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JOIN US FOR THE FIFTH ANNUAL
EXPRESSING PRIDE SYMPOSIUM!
JOIN US FOR THE FIFTH ANNUAL
EXPRESSING PRIDE SYMPOSIUM!
Expressing Pride is a free event for virtual learning, connection, and community building, celebrating the past, present, and future impact of creative arts therapies across LGBTQIA+ communities around the world. 8 Free CECs will be available!
We are a non-profit organization run by volunteers. If you appreciate the work we do and are in a position to donate, please consider contributing via PayPal. This funding goes directly towards paying presenters, funding these events, and our ability to offer CECs for free, keeping continued education and professional enrichment accessible.
Theme
Theme
Queer Disability Justice and Body Liberation in the Arts Therapies
Queer Disability Justice and Body Liberation in the Arts Therapies
This year, we center the intersectional experiences of queer and disabled individuals, highlighting their resilience, creativity, and the unique therapeutic practices that support their well-being. Rooted in the principles of disability justice, our symposium emphasizes the interconnectedness of disability with other forms of oppression such as race, gender, sexuality, and class. We aim to address systemic barriers and social inequalities, advocating for collective liberation, accessibility, and the inherent worth and dignity of all bodies.
Incorporating the insights of queer crip theory, we will challenge normative assumptions about bodies, identities, and abilities, and explore the fluidity and performativity of identity. We will also emphasize body liberation, celebrating diverse body experiences and advocating for the right of all individuals to exist freely and safely in their bodies. Together, we will delve into critical issues, share innovative approaches, and build a more inclusive and affirming future for all.
Schedule
Schedule
Friday, June 20
Friday, June 20
6:00 - 6:15 PM: Opening Remarks
6:15 - 7:45 PM: KEYNOTE - Unapologetically Ours: Queer Disability Joy through Creative Liberation (1.5 CECs), presented by Noel King, MAAT, ATR-BC
7:45 - 8:00 PM: Closing Remarks
Saturday, June 21
Saturday, June 21
10:00 AM - 10:05 AM: Welcome
10:05 AM - 11:30 AM: The Art of Disruption: Queer and Crip Inquiry In Creative Arts Therapy (1.5 CECs), panel by Nicholas “Nick” Denson, MA, LCPC, CLCADC-I, ATR-BC, NCC, Lynn Gumert, MA, DM, MT-BC, Adam D-F. Stevens, MA, RDT/BCT, Sho Glick, Sarah Biedka, MMT, MT-BC, Roxie Rose Ehlert, LPCC, LCPC, ATR-BC, and Dr. Angelle Cook, PhD, RDT/BCT
11:45 AM - 1:15 PM: Body Liberation for Trans and Gender Expansive Folks (1.5 CECs), presented by Grace Walcott, AMFT, RDT
1:15 PM - 1:45 PM: Meal/Break
1:45 PM - 3:15 PM: Postnormal Possibilities: Shifting the Cultures of Practice in Creative Arts Therapies (1.5 CECs), panel by Caelum A'Hearn MA, LCAT-LP, Adam D-F. Stevens, MA, RDT, Dana Sayre, MA, RDT, Roxy Schoenfeld, MA, RDT, LCAT, and Navah Steiner, MA, RDT, LCAT
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM: Therapist Dialectics: Caring for Ourselves when Caring for our Clients During the Next 4 Years (1 CEC), presented by Jenni Ford, LCPC, ATR-BC
4:45 PM - 5:45 PM: Neurodiversity Celebration and Relationship Identity Formation through Art Therapy, Attachment, and Narrative Therapy (1 CEC), presented by Kam Monroe, MA, LPCC, ATR-P
5:45 PM - 6:00 PM: Closing
Continued Education credits
Continued Education credits
Continuing Education Credit Available: Up to 8 NBCC credit hours. The Coalition for Queer Creative Arts Therapies, Inc. is an NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7714. The Coalition for Queer Creative Arts Therapies, Inc. is solely responsible for adhering to all aspects of NBCC requirements.
How to earn CECs:
- Live attendance for the duration of a CEC-eligible presentation is required.
- CECs will be granted per presentation (as noted in the schedule above).
- Attendees will be sent a form to complete for each presentation attended.
- After completing the form, a certificate will be sent via email from the Coalition for Queer Creative Arts Therapies, Inc.
