Anna Ford Smith, LPC, ATR-BC
Board Certified Registered Art Therapist & Licensed Professional Counselor
Area: Brookhaven/Buckhead
Address: 23 Lenox Pointe Atlanta 30324
Telephone: 404-829-4135
Website: www.atlantaarttherapy.com
Email: anna@atlantaarttherapy.com
Private Practice: Anna is registered and board certified as an art therapist through the Art TherapyCredentials Board and is president of the Georgia Art Therapy Association. She is licensed as a professional counselor in the state of Georgia and intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy , an evidence-basedtreatment developed for girls and women with self-harming and suicidal thoughts, urges, or behaviors. Anna received her Master's degree in art therapy from The George Washington University in Washington, DC in January 2009. She currently facilitates art therapy groups
and DBT skills groups at The Renfrew Center of Georgia, an intensive outpatient and day treatment program for people with disordered eating. She is currently accepting child, adolescent, and adult clients for individual art therapy, DBT, or general counseling in private practice at 23 Lenox Pointe, Atlanta, GA 30324. One-on-one sessions are individualized to meet the specific needs of each client. To schedule an individual session, contact Anna @ (404)-829-4135 or
anna@atlantaarttherapy.com. No art skill or previous experience with art is required to participate
in art therapy sessions.
Expertise/Experience:
As a graduate intern, Anna had the opportunity to work at Sunrise Senior Living in Washington, DC with older adults; at The Children's Inn at The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD with medically ill children; at The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore, MD with adolescents and adults with eating disorders; at The Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore with suicide survivors, and lastly, at a community center in Managua, Nicaragua with at-risk children and teens.
In August 2008, after completing all of her graduate coursework, Anna began working at Iona Arts & Wellness Center with older adults in a day center setting in Washington, DC, where she worked closely with The National Center for Creative Aging. During her three years as Art Therapist & Art Therapy Program Manager there, she gained experience working with a range of clients, including those with Alzheimer's, history of stroke, Parkinson's, frontal lobe dementia, intellectual disability, brain injury, history of brain aneurysm, physical disability, mental illness, and a range of other cognitive and physical challenges. Anna designed art therapy programming to meet the diverse needs of her clients, holding groups and individual sessions daily. She received training from the developers of Meet Me at MoMA, a unique museum program aimed at making the arts accessible to people with dementia. She then incorporated museum outings into her monthly programs, taking clients to museums all over Washington, DC and engaging clients and their families in meaningful, creative discussions about their responses to art. Oftentimes, family members of clients with dementia would remark how they hadn't seen their loved one light up and engage so much in years. Anna then initiated partnerships with area museums in Washington, DC to begin developing programs of their own to engage older adults and their families with the life-enhancing qualities of art. The Kreeger Museum and The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC both developed programs for older adults which are still running today.
After three years at Iona, Anna decided to try to find an opportunity to practice art therapy closer to where she grew up in Huntsville, AL. As it turned out, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN, had recently received funding to begin an art therapy program and hired Anna as their first art therapist. Anna compiled current research on the benefits of art therapy for the populations that existed in the children's hospital and presented it to teams of physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers. She then developed a structure for the art therapy program and worked as the sole art therapist for the children's hospital, facilitating art therapy sessions with patients at their bedsides. While in Nashville, Anna also led art therapy groups for teens and women with eating disorders at The Renfrew Center, rounding out her time in Nashville to include work at a medical hospital and at an outpatient therapy center. In April 2012, Anna began practicing as a counselor and art therapist in Atlanta.
Area: Brookhaven/Buckhead
Address: 23 Lenox Pointe Atlanta 30324
Telephone: 404-829-4135
Website: www.atlantaarttherapy.com
Email: anna@atlantaarttherapy.com
Private Practice: Anna is registered and board certified as an art therapist through the Art TherapyCredentials Board and is president of the Georgia Art Therapy Association. She is licensed as a professional counselor in the state of Georgia and intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy , an evidence-basedtreatment developed for girls and women with self-harming and suicidal thoughts, urges, or behaviors. Anna received her Master's degree in art therapy from The George Washington University in Washington, DC in January 2009. She currently facilitates art therapy groups
and DBT skills groups at The Renfrew Center of Georgia, an intensive outpatient and day treatment program for people with disordered eating. She is currently accepting child, adolescent, and adult clients for individual art therapy, DBT, or general counseling in private practice at 23 Lenox Pointe, Atlanta, GA 30324. One-on-one sessions are individualized to meet the specific needs of each client. To schedule an individual session, contact Anna @ (404)-829-4135 or
anna@atlantaarttherapy.com. No art skill or previous experience with art is required to participate
in art therapy sessions.
Expertise/Experience:
As a graduate intern, Anna had the opportunity to work at Sunrise Senior Living in Washington, DC with older adults; at The Children's Inn at The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD with medically ill children; at The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore, MD with adolescents and adults with eating disorders; at The Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore with suicide survivors, and lastly, at a community center in Managua, Nicaragua with at-risk children and teens.
In August 2008, after completing all of her graduate coursework, Anna began working at Iona Arts & Wellness Center with older adults in a day center setting in Washington, DC, where she worked closely with The National Center for Creative Aging. During her three years as Art Therapist & Art Therapy Program Manager there, she gained experience working with a range of clients, including those with Alzheimer's, history of stroke, Parkinson's, frontal lobe dementia, intellectual disability, brain injury, history of brain aneurysm, physical disability, mental illness, and a range of other cognitive and physical challenges. Anna designed art therapy programming to meet the diverse needs of her clients, holding groups and individual sessions daily. She received training from the developers of Meet Me at MoMA, a unique museum program aimed at making the arts accessible to people with dementia. She then incorporated museum outings into her monthly programs, taking clients to museums all over Washington, DC and engaging clients and their families in meaningful, creative discussions about their responses to art. Oftentimes, family members of clients with dementia would remark how they hadn't seen their loved one light up and engage so much in years. Anna then initiated partnerships with area museums in Washington, DC to begin developing programs of their own to engage older adults and their families with the life-enhancing qualities of art. The Kreeger Museum and The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC both developed programs for older adults which are still running today.
After three years at Iona, Anna decided to try to find an opportunity to practice art therapy closer to where she grew up in Huntsville, AL. As it turned out, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN, had recently received funding to begin an art therapy program and hired Anna as their first art therapist. Anna compiled current research on the benefits of art therapy for the populations that existed in the children's hospital and presented it to teams of physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers. She then developed a structure for the art therapy program and worked as the sole art therapist for the children's hospital, facilitating art therapy sessions with patients at their bedsides. While in Nashville, Anna also led art therapy groups for teens and women with eating disorders at The Renfrew Center, rounding out her time in Nashville to include work at a medical hospital and at an outpatient therapy center. In April 2012, Anna began practicing as a counselor and art therapist in Atlanta.
