Create & Cope

About Kelsey Dugan

Kelsey Dugan, LCPAT, LCAT, ATR-BC (she/her/they) is a Board-Certified Art Therapist & Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist in private practice in Frederick, Maryland. She provides individual, family, & group art therapy services to children, teens & caregivers as well as adults at Creative Psychological Health Services, LLC’s brand new Frederick Art Therapy office expansion. She sits as the Internship Coordinator & Practicum Supervisor for Notre Dame of Maryland University Graduate Art Therapy Students at Creative Psychological as well.

Although originally from New Jersey & prior to relocating to Frederick, Kelsey had been living in Portland, OR for the last 5 years with her amazing partner and their rescue Pittie Bam Bam (whom she hopes to eventually get certified as a therapy dog). Kelsey completed her Masters in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY graduating first in class with Distinction in 2016 and became a published author shortly after. She has over 7 years of experience working with complex trauma with children, teens, and caregivers on both a National and International scale.  She's most passionate when working with attachment trauma - specifically supporting children and teens in the foster care system &/or state custody. 

Kelsey’s facilitated trauma-informed art therapy with underpinnings of DBT & the ARC Framework in a multitude of settings including 24/7 crisis-based in-home stabilization, agencies serving adolescent survivors of human trafficking both in the US and Asia, youth correctional facilities, day treatment & intensive outpatient treatment programs, and domestic violence crisis shelters.

Training and Education

Kelsey’s facilitated trauma-informed art therapy in a multitude of settings including 24/7 crisis-based in-home stabilization, youth correctional facilities, day treatment, intensive outpatient treatment programs, in-home & in-school settings, and domestic violence shelters. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration with a focus on Psychology from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia in 2014. She completed her Master’s in Art Therapy in 2016 where she graduated first in her class with Distinction from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She was awarded the Graduate Convocation Award for Excellence in Academic Achievement in 2016. Before graduating, Kelsey studied under a group of Art Psychotherapists in Northern Ireland during the Summer of 2015.

After completing her Master’s, Kelsey organized a 3-month volunteer Art Therapy trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2017 where she was fortunate to work with young male trafficking survivors working in the Red Light District, orphanages for abandoned children with special needs, correctional facilities for incarcerated youth awaiting trial, children in both Wat Temple Schools and ‘illegal night schools’ for indigenous hill-tribe families, centers for adults with special needs, homeless shelters for young mothers, folks in elderly care facilities amongst other various populations. 

Kelsey became nationally accredited as an ATR-BC by the Art Therapy Credentials Board in 2017 which was also the same year her 2015 Thesis research on shoe alteration techniques with single mothers living in a Domestic Violence Shelter was published in the scholarly book titled “Complicated Grief, Attachment, and Art Therapy: Theory, Treatment, and 14 Ready-to-Use Protocols” by Briana MacWilliam MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT. She’s currently a student at theTrauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute working towards her Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy designation.

Therapeutic Approach

Kelsey uses trauma-informed art therapy interventions that focus on externalizing internal wounds, current life stressors, and/or personal conflict in a safe, contained, & confidential space. Her approach is process-oriented with underpinnings of The Sanctuary Model’s ARC Framework and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Process-Oriented means you have the space to focus on what it is you feel that’s most important and we’ll be able to dive deeper into the identified issues through art-making and traditional talk therapy. DBT is an evidenced-based approach that utilizes mindfulness & self-soothing strategies when we feel distressed, flooded, overwhelmed, or unable to cope with trauma reminders or triggers, unexpected change, or major transitions. Kelsey’s goal is to support you as the expert of your own life and help you identify (or develop) your own internal motivations for change. She loves to incorporate a range of creativity forms & methods into her practice and will encourage her clients to journal, write poetry, alter-books, even make Spotify playlists for them to listen to & process in sessions together. Kelsey’s sessions almost always end with a grounding exercise to promote one’s overall sense of personal safety so that you are able leave therapy feeling ‘put back together’.

Art-making & creative expression - as a form of nonverbal communication - serves as a symbolic vehicle for one to safely access and externalize their trauma visually without feeling consumed or flooded by it and after which they can process it through talk therapy in order to integrate their experience. In fact, research shows us that there are numerous healing properties found in art therapy as it improves one’s overall emotional wellbeing by activating the brain’s ‘feel good’ reward center, lowering cortisol stress levels, reducing anxiety, and stabilizing overwhelming emotional states because of the safe containment it offers. Engaging in art therapy can be effective in reducing distress, improving cognitive and sensory-motor functioning, fostering self-awareness & increasing self-esteem, cultivating emotional resilience, and developing a healthier means of effectively communicating one’s internal reality with the outside world. 

Research Publications

• 2022 - “A Meaning Based Approach to Art Therapy: From the Holocaust to Contemporary Practices” written by Elizabeth Hlavek DAT, LCPAT, ATR-BC. ••• Supporting Research Assistant •••

• 2017 - “Complicated Grief, Attachment, & Art Therapy: Theory, Treatment, and 14 Ready-To-Use Protocols” by Briana MacWilliam MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT. ••• Contributing Chapter Author ••• Part III: Applications & Practice: Chapter 19: Exploring Attachment & Grief Through Shoe Alteration Techniques

Awards & Affiliations

• 2022 - International Expressive Arts Therapy Association - Worldwide

• 2021 - American Art Therapy Association Professional Mentor - USA

• 2016 - Graduate Convocation Award - Excellence in Academic Achievement - Pratt Institute - Brooklyn, NY

• 2016 - Art Relief International & Cultural Canvas Thailand - Volunteer Art Therapist - Chiang Mai, Thailand

• 2015 - Northern Ireland Group for Art As Therapy (NIGAT) - Summer Intensive - Belfast & Ballycastle, Northern Ireland

Oregon Licensed Certified Art Therapist #10205595

You can contact the Oregon Health Licensing Office at 503.378.8667 or find more information on their website by clicking here

Maryland Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist #ATC310

You can contact the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors & Therapists at 410.764.4732 or find more information on their website by clicking here