Allison Tardif, MAAT, ATR-BC, CLAT, LPC
Licensed in Texas, Connecticut & Virginia
Master of Arts in Art Therapy
Board Certified Art Therapist
Clinical Licensed Art Therapist
Licensed Professional Counselor
ABOUT Allison
Why Art Therapy?
Art therapy engages the brain, body, and spirit.
Art Therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.
Honoring individuals’ values and beliefs, art therapists work with people who are challenged with medical and mental health problems, as well as individuals seeking emotional, creative, and spiritual growth.
Through integrative methods, art therapy engages the mind, body, and spirit in ways that are distinct from verbal articulation alone. Kinesthetic, sensory, perceptual, and symbolic opportunities invite alternative modes of receptive and expressive communication, which can circumvent the limitations of language. Visual and symbolic expression gives voice to experience, and empowers individual, communal, and societal transformation.
American Art Therapy Association www.arttherapy.org
Overall Philosophy:
Wellness is lifestyle commitment. We are a brain, a body, and a consciousness. Achieving individual optimal functioning requires prioritizing, actively engaging, and sustaining a gentle combination of mental and emotional fitness, physical and nutritional fitness, and spiritual fitness.
This framework is adaptable and different for each person. There is no single, easy,"diet","insta" solution to achieve and sustain wellness. It requires consistent and equal parts of discipline and self compassion.
On Therapy:
I believe the ultimate goal of therapy is to reconnect, reactivate, and reengage with an internal well of personal power, an internal compass. The therapist is a guiding, nonjudgemental and compassionate witness in this process, but it is the client who ultimately uncovers insight and remembers how to stand up, unapologetically empowered from within themself.
My Background:
My first career was not art therapy and counseling. Following my undergrad at Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, GA, I worked in post production as a producer and digital imaging specialist at Exposure NY in New York City. During this time I began volunteering at Mount Sinai Children's Hospital and discovered art therapy. I left NYC for graduate school at Albertus Magnus College where I received a Master of Arts in Art Therapy. I have worked on various levels of care developing art therapy programing within inpatient hospital settings for children, adolescents, and adults as well as outpatient settings including my own private private.
I currently work full-time at my private practice Allison Tardif Counseling Services, LLC serving Texas, Virginia, and Connecticut, as well as Sanctuary One Eleven, a nonclinical creative wellness community empowering individuals to connect and engage with others and their community.
Programs currently in development for adolescents, adults, and military service members and their families.
I am licensed in Texas, Virginia, and Connecticut.