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Resilience Lecture: Achieving Preparedness and Resilience in Uncertain Times – The Critical Role of Creative Expression ft. Julia Byers
July 15, 2021 at 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Event topic:
Please join Dr. Byers for a discussion on the role of creative expression to enhance resilience during uncertain times. Living in times of uncertainty whether caused by economic disruptions, environmental crises, or just plain human developmental transitions, necessitates a multifaceted approach to existential living. The use of creativity within a humanitarian relief perspective offers those in need a path to (re-)gaining meaning with purpose. In this discussion, Dr. Byers will review the 5 C’s of creativity to demonstrate how integrating the arts can enhance efforts to establish resilient coping skill. Through illustrative examples drawn from trauma-related human interventions with populations in the Middle East, Uganda, and the Philippines, as well as other associated personal encounters, Dr. Byers presents the critical role of arts engagement not for the sake of art, but for life itself.
About Dr. Julia Byers:
Dr. Julia Byers, LMHC, ATR-BC,Professor Emerita, Lesley University has been working in over 25 countries providing humanitarian aid through expressive art/play therapies and mental health counseling. She has worked with many communities who experienced traumatic events in response to natural disasters, violent related circumstances or unexpected personal bereavement and loss. Her continued work in other countries included travelling to Lebanon in the Syrian camps; Lira, Uganda following the devastation of the Lord’s Resistance Army; and the Philippines following the typhoon and mudslide disasters. Dr. Byers utilizes an eclectic and existential approach to PTSD within a resilience strength-based framework. She received her doctorate from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the Department of Adult Education, Counseling Psychology and Community Development in 1996, having already been a tenured professor within the Faculty of Arts, at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada for 16 years. She earned her clinical Master’s degree from I.M.C. and U.C.L.A. Los Angeles, California, and her Bachelor’s degree at McGill University. While at Concordia University, Dr. Byers established the first internationally approved Graduate Art Therapy program from the American Art Therapy Association. After being hired at Lesley University in 1996, Dr. Byers was the Expressive Therapy Division Director for 12 years and the first PhD director for five years.
Date: Thursday July 15, 2021
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET
Location: Virtual Event – Register here.