CONSULTING

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.”