Steering Committee

Steering Committee Members

Steering Committee members volunteer their time to co-chair one of the Portland Creative Arts Therapies Association’s three subcommittees. Feel free to contact them about joining a subcommittee. Address other inquiries to info@catapdx.org.

 

Kristine Bella (MA, ATR-BC, CADC1) is the co-founder of Free Arts NW and a founding member of Portland’s Creative Arts Therapies Association. She graduated with an MA in Art Therapy from Marylhurst College in 1997 and is a Nationally Board Certified Art Therapist and a community leader. She has worked as an individual and family therapist with high risk adolescents since 1996 in outpatient, day, and secure residential treatment. Kristine is involved in substance abuse prevention at local and state levels and has established several metro area teen recovery groups and coalitions. She is dedicated to making a positive difference for youth.

Tamara_GilbertTamara Gilbert (MA) is an expressive arts facilitator and communications consultant. After graduating from Brown University, Tamara Gilbert earned her MA in Dance Ethnology from UCLA. Multi-talented, she has taught movement to adults and children for over 20 years in Los Angeles, San Jose and Jakarta and has won numerous awards for her creative work in the field of environmental communications. Tamara is a graduate of the Tamalpa Institute. As a teacher of the Tamalpa Life/Art process, Tamara uses the holistic approach of expressive arts to help others tap into their creativity and learn more about their bodies, their feelings, and their relationships to others and their environment. She currently serves on West Linn’s Sustainability Advisory Board and supports communications for the Portland Creative Arts Therapies Association.

Pat JenkinsPat Jenkins (MA) has been an artist all her life and a professional art therapist since 1997. Says Pat, I make art because it keeps me alive. Pat earned her Bachelor of fine Arts Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University with Fiber Arts as her major. At Southwestern College in Santa Fe, NM Pat earned her Master’s Degree in Art Therapy. She has worked with clients age 2 to age 86 in community mental health programs, public and private schools, prisons, therapeutic classrooms, day programs, health clinics as well as her own private practice and art therapy workshops – Art and Soul Transformational Art Therapy. As one of the founding members of Portland’s Creative Arts Therapies Association, Pat thrives on the creative process of working in community and has a special interest in promoting the creative arts therapies in health care.

Carolyn_JohnsonCarolyn Johnson (MA, BC-DMT, NCC) has been working as a dance-movement therapist for over 26 years. She currently is the group therapist on the Adult Psychiatric Unit at Providence Portland Medical Center and offers dance-movement therapy supervision in her private practice. She has presented DMT workshops in the U.S. and Japan and has incorporated art, music, poetry, yoga and mindfulness approaches into her work with a variety of populations. She is the Chairperson of the Oregon Dance Therapy Study Group (an informal regional chapter of the American Dance Therapy Association) and is one of the founding members of the Portland Creative Arts Therapies Association.

Molly McDavitt (MA) is an art therapist currently working with children, adolescents, and families who have been affected by trauma. She has worked over the past 8 years in the mental health field in residential treatment, day treatment, public and private schools, and outpatient mental heath settings. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Lewis & Clark College with a Psychology major and Gender Studies minor. She spent time  working with adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system for several years before earning her Master’s Degree in Art Therapy Counseling at Marylhurst University in 2009. She enjoys using art as part of her own processing as a mental health art therapist and enjoys exploring the other creative arts therapies.

Diana_MiliaDiana Milia (ATR-BC, LPC) is a board certified registered art therapist who has written a published book and several book and film reviews. She has extensive experience working with children in New York City. Diana has done teaching, private consulting, and supervision for mental health practitioners and has a private practice in Oregon
City.
 

Yael Schweitzer (LCSW, BC-DMT) is a licensed clinical social worker, Board Certified Movement Therapist, an instructor of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and co-developer of the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program. She has a private practice providing Mindfulness-Based Therapy for individuals and couples with a focus on expression of emotions in the body and ways to access inner wisdom through the body. Yael offers trainings for therapists and healthcare providers and teaches Mindfulness in medical and educational settings. Since 2005 she has been leading an ongoing Creative Dance group based on Barbara Mettler’s approach. Yael has over 25 years of experience as a therapist and she is a founding member of the Portland Creative Arts Therapies Association.


Jodi_WinnwalkerJodi Winnwalker (LCSW, MT-BC, FAMI) is the founder and CEO of Earthtones Music Therapy Services, LLC and the executive director of Weaver’s Tale Retreat, Inc. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Board Certified Music Therapist, Jodi has thirty years of experience providing music therapy programs in the Northwest. Jodi served as a full time faculty member at Marylhurst University (2001-2004) and continues her relationship as a guest instructor and supervisor for the growing music therapy program. She is a Fellow of the American Association for Music and Imagery, an officer for the Oregon Association of Music Therapy and the Creative Arts Therapies Association of Oregon. Jodi also plays in ZIMBA!, a local all-woman marimba band.