Art as a Mental Health Tool: Women in the Arts Network

Dr. Dafna Rehavia, artist and art therapist, and Alycia Washington, artist and social worker, will answer these questions during our next Women in the Arts Network virtual meet-up. Dafna and Alycia will discuss their journeys both as artists and as mental health professionals, and how these two roles overlap.

During this meetup, you’ll learn:

The difference between the clinical use of art in therapy and the less formal facilitation of art as therapy for groups and individuals.
Key elements vital in using art as a therapeutic tool.
Ideas for creating a pathway between your art practice and mental health.

Participants are encouraged to bring simple art materials (watercolors, modeling clay, color pencils) to explore their own creativity during the event.

Your ticket fee helps the Arts Council to offset the cost of any guest speakers and artists for this event. We appreciate your support of our arts community!

Meet the Presenters:

Dr. Dafna Rehavia
Dr. Dafna Rehavia is a mixed media artist, a Licensed Professional Counselor, Board certified Art-Psychotherapist, and a Sand Play Therapist. She completed her Ph.D. in Therapeutic Arts, Psychology and Social Cultural Studies in Derby University, UK. Her research explores the disciplinary understanding of anorexia nervosa through art therapy and psychiatric discourse from a feminist perspective. Through the years, she specialized in trauma and loss and applying artistic means to explore them.

Dr. Rehavia has been a clinical therapist since 1994. She immigrated to Pittsburgh from Tel Aviv in 2003 and has worked in major medical centers, schools, community centers, and private practice in Israel and the US. Dr. Rehavia has exhibited in solo, and group shows nationally and internationally. She was awarded the Chelsea International Fine Art Award at Agora Gallery, New York. Her latest art activities include two art residencies, one in Wurzburg, Germany on trauma and loss and another at BOOM Concepts with her project “Binds & Bonds: Symbolic Somatic Experience.” She also exhibited during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brooklyn, NY in the “Immigrant Artists Biennial.”

Alycia Washington
Alycia Washington is a social worker, spiritual advocate, and an artist who provides informative resources, creativity, and programming to children and families to strengthen their quality of life. She is currently a school social worker at Manchester Academic Charter School in the Pittsburgh, PA.

Art is a major part of her life. Alycia’s business, pAint No Stress, offers collaborative wellness painting, storytelling and education as a form of therapy, especially in the lives of African Americans. pAint No Stress was first featured as a rotating exhibit at Gasoline Street Coffee and DistriktHotel’s Evangeline in 2018. She was also invited to August Wilson’s Birthday Celebration (Apr. 2018) and August Wilson African American Cultural Center’s Summer Block Party (July 2018) in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood, the 2019 Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project’s (PUMP) 40 under 40 silent auction artist, illustrator for Mama Mantras, post-part affirmation card series (February 2020) and artist of art piece on NBC’s “This is Us” in August 2020.

In the future, Alycia hopes to continue reaching people through collaborative art and wellness activities. She also supports her community by serving on the board of Kingsley Association, a participating member of Propel’s Council of Champions, a proud New Leaders Council-Pittsburgh alumna, an active member of GRLPWRPGH, as well as an annual volunteer for Human Services Center Corporation’s HIV/AIDS Walk. Alycia holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Advertising from Duquesne University.