On October 18-19, 2012, Northeastern Illinois University, held it's annual Art in Response to Violence Conference at NIU. Two representatives from IATA , Laura Ebach and Melissa Hedlund, attended the conference on Friday, October 19th, to provide a safe space for participants to create artwork in response to the conference. The pair set up a comfortable and safe environment in one of the art rooms at NIU for attendees to express what they needed through paints, oil pastels and chalk pastels.

On Friday, February 24th, 2012, IATA held a special program with Bruce Moon, For the Love of Resistance: Why Art Therapy is Essential for Adolescents. The program was held from 1pm-4pm at our partner organization, The Fulton Street Collective, in Chicago, IL.   Attendees included art therapists, students and allied professionals, who explored responsive art making in adolescent art therapy (Moon, 1998), typical metaphoric themes adolescents embody (Moon, 2007; Rinsley, 1980) and the process of reframing therapeutic quandaries as performance artworks (Moon, 1998). Continuing Education units were offered from the Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association for LPCs and LCPCs. Additionally, the workshop was captured on film which will become a part of IATA Archives. It was a beautiful workshop and very well received.

 Prepared by: Melissa Hedlund, MCAT, LCPC, ATR-BC