Mills-Peninsula Scholarship

2011/12 Scholarship Winner

Student Details

Jeremy Montieth is a 2011 Masters graduate of the Marriage and Family Therapy and Art Therapy program at Notre Dame de Namur University. Jeremy has worked in the mental health field in the Bay Area for seven years and is active in the local art community. He has worked with children of all ages and backgrounds in residential treatment facilities, day treatment school settings and public school settings both as a counselor and as a clinician.  Jeremy utilizes his experience working with children, adolescents and families, as well as his academic training in art therapy techniques to help at-risk families.  He looks forward to continuing clinical practice in the bay area.

The Mills-Peninsula Scholarship was awarded to Jeremy Montieth for exceptional art therapy work with a population of K- 5th grade children at a San Mateo public school site. There Jeremy applied Carl Jung’s Analytical Therapy with a specific focus on using active imagination and Jungian Archetypes as they are presented in a story form as a way to help amplify, interpret, and integrate the contents of creative works of art. Utilizing semi-directive techniques learned at NDNU’s Art Therapy program he was able to facilitate children's discovery, integration and creativity in spontaneous drawings that helped to maintain psychic equilibrium and promote psychological health.

Jennifer F. Liu is a graduate school student of Art Therapy Psychology Program at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. She has done her practicum working in a hospice organization in San Mateo County as a Trainee/Intern providing grief counseling to the bereaved family and the adult grieving population in Peninsula area by using variety of art interventions. 

The Mills-Peninsula Scholarship was awarded to Jennifer Liu for exceptional art therapy work with a grief counseling and hospice. The grief counseling and the support services are offered to all the hospice and community members in San Mateo County or the Peninsula area.  Jennifer serves as a bereavement trainee / intern and as a grief counselor offering both anticipatory grief support and bereavement grief support to the adult population.  She designs varied art directives and uses art interventions working with her clients during the counseling sessions.  Throughout the process, she witnesses the amazing power of art in guiding and supporting her clients in grief.  Art helps grievers to process their emotions, to express their non-verbal thoughts, and to eventually learn about the new opportunities and the strength within them.  Art can be beneficial to people who are open to it; and art therapy opens an opportunity for sharing, comforting and healing in grief.

Coralia Cooper is a graduate of Notre Dame de Namur University with a BA in Psychology and Art with a minor in Sociology. Coralia will be finished with her MA in Art Therapy Marriage and Family from NDNU in August of 2011. Currently, she just finished as a trainee for San Mateo County where she worked with children and adults. Coralia has also been a part of Drawbridge, since 2009, an organization that makes art with homeless kids. What drives her to be in this field is the chance to heal through art and hope to make a difference in a person’s life.

The Mills-Peninsula Scholarship was awarded to Coralia Cooper for exceptional art therapy work with a population of homeless individuals. Coralia worked as Drawbridge as she continued developing her experience with this population, she became particularly interested in supporting the parent and child relationships at the shelter. She was able to translate her work into a research study to serve as a basis for others working with the population.  Observing the families at the transitioning homeless shelters at Shelter Network she came up with her three hypotheses: 1) Mandala making will reduce stress, 2) Parent and children will have correlating stress levels, and 3) Parent and child will choose similar image choices from the AVPT. In her study she found mandalas may have a significance in reducing stress, that parent’s have higher stress levels, and that parents and children choose an average of 2.5 same images out of 10. Coralia Cooper chose to do her thesis with the homeless population.

Gretchen Gullicksen Grant volunteers at the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center, in the San Francisco Medical Center for Veteran Affairs and their community based Clinic in San Bruno. She is helping veterans with severe mental illness re-engage in their community through art. Using art directives that encourage bilateral stimulation, veterans learn to express themselves, emotionally, while reducing internal stigmas as they gain a new perspective on their illness. New understanding leads to self-regulation, as veterans recognize symptoms and their triggers. An open studio format provides a safe place for art making combined with interpersonal skill building opportunities which develops internal motivation to share with others. By participating in art shows, veterans learn pre-vocational skills necessary in marketing and exhibiting their works, sharing their great works with the greater community. In recognition of her work with veterans, she has been awarded the 2012 Mills-Peninsula scholarship, supporting her efforts to become a licensed art therapist, as she attends Notre Dame de Namur’s master’s program of Marriage and Family Art Therapy.