These CECs are available for free, keeping in alignment with the mission of Expressing Pride: Empowering participants with knowledge and resources that are accessible in order to create positive change within queer-affirming creative arts therapy practices and beyond.
Donations to support this work are welcome! Funds are prioritized to go to our presenters and ensure we're able to continue offering this program to the public for free.
Presentation Details
Presentation Details
Descriptions:
IN SCHEDULED ORDER
KEYNOTE - Unapologetically Ours: Queer Disability Joy through Creative Liberation presented by Noel King, MAAT, ATR-BC
A powerful call to reclaim identity, joy, and creative expression amid today’s shifting and oppressive geopolitical landscape. Drawing from lived experience as a Deaf, Korean American, queer, transracial adoptee and art therapist, Noel celebrates queer and disabled joy as both resistance and remembrance. Through the radical act of artmaking, we honor our bodies, connect with our ancestors, and nurture collective liberation not only for ourselves but for the generations yet to come. Following the keynote, participants will be invited to engage in a group discussion and collaborative art-making session. This interactive space will center community reflection, creative expression, and collective imagining as we move toward futures shaped by access, joy, and shared liberation.
The Art of Disruption: Queer and Crip Inquiry In Creative Arts Therapy panel hosted by Nicholas “Nick” Denson, MA, LCPC, CLCADC-I, ATR-BC, NCC, featuring Lynn Gumert, MA, DM, MT-BC, Adam D-F. Stevens, MA, RDT/BCT, Sho Glick, Sarah Biedka, MMT, MT-BC, Roxie Rose Ehlert, LPCC, LCPC, ATR-BC, and Dr. Angelle Cook, PhD, RDT/BCT
An exploration of Queer and Crip methodologies in creative arts therapy, disrupting conventional research paradigms. Panelists from diverse modalities examine embodiment, artistic inquiry, and disability justice, offering transformative approaches to knowledge production. Through interactive discussion, we challenge normative methods and expand creative arts therapy’s role in social justice-oriented research and practice.
Body Liberation for Trans and Gender Expansive Folks presented by Grace Walcott, AMFT, RDT
This workshop screens “River of Life LGBTQ+,” a 43-minute documentary of a ten-week drama therapy workshop involving 13 diverse participants unpacking queerphobia and celebrating the evolution of LGBTQ+ identities. Participants will engage in a drama therapy session featuring experiential exercises exploring the reclamation of the body, promoting wellness, liberation, and self-love.
Postnormal Possibilities: Shifting the Cultures of Practice in Creative Arts Therapies panel hosted by Caelum A'Hearn MA,LCAT-LP, featuring Adam D-F. Stevens, MA, RDT, Dana Sayre, MA, RDT, Roxy Schoenfeld, MA, RDT, LCAT, and Navah Steiner, MA, RDT, LCAT
The concept of postnormal possibilities, conceived of by neuroqueer theorist Nick Walker (2021), suggests a worldview in which difference is the desired outcome. How might we locate ourselves outside the similar, the familiar, the pathologizing hierarchies of the clinical relationship? How can interdependence modeled on mutual aid and reciprocity offer a framework for postnormal mental health? In this panel discussion, working drama therapists will examine the postnormal possibilities of our work and how concepts drawn from disability justice, queer theory, neuroqueer theory, and mutual aid can inform and nurture new ecosystems of care for us to begin inhabiting together within our shared present.
Therapist Dialectics: Caring for Ourselves when Caring for our Clients During the Next 4 Years presented by Jenni Ford, LCPC, ATR-BC
This presentation will discuss the unique challenges faced by queer therapists in providing care for queer clients when both therapist and client are being impacted by increased hateful rhetoric. Emphasis will be placed on use of dialectics in session, radical self care, personal resilience and support systems. The presentation will discuss how therapists can manage their personal feelings with professional obligations and create deeper understanding of how to balance self-care and advocacy.
Neurodiveristy Celebration and Relationship Identity Formation through Art Therapy, Attachment, and Narrative Therapy presented by Kam Monroe, MA, LPCC, ATR-P
This presentation explores the intersection of neurodiversity, attachment, narrative therapy and art therapy, with a focus on fostering secure attachment, re-writing narratives, and communication strategies through creative expression. Drawing on Polyvagal, Narrative, and Attachment Theories, this session will provide insights into how the nervous system impacts relational dynamics and how art therapy can be utilized as a tool for co-regulation, emotional expression, and attachment-building within neurodiverse and queer communities.
