/about
Our vision: to provide people with the opportunity to discover their creative potential through art therapy and to enhance their mental health and well-being
Our mission: to provide a unique model of high quality Art Therapy services to the community
melbourne art therapy studio
The idea for the Melbourne Art Therapy Studio began one March day in 2003 when Robyn deVries, Celia Adams and Effie Chaniotis embarked on their Masters in Art Therapy together at La Trobe University. Their shared dream of opening a uniquely accessible art therapy studio emerged even before they were let loose in the Art Therapy room for the first time.
And so, the idea was born, germinated, grew, and was nurtured and re-visited with regular peer supervision throughout their training together. (The wonderful Denise Lynch deserves a special mention here. She was part of the core group, but embarked on her own special adventure with her brand new triplets). So just around the time the Abbotsford Convent opened its doors to tenants, a long time “friend of the Convent” Hilary Archer approached Celia to let her know about this fantastic opportunity.
The Melbourne Art Therapy Studio originated in a small studio on the first floor of the Convent, when the place was mostly eerily deserted. Since then, it has grown exponentially to become a bustling, vibrant artist community and hub for people from all over Victoria.
The Melbourne Art Therapy has grown from strength to strength since 2005, with invaluable contributions from Celia, Effie and Robyn, each offering their own set of talents & skills to the venture. Their shared vision and goals for the studio have been achieved and even surpassed. They moved into a larger, brighter studio in 2008. They have created wonderful and rewarding relationships with services and clients over the past few years, and are very fortunate to have such a diverse array of experiences on offer to an equally diverse array of client groups.
SEE ARTICLE ON ART THERAPY AND THE MELBOURNE ART THERAPY STUDIO PUBLISHED IN THE HERALD SUN 9/10/2019
image above left "Here Lies Should" Installation by Robyn deVries 2013
Abbotsford Convent main building courtyard.
a quiet place for people to come & bury their "shoulds"
Robyn deVries (AThR)
(she/her)
Robyn is continuing the Melbourne Art Therapy Studio dream. She regularly facilitates groups, both at the Studio and elsewhere. She has over 20 year's experience working with addictions, in schools, in palliative care, in general mental heath, aged care, with autism and neurodivergence and many other sectors. She facilitates workshops, is on The School of Life faculty, teaches at Ikon Institute of Australia and sees many amazing people in individual sessions in the Studio. Robyn's interests include assisting people to tap into self compassion and judgements, to play, to explore, to be curious, to push boundaries and to break the rules, but not the law.
Robyn is professional member of ANZACATA (Australia & New Zealand Art Therapy Association), and completed a diploma in Gestalt Therapy in 2006. She also holds a Masters in Art in Public Space. More about Robyn's art practice here
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Erica Mainprize (AThR)
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Erica has been a practising art therapist since she graduated from La Trobe University ten years ago. Much of her work has been in the overlapping area of brain injury and mental health, mostly in the role of honorary therapist at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre in Kew. She has also worked with a range of community-based participants, dealing with a great variety of knotty life challenges. In her own art making Erica enjoys experimenting with unfamiliar media. This wandering-tinkering helps her to support participants to find their own sweet spot where discoveries can be made.
Nina Young (AThR)
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Nina is an art therapist and counsellor. She has worked in the arts for many years, including remote Indigenous community art centres, which inspired her art practice. She works with children and adults with a range of presentations and in cross-cultural contexts. Her eclectic practice incorporates elements of psychodynamic, mindful, phenomenological, and behaviour-based approaches to art therapy. She believes the visual process provides an important encounter with the self, an exploration deepened through the therapeutic alliance.
Professionalism, authenticity, and imagination are essential in her practice, and she works with participants to encourage self-awareness and growth through the creative process.
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Molly Stephenson (AThR)
(she/her)
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Molly is a professionally registered Art Therapist (AThR) and practicing visual artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is particularly interested in how eco art therapy based interventions and existential art therapy can assist us in fostering a deeper connection to ourselves and the outside world.
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