Virtual Art Therapy Offers Support for Better Mental Health
Pennsylvania Western University has a variety of in-person activities across all three of the campuses, from Edinboro campus’s Animation Club Meetings, Clarion campus’s History club meetings, and California campus’s Robotics Club meetings. For all these meetings and events that occur in-person, there are just as many meetings that occur online. The Pennsylvania Western Student Art Therapy Association hold one such event, their biweekly Virtual Art Studios.
These events are a form of art therapy, which is a form of counseling that incorporates the creative process alongside various traditional counseling modalities. The use of the creative process and selection of materials allows for non-verbal expression that exceeds what can be achieved in talk therapy, a form of counseling that involves talking with a trained professional about your thoughts and behaviors. The general goal of art therapy is to achieve better mental and emotional health.
“Open studios are a great place to engage your creativity and do something positive for your mental health,” said Alyssa Rodibaugh, current Vice President of SATA and graduate student majoring in Art Therapy/Counseling. “I have always been interested in therapy and creating artwork. Mental health wasn't regularly talked about in my family growing up, so it was largely a subject that I discovered on my own. I enjoyed all the nuance and complexity that surrounded the subject.”
Art therapy has many benefits on different facets of life, such as a person’s emotional well-being, mental health, cognitive function, and may be used with people experiencing trauma, substance abuse, and or neurodivergence like autism.
“I believe that students of all majors could get something out of attending SATA meetings and studios,” said Annemarie Shankweiler, current student leader for SATA and a second year counseling major with a concentration in art therapy. “Art is a meditative activity in nature and taking some time to oneself to release emotions, engage in introspection, as well as remind oneself about your goals and passion are all great reasons to engage in these online spaces and take some time away from school-related tasks and stress.”
SATA, which organizes and runs all the virtual art studio events with the help of its master’s level students, meets around once a month and often has guest speaker events that are open to all students. The organization is open to all undergraduate and graduate students of any major.
“We focus on building comradery between students, and we engage in one art intervention each meeting,” said Shankweiler. “I like to offer time for general questions and support as most students that attend participate in virtual classes which can be isolating. Students that feel comfortable can share about their artwork if they choose, and we often find common themes in the artwork.”
These virtual art studios run by SATA occur several days a week at varying times throughout the year with a schedule that changes around every four months. Each group leader for these events has a different style when running the session, so each session may have a slightly different experience depending on which group a student attends. Students are encouraged to sign up for these free events through Eventbrite. Sign-ups end one hour before the event, and the studio space may be locked after the first five minutes, so students are encouraged to arrive on time for the event. No artistic training or skill is required for this event.
During the studios, students will be provided with a prompt or prompts to follow; however, students may also work on other art if they would prefer. Working time can vary from between 30 minutes to one-and-a-half-hours. The last 20 to 30 minutes of the session is reserved for sharing artwork (if the participants wish to), building community, discourse, Q&A and feedback. Some form of participation in the studio is required, as it is designed to be an interactive event.
The current studios running for this semester include Art to Express held on Monday, Nov. 25th and Dec. 9th at 8:00 p.m. and Creative Journaling on Friday, Nov. 29th at 8:00 p.m. Studios for the Spring 2025 semester have not been decided yet, but students can check the Pennwest Art Therapy Eventbrite page for updates: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/pennwest-university-art-therapy-program-32201285101
Sheila Lorenzo de la Pena has been the faculty advisor for SATA since she was hired at Pennsylvania Western Edinboro campus in 2019 due to her passion for studio and community building through creative engagement. Lorenzo was originally drawn to art therapy due to the vast need of more mental health support for students, and thus received a master’s in art therapy from Florida State University.
Lorenzo said that before COVID-19, studios of this kind were held on campus at Edinboro, but during COVID-19 the decreased campus presence affected the in-person studios, while online studios received a steady amount of interest.
“Online studios offer access and flexibility for both participants and student leads,” said Lorenzo. “Our student leads tend to be happily surprised that our online studio draws attendees from all over the world. Often having attendees from remote areas where isolation might be an issue (ie. Netherlands, Spain, Canada, the Middle East, several South and Central American countries, etc).”
Rodibaugh said that while open virtual studios increase accessibility to students and non-students, there are some challenges with having studios run by the graduate students in the global online program.
“Art supplies are probably the hardest one,” said Rodibaugh. “Since we don't have access to shared art supplies, it's hard to know what people may show up with. To work with this, we typically plan art interventions that can work with any supplies, so that everyone can participate.”
SATA recommends that students who are interested in joining the organization register as a member on Engage and attend the monthly meetings. If students have any questions, they can email the club at arttherapy@pennwest.edu.
“I'd like to encourage folks that identify as "not an artist" to attend events,” said Shankweiler. “Everyone is creative, and the point of art therapy is not to create "good art", but art that is meaningful to you. Don't be intimidated by the idea of creating art with "artists". Trust me. The art I create in meetings is certainly not going to win any awards. Feel free to show up and have fun.”