Presenters
Presenters
(In Alphabetical Order by First Name)
(In Alphabetical Order by First Name)
Adam D-F. Stevens
MA, RDT/BCT
(they/them)
Adam D-F. Stevens
MA, RDT/BCT
(they/them)
Adam D-F. Stevens is the President of the North American Drama Therapy Association. They are a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT) who works primarily with adolescents in the Tri-state area. Adam's role includes supporting queer, POC, and neurodiverse youth in transforming their loss, grief, and trauma into unapologetic, abundant joy and empowerment. Adam serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Creative Arts Therapy Programs at Antioch University, Seattle, and New York University and Marymount Manhattan College in NYC. Adam currently sits on the Board of Directors for the National Alliance for Children's Grief (NACG).
Instagram: @dramaadam
Dr. Angelle Cook
PhD, RDT/BCT
(she/her)
Dr. Angelle Cook
PhD, RDT/BCT
(she/her)
Angelle Cook is a queer, dis/abled registered drama therapist (RDT) and a board-certified trainer (BCT) who heads the dis/ability research lab at Lesley University where she is a visiting professor. She is an adjunct at NYU in the drama therapy department as well as the Managing Editor for the Drama Therapy Review and the current Research Chair for the NADTA. She is the author of the queer historical fiction novel, The Artist and the Solider.
Caelum A'Hearn
MA, LCAT-LP
(they/them)
Caelum A'Hearn
MA, LCAT-LP
(they/them)
Caelum A'Hearn is an artist interested in practices that center curiosity, mutuality, and care. They value collaboration, co-creation, and fostering environments where people can support and empower each other to develop expressive languages and explore complex themes unique to the ecosystems in which they arise. They hold an MA in Drama Therapy from New York University and work as a Creative Arts Therapist (Limited Permit) at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Dana Sayre
MA, RDT
(they/them)
Dana Sayre
MA, RDT
(they/them)
Dana Sayre is an artist, scholar-activist, and community organizer in Central TX. Dana partners with Chronically Queer - Austin, Autism Society of Texas, and the ACT LEND program at UT Austin to support families navigating LGBTQIA+ identity, disability, and neurodiversity. Dana is currently pursuing a MA in Applied Sociology at Texas State University.
Website: danasayre.com
Grace Walcott
AMFT, RDT
(she/her, he/him)
Grace Walcott
AMFT, RDT
(she/her, he/him)
Grace Walcott is a filmmaker, drama therapist, and author of Wide Open: Loving On My Own Terms. A CIIS graduate, they lead groups, see clients, and create acclaimed film and performance work featured on PBS, Solo Mio, Frameline, Outfest, and the Berlin LGBTQ Film Festival.
Websites: GraceWalcott.com RiverofLifeLGBTQ.com
Jenni Ford
LCPC, ATR-BC
(she/they)
Jenni Ford
LCPC, ATR-BC
(she/they)
Jenni Ford is a clinical professional counselor and board certified art therapist and supervisor from Illinois. She received a MA in counseling psychology from The Adler School in Chicago. Jenni has been in practice as a therapist for 15+ years. Jenni is a trauma informed person centered therapist and focuses on client strengths and increasing skills to manage emotional regulation. She has worked in many settings including private practice, hospice, residential treatment, and in schools (K-12). They work with clients who struggle with loss, chronic illness, mood disorders, gender/sexuality, and trauma.
Website: rivercrosscounseling.com
Instagram: @river.cross.counseling
Kam Monroe
MA, LPCC, ATR-P
(they/them)
Kam Monroe
MA, LPCC, ATR-P
(they/them)
Kam Monroe is a mental health professional with a background in Art Therapy and Sex Therapy. They have extensive experience supporting LGBTQIA+ clients and advocating for accessible, inclusive mental health services. Most recently in their clinical career, Kam had a private practice that specialized in providing neuroqueer relationship therapy with a focus on authenticity, consent, and connection.
Email: connectwithkam@gmail.com
Lynn Gumert
DM, MA, MT-BC
(they/them)
Lynn Gumert
DM, MA, MT-BC
(they/them)
Lynn Gumert is a white, genderqueer, autistic, and multiple neurodivergent music therapist, composer, educator, and performer. They are currently a doctoral candidate in Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University, where their neuroqueer arts-based research explores autistic adults’ lived experiences of mental health challenges. Their work confronts ableism and neuronormativity in music therapy and seeks to increase neurodiversity-affirming practices.
