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Name change reflectsart therapist’s role as counselorPencil, paper, paintbrushes and modeling claycan be powerful tools for helping people of allages overcome the limitations of their mental andphysical conditions.For decades the Eastern Virginia Medical SchoolGraduate Art Therapy and Counseling Programhas prepared students to do just that.“We teach people to use art materials — any andall type — with their clients,” said program directorAbby Calisch, PsyD, AT. Clients can include anyonefrom children to older adults, with problemsfrom psychological to medical to behavioral tocommunication disorders.Started in 1973, the EVMS program recentlyamended its name to more properly reflect whatit does. With the possible exception of a longerletterhead, the change from Art Therapy to ArtTherapy and Counseling won’t mean a lot ofadjustments. Adding the word “counseling” wasmainly a housekeeping change, Dr. Calisch says,since the program already prepared students to gettheir professional therapist license.“There’s a movement in the profession ofaligning coursework for students to becomelicensed professional therapists, and not havingthe word counseling in the title was an issue insome states,” she says.What hasn’t changed is the program’s missionto prepare students to help their clients throughart. For example, a therapist might work with adepressed person by using a variety of art materialsto stimulate different parts of the brain.“The person on their ownmay choose dark, restrictivematerial, such as using darkpencils in small areas, and thetherapist might work withthem to increase activity andmovement with bright colorsor larger media,” Dr. Calischsays. “On the opposite endof the spectrum, for a childwith Attention DeficitHyperactivity Disorder, thetherapist might help themfocus by containing themwith boundaries and limits.”Like t heir medic a lcolleagues, therapists use awide palette of options to helpclients.“Different art materials,like medications, can work ondifferent parts of the brain. The materials have theirown personalities,” Dr. Calisch says. “We’re just nowbecoming able to show, through high-resolutionbrain scans, that this works. It’s not merely fluff.”The two-year program was the first non-medicalgraduate program at the school. It takes in amaximum of 20 new students per year, usually withpsychology and fine arts undergraduate degrees.The students come from diverse backgrounds, fromthe technology sector to landscape design, and rangein age from recent graduates to mid-life.Program director, Abby Calisch, PsyD, ATR-BC, greets new and returningart therapy and counseling students at the fall student orientation.“You don’t need artistic talent to do this, but itdoes require a working knowledge of the creativeprocess, as well as art materials and psychology,”Dr. Calisch said. “It integrates all of that.”Graduates of the program have gone on tocareers at hospitals, schools and private practices,among others.“It’s such a personal journey for the students, forthemselves as well as working with clients,” she says.“You see a big change in the students during theirtime here.”New crop of medical and health professionalscontinued from page 10kick-off the new school year. The family-friendly event on the lawn ofSmith-Rogers Hall featured games, camaraderie and great food.On Friday, family, friends and faculty packed McCombs Auditoriumto support the 118-student strong MD Class of 2013 as they donned theirwhite coats, a universal symbol of medicine, and recited for the first time theOath of Hippocrates. The ceremony marks the students’ entrance as juniorcolleagues into the field of medicine, and reciting the oath is an essentialpart of that process, ensuring they will act ethically and in their patients’best interest from the very earliest days of their careers.Before the ceremony, State Sen. Ralph S. Northam, MD, an EVMSgraduate and assistant professor of pediatrics, delivered the second annualH. Lee Kanter Lecture. Sen. Northam explained to the new medicalstudents that health care stands on three legs: quality, access and cost. “It isdifficult to get all three in one package,” he said. “We do a good job onquality, but we need to work on the other two.” In order to effect change,he encouraged the students to get involved in policy making.See photos of the orientation week activities online at www.evms.edu/magazine.12 FALL 2009 www.eVMS.EDUaround campus
to your healthPreparing forthe fluseasonThere is good and bad news about the 2009-2010 flu season. The bad: there is not one but twovarieties of flu circulating this season. The good: There are vaccines available for both types offlu, and early shortages of H1N1, or “swine flu” vaccine, appear to be easing as drug companieswork to overcome a slower-than-anticipated vaccine production process.3. Avoid touching your nose, mouth, andeyes. Germs spread this way.4. Cover your coughs and sneezes witha tissue, or cough and sneeze into your elbow.Dispose of tissues in no-touch trash receptacles.Physicians with EVMS Health Services are busycaring for their patients and the EVMS campusand planning for the winter when the pandemicflu is expected to become more widespread and theseasonal flu traditionally reaches its height. EVMSHealth Services is offering vaccinations for bothH1N1 and seasonal flu.EVMS physicians plan to administer thepandemic H1N1 vaccine to patients following CDCguidelines. The guidelines indicate that those athigh risk of complications from the H1N1 flu getthe vaccine first. These include:• Pregnant women because they are athigher risk of complications and can potentiallyprovide protection to infants who cannot bevaccinated.• household contacts and caregiversfor children younger than 6 months of agebecause younger infants are at higher risk ofinfluenza-related complications and cannot bevaccinated.• health care and emergency medicalservices personnel because they can bea potential source of infection for vulnerablepatients.• all people from 6 months through 24years of age.• Persons aged 25 through 64 yearswho have health conditions associated withhigher risk of medical complications frominfluenza.Once the demand for the vaccine for the prioritygroups has been met, the CDC recommends thateveryone from the ages of 25 to 64 get the vaccinefollowed by those 65 and older. To date, those over65 years old have not been significantly affected bypandemic flu.In the meantime, EVMS Health Servicesphysicians suggest you follow these CDCguidelines for protecting yourself and others athome and at work:1. Maintain a healthy lifestyle through rest,diet, exercise and relaxation.2. Wash your hands frequently with soapand water for 20 seconds or use an alcoholbasedhand cleaner if soap and water are notavailable. Be sure to wash your hands aftercoughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.5. Keep frequently touched commonsurfaces clean, such as telephones, computerkeyboards, doorknobs, etc.6. Do not use other workers’ phones,desks, offices, or other work tools andequipment. If you need to use a co-worker’sphone, desk, or other equipment, clean it first.7. Don’t spread the flu! If you are sick withflu-like illness, stay home. Symptoms of fluinclude fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38degrees Celsius) or chills and cough or sorethroat. Symptoms can include runny nose,body aches, headache, tiredness, diarrhea,or vomiting. CDC recommends that sickworkers stay home if they are sick with flulikeillness until at least 24 hours after theyare free of fever without the use of feverreducingmedicines.8. Get vaccinated against seasonal fluwhen the vaccine is available. If you are athigher risk for flu complications, you shouldreceive the 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu vaccinewhen it becomes available.around campuswww.eVMS.EDU FALL 2009 13
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Page 39 and 40: Faculty and staffinvest in EVMScont

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