TATI 2022-2023 Graduation

TATI 2022-2023 Graduation

Toronto Art Therapy Institute’s 2022-2023 Graduation took place on June 26 at the Women’s Art Association of Canada. It is an extra special time of connection and celebration as our first in-person graduation since 2019! Congratulations to the graduates!

Special congratulations to the research award recipients – pictured below with award presenter and TATI board member Donna Betts:

Gilda Grossman Award for Major Project:

Allison Dunphy (below left) – Navigating Eight Common Client Challenges in Art Psychotherapy Practice: A Resource Handbook for Novice Art Therapy Students

Dr. Martin Fischer Prize for Thesis:

Madelaine Tripp (below right) – A Mother’s Daughter: An Arts-based Heuristic Self-search Inquiry into the Experience of an Intergenerational Eating Disorder

Much gratitude to everyone who made this event possible:

Planning Committee: April Penny, Cynthia Morin, Sharona Bookbinder, Erin Kuri, Sharlene Friedman, Susan Beniston, Anand Jaggernauth, Ruth Luginbuehl, Kristina Borg, David Boudreau, Jesse Pajuäär, Mike, Jordan

Special Guest: Kai Cheng Thom

Independent Award Adjudicator: Mary Norton

Kado: María Teresa Hernandez, Suzanne Thomson

Decor and Eco-Art Images: April Penny

Photography: Jesse Pajuäär

Special thanks to the TATI Board of Directors, and Debbie Anderson (chair of the board) and Donna Betts (board member) for joining us in celebration!

A message from faculty member, Suzanne Thomson, to the graduates:

What joy … to join all of you from afar… where the sea, land, and sky converge … taking a moment to pause … holding you in my heart’s awareness as you cross this threshold … honouring and celebrating your graduation from TATI … each of you has an extraordinary story to share that brought you here to this moment …. everyone’s journey is unique … tapping into the story of a long arc … connecting to ancestors known and unknown along with future descendants yet to be … in this potent transitional space we pause honouring each and every one of you … who you are and who you are becoming … it took such commitment to walk this journey … in so many ways beyond what we can imagine … our school called TATI is a place of ongoing learning and unlearning together … where every interaction is an opportunity to create possibilities for care and awareness for ALL to thrive … you were my teachers as well as those who came before us … humbling how every moment is an opportunity to create anew … we chose the arts … what does that say about us … we chose healing … what are we called to offer ourselves, one another, and the world … we are in such a pivotal time and here we arrive finding new ways to gather … interrupting ways that are familiar … this gives me so much hope … the seeds you have already nourished in your walk is far beyond my wildest imagination as you are the next generation along the long arc … what is the wondrous mystery we are living into and practicing with to be here now … what does it speak to who you are? … what are you deeply called to live into and bring forth in this sweet precious life …

You are the light of the distant stars casting a way forward … shine on oh brilliant ones!

Big love and gratitude to all of you for the transformative gift of joining you on the journey …

Suzanne