Website: lynngumert.com
Navah Steiner
MA, RDT, LCAT
(they/them)
Navah Steiner
MA, RDT, LCAT
(they/them)
Navah Steiner is a trauma-informed psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice. They graduated from the drama therapy program at NYU and the psychoanalytic psychotherapy program at ICP and also hold certifications in EMDR and IFS. Prior to private practice Navah worked with HIV+ unhoused youth, unhoused men living with mental illness, and at the SVA student health and counseling center. They also served as the training director of a post-graduate training program for drama therapists in NYC, the Institute for Developmental Transformations. With over 25 years of clinical experience, one of Navah’s interests is the intersection of mental health and activism, where the political is personal, and the space that advocacy and psychotherapy meet in the treatment room.
Nicholas "Nick" Denson
MA, LCPC, LPC, LCADC, ATR-BC, NCC
(he/him)
Nicholas "Nick" Denson
MA, LCPC, LPC, LCADC, ATR-BC, NCC
(he/him)
Nick Denson is a board-certified art therapist, licensed clinical professional counselor, and adjunct professor at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. He specializes in addiction and mental health, currently serving as a Military and Family Life Counselor with the U.S. Air Force in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nick’s clinical work is informed by his identity as a white, neurodivergent, Queer male and by his commitment to culturally responsive, community-based care.
KEYNOTE: Noel King
MA, ATR-BC,
PhD Candidate
(she/her)
KEYNOTE: Noel King
MA, ATR-BC,
PhD Candidate
(she/her)
Noel King is a Deaf Korean-American queer womxn and PhD candidate in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University. With over 17 years of experience, she specializes in Deaf centered, trauma informed mental health care and community advocacy, uplifting culturally affirmative healing practices, and challenging systemic barriers. Her work expands access to expressive therapies for marginalized communities and reimagines care beyond traditional talk therapy, grounded in disability justice and decolonizing frameworks. Outside of her research and clinical work, she enjoys exploring art, traveling, cooking, biking, and serving queer joy as a proud pickleball newbie.
Website: noelking.carbonmade.com
Email: neking30@gmail.com
Roxie Rose Ehlert
LPCC, LCPC, ATR-BC
(she/her)
Roxie Rose Ehlert
LPCC, LCPC, ATR-BC
(she/her)
Roxie Rose Ehlert is a disabled queer femme artist, art therapist, educator, and writer based on Tewa land in Albuquerque, NM. She is a faculty member in the Art Therapy and Counseling Program at Southwestern College and at the Institute for the Development of Human Arts, an organization that approaches collective healing and radical social change through an abolitionist and transformative mental health framework. Her research examines how sanist stigma impacts mental health providers who are labeled with mental illness. Her personal art practice explores themes of dislocation, home, grief, and queer belonging using stitch work, printmaking, photography, broken glass, and a #2 pencil.
Website: roxieehlert.com
Instagram: @roxierosearttherapy
Roxy Schoenfeld
MA, LCAT, RDT
(they/them)
Roxy Schoenfeld
MA, LCAT, RDT
(they/them)
Roxy Schoenfeld is a queer and genderqueer white anti-zionist drama therapist with a private practice in Brooklyn, offering drama therapy and supervision to adults. They also facilitate a group at NYU for MA students in Drama Therapy, and teach recurring guest lectures on Developmental Transformations (DvT) at NYU. Roxy holds an MA in Drama Therapy from NYU and completed postgraduate training at the Institute for Developmental Transformations NYC (DvT NYC- Curious Rebels).
Psychology Today Profile
Sarah Biedka
MMT, MT-BC
(they/them/theirs)
Sarah Biedka
MMT, MT-BC
(they/them/theirs)
Sarah Biedka is a queer, chronically ill/disabled board-certified music therapist and scholar passionate about creative processes, relationships, and community. Currently, they are a PhD candidate at Drexel University amidst the dissertation process.
Sho Glick
(they/them)
Sho Glick
(they/them)
Sho Glick is a recent graduate of City University of Seattle. They are trained in drama therapy, bibliopoetry therapy, and trauma-informed expressive arts therapy. They currently work with adults at Puyallup Psychotherapeutic Alliance and with neurodivergent youth at Ryther.
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