All Categories - Art Therapy on Hudson

INNOCENT KNOWLEDGE

3/4/2026

https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-01-29/innocent-knowledge-exhibition-simmons-center

I am very proud to have contributed an essay to this project about art therapy for children caught within war zones. This beautiful exhibition is just ending at Brown University in Providence and will next be displayed at the Rhode Island School of Design in early April. There will be a one day conference which I will be part of on April 4th.

Photo by Jascha Silberstein

EMBODIED ART THERAPY WORKSHOPS

6/12/2024

This spring has been busy in the Art Therapy on Hudson studio in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY with the return
of group art therapy. This time around it has been Embodied Methods in Art Therapy intensive workshops for art therapists and other clinicians. One each in April, May, and June - these workshops covered body-based methods and full body engagement as well as more cognitive methods using trauma narratives.

I'm currently running an online group every Sunday evening in June if you care to join. There will also be a full day body mapping and chakra toning workshop on June 29 at music therapist Katie Down's farm in Marlboro, NY. Contact me for details.

Each in-person workshop was well attended, interesting, and a fruitful experience for all. Here are a few photos of our process together.

We engaged in a chakra meditation and mandala making, exercises in Guided Drawing (Elbrecht, 2018), Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy (Rappaport, 2009), and The Four Quadrants Drawing from Somatic Art Therapy (Hamel, 2023) as well as a Polarity Therapy (Sills, 2001) inspired full-body mapping protocol that I have been developing as part of my doctoral studies.

Reiki/Chakra meditation mandala

Internal body mapping from Guided Drawing

Focusing Oriented Art Therapy drawing of hand pain

Four Quadrants Drawing of foot injury

Polarity Drawing - Full body internal mapping

Early Spring Happenings in 2024

2/27/2024

CATWALK ART RESIDENCY 2024
For the month of my 65th birthday I was invited back to the Catwalk Artists Residency in Catskill, NY. What a way to celebrate! I shared the beautiful Catslair House with my fellow editors Valeria Koutmina and Kelley Linhardt. We spent the month working on The Embodied Art Therapist - a 25 chapter compilation for art therapists, educators, and students which will be published in Spring 2026. Every morning sitting over the Hudson River at my desk, watching the barges passing below my window on their way toward Albany and Hudson River School painter Frederic Church's mansion Olana across the river in Hudson, NY.

We met with authors, organized chapters, did a lot of writing, cooking, communing with animals, and walking in the woods and by the river. Thank you to Sheila, Victoria and Charles for caring for us so well and to the late Purcell Palmer for her generosity and her vision of supporting artists and their creative process.

EMBODIED ART THERAPY WORKSHOPS FOR 2024
Beginning in April 2024

Workshop Schedule
Music toning anf Full-Body Polarity Drawing Workshop
Late June -details to be determined

Online Arts-Based Embodiment Methods
5 Sundays June 2-30, 5:00 to 7:00 pm
Via Zoom $75 each or $325 for all
Supplies not included (list provided)

Arts-Based Embodiment Methods Intensive Workshops
Choose one date
Sat 5/4 10:00 - 1:30 pm - full
Sat 6/8. still room for one more
465 Broadway, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
$280 each – supplies included

About Mia de Bethune
Mia has been an art therapist since 2003 with a history of working in residential treatment, trauma, and hospice care. She is on faculty at NYU in the Graduate Art Therapy program. She has been a reiki practitioner since 1998 and is a master in three lineages. She began somatic studies in 2017 and is now a practitioner and assistant trainer in Somatic Experiencing and Integral Somatic Psychology. She is also trained in Inner Relationship Focusing and Somatic Meditation and has begun studies in Polarity Therapy. She has also trained in various body- based art methods: Guided Drawing, Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy, and Somatic Art Therapy. She is developing her own method using polarity techniques and full-body drawing as part of her doctoral studies. She is a co-editor for the volume called The Embodied Art Therapist with an expected
publication or Spring 2026 by Routledge.

About the Workshops
In the Embodied Methods Workshops, Mia will cover numerous techniques from the more sensory and body-based to more symbolic/cognitive. These might include chakra meditations, Guided Drawing, Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy, Somatic Art Therapy, Four-Quadrants Drawing for pain and her own full-body polarity drawing technique combining ideas from her research, Guided Drawing, and Integral Somatic Psychology. The in-person workshops will be conducted on a choice of three Saturdays for an intensive 3.5 hours . The online training will be spread over 5 weeks of 2 hour online sessions.

