Utilizing Expressive Arts Activities in Your Practice to Engage Children 

Who Should Attend: 

Social Workers, Mental Health Counselors, Creative Arts Therapists, Marriage and Family Therapists, and any professional that is working in the mental health field or with youth and young adults.    

Learning Objectives:

APPROVED FOR 2 CONTINUING EDUCATION HOURS

LIVE ONLINE WEBINAR

(LMSW/LCSW/LMHC/LCAT/LMFT)

Association for Mental Health and Wellness is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers. (Provider #0156)

Association for Mental Health and Wellness is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. (Provider #MHC-0014)

Certificate of completion will be provided after the return of completed evaluation (via email).

Registration fee: $50.00

About the Presenters

Joanna Formont, LMHC has been working at SIBSPlace, an affiliate of Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital, since 2004. She is currently serving as Executive Director of the program, a position she took on in January 2020. Ms. Formont graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1997 and Teachers College, Columbia University with a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology in 1999. She has provided individual and group services to children and families in crisis for over 20 years, working with survivors of trauma and sexual assault, immigrant families coping with domestic violence and families grieving the loss of a loved one due to the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. At SIBSPlace, Ms. Formont identifies and initiates the development of prevention and support services to engage and assist children managing their overwhelming feelings and concerns related to a loved one’s diagnosis of a devesting medical illness and/or the death of a sibling or parent. She provides services through individual and group work. Ms. Formont facilitates a weekly parent support group and bereavement services. In 2011 Ms. Formont co-authored Staying Afloat- A Support Guide to Help Parents and Well Siblings Cope with Family Illness. She has presented internationally and nationally by providing community education trainings on a child’s response to a loved one’s illness and death, anxiety management in children, benefit of group work when working children and sharing expressive arts interventions to engage young client population. 

Kerri L. Wagner, MA is the Child & Family Life Specialist for SIBSPlace an affiliate of Mount Sinai South Nassau. She received her BA in Early Childhood, Elementary and Art Education, SUNY College at Cortland, 1979 and her Master of Arts, Creative Arts Therapies, Hofstra University, 1982. Her diversified background in art therapy and Child Life prepared her for her position as art therapist at SIBS. Since 2008 she has helped create and facilitate therapeutic art directives for children and adolescents who have a sibling or parent with a life-threatening illness. Sha also develops and co-facilitates bereavement services. As part of her responsibilities she offered a sibling support group at St. Mary's Hospital for Children in Bayside. In addition, Ms. Wagner has provided Child & Family Life services throughout many departments at Mount Sinai South Nassau from 2009-2019. Creatively, she has initiated an annual inter-departmental hospital-wide project to heighten awareness of Child & Family Life services. She is a strong advocate for children and focuses on family centered care through the work she provides. In 2014, she began training medical/nursing staff and medical/nursing students on the benefits of SIBSPlace and Child Life services. Ms. Wagner’s presentations to the community focus on SIBSPlace/Child Life and the impact of hospitalization and traumatic medical illness on the family system. In 2017, Ms. Wagner was selected to receive the Town of Hempstead's Pathfinder Award for her outstanding work in Health Services and her ongoing commitment to children and families.