art therapy buffalo | The Art Therapist's Guide to Social Media

Art Therapists on the Grid: Art Therapy Meets Social Media Conversations is a weekly interview series this summer featuring a variety of art therapists and how they use the power of the Internet and social media in relationship to sharing their work with others, professional development, nurturing creativity, cultivating community and more.

Last month this series spoke with Rachel Sikorski, one of the founding members of Art Therapy Buffalo about some of the efforts of this professional group for art therapists in the Buffalo and Niagara, New York region – including how their web presence has been helpful to supporting their mission. This week’s chat features an interview that took place virtually during one of community’s monthly meet ups where members of Art Therapy Buffalo were able to add their own experiences. Their meeting was held at the ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery for Contemporary Art, where the group has had an exhibit on display since early June to “respond to the current economic-social-political climate, and how this has impacted art therapists both personally and professionally, as they use art to help clients of all ages who may be struggling with hopelessness, fear, and anxiety as it relates to changes in leadership and policy, on a personal and collective level.”

This conversation features Rachel, Teresa Weston, Carla Reeves, Michelle Price, Sandie Crocker, Karie Schwartz, Katie Mullaney, Madonna Adymy, Andrea Koch, and Lisa Horlein who share more about their work and how the community of Art Therapy Buffalo has helped decrease a sense of isolation, foster support, and awareness about art therapy. You can also le arn additional information about the art therapy work of the entire Art Therapy Buffalo team here.

A few of the topics discussed in this chat include:

How community building and networking benefits art therapists
The role social media can play in outreach efforts
Exhibits as a form of advocacy and awareness about art therapy and a voice during times of change & uncertainty

Listen to the meet up below!

If you are interested in connecting with the Art Therapy Buffalo community to learn more about art therapy, obtain services in Western New York, or network with art therapists in this area, please visit arttherapybuffalo.com.

Resources mentioned in our conversation:

Spending time to virtually meet up with the art therapists of Art Therapy Buffalo was great— thank you to everyone who was able to attend and chat about their experiences!

This entire series and all the art therapists who have contributed about how they have leveraged and navigated the Internet and social media has been inspiring to share. Many of the conversations have had crossover themes and topics, but at the same time uniquely different reflections, resources, and experiences. A top ten summary of content inspired by this series can be read here. Thank you for listening and tuning in!

This week’s topic focuses on the value of community for art therapists and the role social media can play in strengthening a sense of belonging, decrease isolation, provide support, and educate others about art therapy. Chapter 4 of The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media is completely dedicated to exploring this subject. One of the categories that digital communities can focus on is related to geographic area and serving a specific location.

“Many professionally driven regional art therapy groups use social media to enhance their group’s capacity building, local efforts, and the group’s overall mission while joining art therapists together who share a mutual geographic locality. Many state art therapy chapters and academic programs have organized communities in the form of digital groups for its members, students, or alumni. An example of a growing community leveraging the power of social media to mobilize engagement, advocacy, support, and advance the art therapy profession in their area is Art Therapy Buffalo. This group of art therapists serving the Buffalo and Western New York areas use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to not only promote art therapy, but bring art therapists together in these vicinities for professional connection, art-making, and exchanging of ideas, both on and offline.”

The group’s online presence inspired inviting one of the founders of Art Therapy Buffalo for a chat in this series to speak more about the beginnings of their community, how social media has been helpful, challenges encountered, and ways art therapists can learn from the group’s experiences and efforts.

Rachel Sikorski, LCAT, ATR-BC is a New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist and nationally registered board-certified art therapist. She earned her Master’s degree in Art Therapy from Nazareth College in Rochester, and her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Canisius College in Buffalo.

She currently maintains a full-time private practice in the heart of the city of Buffalo and is a founding member and webmaster of Art Therapy Buffalo, whose mission is to advocate for increased awareness and access to professional art therapy services in the Buffalo-Niagara communities of Western New York. The members of Art Therapy Buffalo gather monthly to make art for self-care, network, and plan for community education and advocacy activities. Rachel also serves as Social Media Marketing Secretary on the board of the Western New York Art Therapy Association (WNYATA).

Listen to our conversation here:

“We really felt this need to connect- who else is out there working in Buffalo that we don’t know… We shouldn’t be all disconnected from one another- we can band together. This will be good for the field, it will be good for each of us…who knows what we could do.” ~Rachel Sikorski, Art Therapy Buffalo

Learn more about Art Therapy Buffalo and connect to the community online here:

Other links & resources mentioned in our conversation:

Hope and Fear: Using Art Therapy to Cope in Times of Transition Exhibit-Art therapists respond to the current economic-social-political climate, and how this has impacted them both personally and professionally, as they use art to help clients of all ages who may be struggling with hopelessness, fear, and anxiety as it relates to changes in leadership and policy, on a personal and collective level. On display until July 28 at The ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery for Contemporary Art, Buffalo, NY.
The American Art Therapy Association
Art Therapy Alliance

Many thanks to Rachel for this awesome chat! At the end of this series, another conversation is planned with Rachel and members of Art Therapy Buffalo to further our discussion on this topic–Stay connected for more about this… A new art therapist interview will go live next week!

Previous Interviews: