Laura Avery has just returned from her first semester at the European Graduate School (EGS) where she is studying a Masters of Expressive Arts Therapy. A graduate of the Expressive Arts Therapy Program at VSOHA, Laura was keen to build upon the work she had been doing in the diploma program and to learn more of the framework around Expressive Arts (EXA). “It was a seamless transition. As soon as I finished Heather’s program [Heather Dawson, Program Director] I went straight into the masters. I knew I wanted to learn more; new questions had arisen,” Laura said.
A dancer from a young age, Laura was initially drawn to Expressive Arts Therapy from a need to realign her art making practice with a discussion surrounding social justice and art as activism. “I was looking for a way to work outside the dance community, which can be quite insular and divorced from the wider community. I was also coming up against some questions around problematic representation and accessibility in dance. It can be such an exclusive form and it was starting to weigh on me.”
Laura said she wanted to shatter her understanding of what art can be, what we value as good art and who we value as artists, and to dismantle the ideology that artists are privileged outsiders with untouchable knowledge and power. “The radical foundation at the heart of EXA is the belief that art is everybody’s. It doesn’t belong in the hands of the cultural elite or to us as therapists. Art is an integral part of the human condition. Reminding myself of this principle reaffirms why I’m doing this work.”
One of the most rewarding parts of the VSOHA program for Laura was the practicum component of the curriculum where she had the opportunity to work with youth from a First Nations community. “I felt incredibly humbled by the invitation to come into their space and by the way our relationships formed. It inspired me to want to work more with youth and at-risk youth,” Laura said.
An important piece at the core of EXA is the fundamental belief that each person has all the resources they need to flourish within themselves. “It really resonates with me. It destabilizes the practitioner as the one with the expert knowledge. Healing doesn’t necessarily have to take place with the guidance of an expert. There are opportunities for it within a community and the world within your everyday lived reality.”
When she is not studying at EGS, Laura has worked with non-profits in Vancouver offering after-school, summer and spring break programming for at-risk youth, and as a child support worker, providing socio-emotional support. She dreams of opening a centre for youth, working with the LGBTQ+ community and continuing her work with at-risk youth.
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