Program Name: Expressive Art Therapy
RAC: CUMAC
Organization name: Aspire NJ
Person of Contact: Davida Hunter
Davida Hunter was a longtime school counselor about to start Expressive Art Therapy, a program for children, when the pandemic disrupted her plans. What she found was that during COVID, while it was easy enough to provide online therapy, she was finding it difficult to keep the attention of the children with which she worked.
To address this, Davida and her coworker, a former art teacher who became certified as a mental health clinician, came up with the idea of delivering art packages to their young clients. From there, their journey into expressive art therapy began. Initially, the duo would send art supplies on a weekly basis for the children’s activities but soon realized that it wasn’t efficient. Materials couldn’t always be delivered on time for that week, which would result in the therapy sessions being incomplete.
Instead, they opted to send all the materials at once and use what was needed for each session of the 14-week program. Almost at once, the program grew from 5 clients to 12 and began to flourish. Today, Expressive Art Therapy is impacting youth lives across Bergen County and Newark, in four different locations. In fact, this past summer, the first Expressive Art Therapy Summer Camp was offered for children ages 12-18 in Bergen County, and it was so popular that there was a waitlist. Modeled on a successful school art therapy program in the region, campers were taught about mindfulness practices, which were combined with art therapy, so that children had weekly art projects based on specific topics.
But she didn’t stop at art therapy! Davida’s passion spread to in-person yoga therapy sessions for children from as young as infants to the age of 21. While today, most of the program has reverted to in-person sessions, teens who are over the age of 14 still have the option of telehealth, the way that it all started for Davida in 2020.
When asked what her proudest moment was, Davida was taken aback. She said, “I don’t think I’ve stopped to do that kind of reflection. To think, what was my proudest moment.” However, she does admit that overall, what brings her the most pride is when children and their families that have gotten the chance to partake in the program come back to her and tell her how significant of an impact it’s had on their lives and how they’ve learned to deal with daily stressors and the adversities of life meaningfully and effectively.
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