In the Polarity Drawing workshop participants will focus on a different element (earth, water etc..) and chakra each week and will create a body mapping to explore emotional expansion and growth through the body. The five weeks of sessions - lasting 2 hours each – will be held in- person.

All supplies will be provided for in-person workshops at the Art Therapy on Hudson Studio at 465 Broadway, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. For the online workshops Mia will provide a supply list and suggested vendors. All workshops will be supplemented with handouts and resources for continued training.

Mia is not yet approved as a NY State CEU provider.

Please contact: [email protected] tor 914-584-1820 to register.

The Artist as Presence

10/4/2023

I am delighted to announce the opening of my new show which integrates arts-based research and my interest in embodied art making and energy.

This work will be on view from Oct 5 until Oct 29 at the Upstream Gallery, 8 Main Street, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. The opening is this Sunday 10/8/23 from 2-5 pm. Please drop by.

I will be holding a reiki healing circle with reiki master Alice Shapiro in the space on Friday evening 10/13 from 7-9 pm. Space is limited to 10, so please register with me at [email protected]. Bring water and a comfortable cushion or you can sit in a chair which we have.

Below is a peak at the work.

The Embodied Art Therapist - Conferences

6/4/2023

Lot's of news to report:

I'll be presenting my pilot research "Embodied and Body-Based Methods of Art Therapy" at the 7th Annual Integrated Creative Arts Therapy Conference in Evanston, Illinois on June 10th.

Last month, I attended the US Association of Body Psychotherapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. I presented the same paper to a small but enthusiastic group of body psychotherapists on Friday, May 19th. It was nice to be back in the Bay area and to stay with old friends and new acquaintances.

In October, I'll be back in CA at the American Art Therapy Association Conference to present the same talk. Lots of opportunities to spread the word about embodied art therapy.
I'll also run a workshop on narrative weaving with my colleague Val Koutmina. This will be in San Diego, from Oct 26-29.

In addition, I've been approved by the Lesley University IRB to begin my research project. The first step has been to run practice focus groups. Thus far I have held two. One in Cambridge, MA with my advisor and a few Expressive Arts Therapy students. The second was in my studio in Hastings with three recent art therapy graduates. Both gave me an opportunity to get the hang of managing a focus group and to anticipate problems with the video camera as well as the art-making process with a small group.

The research will involve focus groups with art therapists to discuss their experiences of
embodiment. There will also be an arts-based component.

Recruitment has begun for the actual sample participants. If you have an interest and are an art therapist with 5 years of practice in the field you can access the volunteer survey through this QR code:

Dissertation Research

The Embodied Art Therapist - Book Project

The final news is that the book project The Embodied Art Therapist has been accepted unanimously by the Routledge editorial team. My fellow editors, Kelley Linhardt and Val Koutmina, and I are excited and busy gathering a team of wonderful art therapists to write for this volume which we feel will make a tremendous contribution to art therapy. Expected publication is June 2026.

Somatic Art Therapy Groups

4/13/2023

SOMATIC ART THERAPY GROUPS – IN-PERSON & ONLINE

IN-PERSON GROUPS in Hastings, NY:
THURSDAYS 10 to 12:30 pm
4/20, 4/27, 5/4, 5/11, 5/25

SATURDAY 5/13 10 to 2:00 pm
or SUNDAY 6/25 10 to 2:00 pm
(Clinicians only)

ONLINE GROUPS:
MONDAY 6 TO 7:30 pm EST
4/17, 4/24, 5/1 , 5/15
(Clinicians only)

TUESDAY 7:30 TO 8:00 pm EST
5/2, 5/16

Explore the possibilities of body-based artmaking whether you are someone looking to expand your creative potential or a clinician wanting to experience embodied methods.

Somatic Experiencing, Focusing, Reiki-informed practices including body mapping and body-based meditations.

For more information and to register please contact:
Mia de Bethune, ATR-BC, LCAT, ISP/SEP
[email protected]

News and Events for 2023

1/9/2023

As a practicing art therapist and art therapy educator, I am sometimes asked to offer my opinions about the field. I've been interviewed a number of times and most recently by Sophia Kalimian, a junior at the Hewitt School in Manhattan. Sophia founded the Arnod Art Club in honor of her art teacher the late Madame Arnod. The mission of the club is to spread kindness and joy through art, provide children with stress-free art experiences and bring awareness to the benefits of creating and sharing art. A most worthy mission.

