RED SHOES ROCK THANKS ANTONIA RATHBUN
YOUR CREATIVITY OPENED NEW PATHWAY OF UNDERSTANDING.
THANK YOU!
Art Therapy gave me the privilege of sharing the power of art to make story visible, which can change the life of a child, their family, community, and a entire culture.
Art is not just a thing, it is a Way.
The picture above is one of Antonia’s paintings.
Antonia (Rathbun) Lindsay empowers families. Not only does she see the forest, she can delve into the trees and their branches and their leaves and buds and rings. She embraces the bark and soothes the rough edges of life. — Jodee Kulp
There is never shaming or blaming and any family lucky enough to have had the experience to work with her will leave with real tools to use in their life. She digs in to find creative solutions to family problems that are based both on research and many, many years of experience. Her solutions work! She has provided direct and online clinical and community education in art therapy and neurobehavioral intervention for children recovering from meth, alcohol & other neurotoxin exposures, trauma, autism spectrum differences & communication diversities.
She is a Mental Health/Disabilities Consultant; Master Art Therapist; Child & Family Therapist with neurotoxin exposures (FASD, Meth) and Autistic Spectrum Disorders in children.
Up for the challenge, during her career she provided individual, family & group therapy, dyadic therapy, and case consultation for psychiatric, FAS & other drug effects, Communication Disorders, Autistic Spectrum Disorders and developmental, genetic and other medical special needs and ethnic/cultural diversity issues.
This is the introduction to "A Conversation with Becca", a video interview I had with Becca McConnell, a young adult woman with FASD. She discussed symptoms and solutions which help her and her family, including key concepts from the "Parenting Your Porcupine" Curriculum which was developed under a federal research & demonstration grant on treating adoptive families raising children with FASD, through the US government's Adminstration on Children, Youth & Families at Childrens Center in Washington from 1999-2003.
Her goal is for children & communities to use art as a way to contribute their unique & diverse perspectives for a sustainable & creative world. Art is not just a thing: it is a Way.
“If I ever needed a therapist I would seek out Antonia. She is so insightful. She is the best!” — Deb Evensen
The best strategies are developed WITH people, not AT them.
Antonia has years and years and more years of professional experience as a Registered Art Therapist, Child & Family Therapist, & Minority/DD Specialist delivering promising practices, quality clinical services, community education & intervention with foster, adoptive, kinship, guardianship & birth families of young children with trauma, alcohol, meth & other drug exposures, Autistic Spectrum & other developmental conditions, Communication Disorders, Deaf/HH and Talented & Giftedness.
Now that is a mouthful. And as you can see she in unafraid to walk in some pretty heavy stuff. Don’t worry—there is more!
“Art is not just a thing, it is a Way. It is a visual language of the human heart, expressed by people of all ages, cultures and conditions. Creativity is the common denominator connecting us to one another, and the natural world of other beings we share life with. Art heals, because it communicates our experiences and expands imagination of what is possible.”
She has developed programs & training protocols for clinicians and providers at the regional and national levels in the US & Canada, including SAMHSA FAS Centers for Excellence & British Columbia’s Ministry of Education, among others.
She developed SNAP (Special Needs Adoption Program), the US’s first research & demonstration program for special needs adoptive & kinship families with FAS & other alcohol & drug-related disorders.
That was followed by the COACHES (Calming Overaroused Children for Healthy Early Starts) program for methamphetamine endangered children ages 2-6, which has been incorporated into a current multisite SAMHSA study involving Children Affected by Methamphetamine in collaboration with Family Treatment Drug Court in SW Washington.
Her work was published
- In the book “Fantastic Antone Succeeds”, the first solutions-focused book on how to support children and families living with FASD,
- Hazelden Foundation’s “FAS: Stories of Help & Hope”, and the
- British Columbian Ministry of Education’s Guide to Educating Students with FASD, among other media.
She founded the “StarChild Quilt Project for FAS/FAE”, a solutions oriented art therapy intervention for community empowerment which spread through 22 states in the US and 4 provinces in Canada serving indigenous nations in narrative intervention on intergenerational trauma and recovery.
She served as a consultant on mental health/developmental disabilities, minority & cultural diversities & creative therapies.
Antonia has been in recovery for 30 years, is active in the Deaf and Hearing communities and is lives with Meniere’s Disease which Deafened her in 2009. Her lovely artwork can be discovered and in some cases purchased at the following link:
- Antonia-Lindsey-Art.squarespace.com because she paints on! Antonia is selling her work mostly in the Netherlands, where she spends quite a bit of time in the Dutch Deaf community.
Red Shoes Rock 