With over 30 years of experience in healthcare settings, in- and out-patient psychiatric hospitals, children’s hospitals, nursing homes, health spas and hospital wellness centers, Ilene has helped staff design therapeutic support groups using the Arts.

We help organizations and individuals in the following ways:

• Set up ongoing clinical support groups
• Train staff to run arts medicine groups
• Provide family support during grief, loss, emotional & physical crisis
• Individual and group psychotherapy for life-threatening illnesses
• Psychological consultation for treatment teams to maximize cooperation
• Consulting to the Catholic clergy
• Help with loss of a pet
• Grief support

Workshops and consultation offered in areas such as:

•     Finding Clarity: Who am I, Where am I, Where am I going?
•     Embodied Ways of Knowing: KinAesthetic Imagining
•     Creativity and Team-Building
•     Mindfulness in Action

Consulting with Clergy — House of Affirmation, Whitinsville, MA: Supervising Psychologist in residential treatment center for psychologically impaired Catholic religious.

Consulting with Business — In a talk for a San Francisco architecture office entitled “Space, Movement and Healing,” Dr. Serlin showed the interrelationship of space, movement and healing, particularly in how buildings are constructed to evoke certain movements, both historically and at present. Labanotation, a movement language system used by choreographers, was used to discuss parameters of time, weight, space and flow factors in the vocabulary of movement and space. Examples demonstrated healing and movement work done in the context of a support group for women with breast cancer.

Loss of a Pet — In her work with those recovering from a loss of a pet, Dr. Serlin states, “We know that our animals are our friends, part of our families. Yet we are told that we should remember that they are ‘only’ animals, and we should just replace them. We may need a place to talk about the overwhelming feelings, often of loss and loneliness. Sometimes there is guilt, or regrets. Sometimes this loss reminds us of other losses, which we also did not grieve.”

Work-Related Stress — Employment and Development Department, State of California Health and Welfare Agency, San Francisco: “Reconstructing our Work Lives after Traumatic Events.”

The experienced staff at Union Street Health Associates provides workshops and consultation in such areas as:

• discovering your inner healer and letting it guide,
• transforming pain and loss into acceptance and life changes,
• learning to navigate stress,
• exploring body image, femininity, masculinity and sexuality,
• creating personal rituals of healing.

Scholarships are available.

Contact Dr. Ilene Serlin for more info.

Past training courses at USHA

Arts Medicine: a workshop at California School of Professional Psychology, Alameda Campus

Arts medicine can enhance wellness through improved body image, vitality, and sense of self. It can benefit people dealing with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and AIDS, and problems such as depression, loss and aging. This workshop teaches basic arts medicine skills. It uses case histories to teach assessment and intervention approaches. Methods used include basic skills and the use of art, movement, music and ritual to promote healing. No prior experience with art and healing is necessary, just a desire to explore one’s own creativity and to incorporate it into the healing process.

Contact Dr. Ilene Serlin for more info.

Ilene Serlin currently supervises psychologists, dance movement therapists and healthcare providers in the United States, China, and the Middle East. She offers ongoing individual and group supervision in dance movement therapy, Whole Person Psychology, The Art of Embodiment, and existential/humanistic psychotherapy.