Below is the link to a recording of our interview together.

hewitt_school_art_therapy_interview.m4a
File Size:	26177 kb
File Type:	m4a

FEBRUARY 2023
In another interview collage artist, curator, and writer, Nancy Egol Nikkal has written about my woven collage work in her blog The Art of Collage. This is in advance of the exhibition DRAWING THE LINE that Nancy curated for The Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY, which will run from February 16th through April 2nd. The opening will be Thursday, February 16th from 6-8 pm

https://www.pelhamartcenter.org/event/drawing-the-line-curated-by-nancy-nikkal-opening-reception/

I am delighted and honored to be able to provide the link to her interview here:
https://artofcollage.wordpress.com/2023/01/10/mia-debethune-the-woven-line/

JUNE 2023
I'm also happy to be presenting my recent pilot research project "Body-Based and Embodied Methods in Art Therapy" at the Institute for Therapy through the Arts, 7th Annual Integrated Creative Arts Therapy Conference. This conference will be in Evanston, IL from June 9th to the 11th. I'll be presenting on Sat June 10th from 10:30-11:30 am. Details to follow.

SPRING-FALL 2023
On the research forefront as a follow-up to the pilot study, I will be conducting more research on embodied methods in art therapy. Recruitment will begin in spring 2023. Details to follow.

I'm also going to revive my gratitude practice One Good Thing Daily and will be sharing it on this website.
More to come on that...

Lot's going on.

New Groups for 2023

1/9/2023

New groups for Embodied Art Therapy Methods are forming.

Embodied Art Therapy Methods for Clinicians - Weekend Intensive
Is scheduled for this coming week on Sat 1/14 and Sun 1/15 from 10 am to 3 pm each day with a 30 min break. Various body-based art therapy methods will be introduced but should not be considered a training certification. Resources will be provided for further study.

This group will be offered online and has room for several more participants.
To register, and receive a supply list and the meeting link please contact me.

A Monthly Embodied Art Therapy Group
Will begin on Monday 1/16 from 6-8 pm via Zoom.
It will be held on the third Monday of each month.

We will explore a different body-based art activity each month.
To register and receive a supply list and the meeting link please contact me.

Monthly ATR Supervision/Embodied Art Therapy Supervision
This group is open to recent graduates seeking credentialing and
art therapy professionals who want supervision with a body-based focus.
It is held on the third Sunday of each month from 6-8 pm.

Enrollment is currently full.

2023: A new year - a fresh perspective

1/9/2023

It seems like an entire decade since before the pandemic and a life lived in a whole different state - both physically and emotionally. I am hopeful for 2023, but it does seem like there is a lot of heavy lifting to do from the emotional and political upheavals of the last few years.

My new year's resolution is to reach out to all of those with whom I lost touch because of the isolation of the pandemic. Part of that resolution was revamping my website and reaching out to you via this platform again.

Here are reasons to be hopeful in 2023:

Though COVID variants are still rampant most people are not getting too sick because of vaccination and boosters. Restaurants and schools are no longer shutting down and the theatre district is back in full swing. I'm not dismissing the real burden on healthcare workers due to the trifecta of COVID, RSV, and the flu, but it does seem this COVID is becoming more endemic and we can move forward.

I hope to begin running groups in my studio in Hastings-on-Hudson sometime in 2023!

Look for an update soon on new group offerings and other events happening for myself and Art Therapy on Hudson.

September 2021 - A new season of healing and change

8/28/2021

It's hard to keep up with blogging and posting when your life is in a tumult and mine certainly has been!
As the trauma therapist in me knows, healing and growing need to take a second seat when steadiness and security are compromised. My family has moved to a new home, finally, after packing up and searching for the better part of a year. We are ready to put our rugs and our roots down; to plant seeds and bulbs in a new garden and orient toward the future. None of this was quite possible as we lived out of boxes and couldn't find the simplest things from toothpaste to vegetable peelers. We are truly blessed with a new home and garden and feel secure enough now to be offering prayers of thanks, as well as healing out to those who are less fortunate whether they be on the border with Mexico or the Afghan people fleeing for safety.

Many things have changed for me in my practice. While I maintain an office in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, I am still seeing clients online until the COVID-19 Delta variant is less of a risk. I have started a PhD program at Lesley University and will be spending much of my time devoted to research of embodiment in art therapy.

If you'd like to schedule an online session in art therapy, Somatic Experiencing, Inner Relationship Focusing, Integral Somatic Psychology or Karuna® Holy Fire® Reiki please contact me: [email protected]