC-ACS, RCAT, SEP is an art therapist and counsellor who has provided mental health support and wellness programs to diverse communities for over twenty-five years. She works with adults in her private practice as therapist, workshop facilitator and clinical supervisor. Gretchen also shares her love of art therapy through teaching in local programs and with communities abroad. Her current interests are story telling through weaving and growing and listening to plants.