50th Annual Art Therapy Discovery Day

Name: 50th Annual Art Therapy Discovery Day
Start: 2025-03-22T09:00:00-05:00
Location: Emporia State University Memorial Union

Schedule

Sat, 22 Mar, 2025 at 09:00 am

UTC-05:00

Location

Emporia State University Memorial Union | Emporia, KS

Learn about Art Therapy! Earn Professional CEUs!
Your ticket includes a simple breakfast with coffee and tea and a full lunch. All are welcome - this event is perfect for not only currently practicing and retired art therapists, but prospective and current students, and professionals in related professions who would like to know more about art therapy!
This 50th Annual Art Therapy Discovery Day will have three keynote speakers, all exceptional alumni and authors. In Addition to the keynotes, you will have a myriad of experiential breakouts to choose from.
Dr. Dave Gussak, ATR-BC was a former Director of the ESU Art Therapy Program; he earned his doctorate in Science and Library Information Management at ESU in 2001. Gussak has more than 30 years of clinical and practical experience; his work has been in forensic systems, correctional institutions and settings, and private practice. He is the founding leader of the FSU/Fl Department of Corrections Art Therapy in Prisons program. Gussak was awarded ESU’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2025. He has has authored a plethora of publications, and his keynote will highlight his single-authored text, The Frenzied Dance of Art and Violence (2022).
Libby Schmanke, ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAC, MAC has been on the faculty of the ESU Art Therapy Program since she graduated from it herself in 2002. Before becoming a leader in the field of art therapy, she used art processes in her 12-year career in addictions counseling. Schmanke’s Art Therapy and Substance Abuse (2017) is recognized as the go-to book in this area; her presentation
will include an overview of the fascinating “bridge drawing.” Schmanke also wrote The Life and Legacy of Robert Ault, Art Therapy Pioneer (2024), and co-authored A Graphic Guide to Art Therapy (2021, with Huxtable and Wolf Bordonaro).
Dr. Jessica Stallings, DAT, ATR-BC, LIMHP, LPC, LMHP is an art therapist for a therapeutic school and the incoming Associate Clinical Director for Heartland Family Service in NE/IA. She graduated from ESU with her MS in Art Therapy (December 2005), and her MS in Clinical Counseling (August 2011). Jessie’s specializations in art therapy include trauma and neurodiversity. Her publications, and her keynote, highlight neurodiversity and
positive art therapy. Recently, Stallings worked with a team of art therapists who were successful in establishing an art therapy license in Nebraska.