National emergency response service
The Art Therapy Center is an open-access institution that welcomes staff and students across the faculties of Jan Długosz University (UJD), members of artistic and educational communities (including therapists, teachers, school counsellors, psychologists, community animators, educators, parents and carers) and medical communities.
Our Mission
The mission of the Art Therapy Center is to promote various art therapy methods and opportunities to use them in therapeutic and educational work. The Art Therapy Center also works to support people with physical, mental, social and emotional dysfunctions, as well as anyone interested in practising developmental art therapy as a profession. The Center undertakes activities that aim to optimise the quality of life, involving the prevention of difficulties in life and overcoming obstacles to self-actualisation, as well as creating opportunities for personal expression through a variety of artistic means. In line with the objectives of art therapy, which aims to restore, maintain and improve the quality of people's lives, the Center conducts dedicated meetings based on the ideas of attentiveness and company. The Art Therapy Center also provides subject-matter expertise in the process of paving new paths in art therapy. In addition, the Centre offers supervision for art therapy practitioners in the area of visual arts. The Center works closely with the Kajros Polish Association of Art Therapists. This allows us to deliver supervision in other areas of art therapy, with opportunities for educators, teachers, and psychologists.
Areas of Activity
The work of the Center (including the practical activity studio, which has informally existed since 1997) goes beyond providing support to staff and students of Jan Długosz University (UJD). By working with our social partners, we can provide services to educational institutions, psychological and counselling centres, and healthcare providers. We are prepared to design art therapy workshop programmes that cater for the specific needs of people across workplaces and other organisations. In addition to art therapy-oriented activities, the Center is prepared to engage in research projects (including undergraduate and graduate degree projects) involving the use of art therapy methods and techniques, and to design theoretical models or frameworks for support delivery that make use of the latest findings from empirical research in art therapy and related areas. In 2016, 2018 and 2019, members of the student community (particular students and graduates) participated in our research projects. The outputs of the projects included published methodology-oriented and research works that are used by professionals across art therapy and art education centres, as well as academic teachers. Our research into the role of art therapy in working with trauma-affected people was taken further through art therapy workshops for refugee families from Ukraine (from March to July 2022).
Manager of the Center
Marzena Bogus-Spyra (PhD, Habil., Associate Professor)
Marzena Bogus-Spyra has a track record of over 100 art therapy workshops that she has conducted at various educational and development institutions, including centres for children with disabilities, where a customised approach to work is required. She is a certified art therapy educator, and a supervisor at the Kajros Polish Association of Art Therapists (for candidates working towards certification as art therapy educators) for 2021-2026. She is also a member of a Team for Clinical Art Therapy and Mental Health Promotion. At the Kajros Polish Association of Art Therapists, Marzena Bogus-Spyra is in charge of the art therapy section (together with Iwona Bugajska-Bigos (PhD, Habil. Associate Professor at ANS [Academy of Applied Sciences in Nowy Sącz]) and Monika Jaworska-Witkowska (PhD, Habil. Associate Professor at UP [University of Pomerania]). She acts as a coordinator of an art therapy group at the University Volunteering Centre. After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, she volunteered to organise and conducted several months of art therapy workshops for children from refugee families (launched as soon as in March 2022). Marzena Bogus-Spyra has also conducted art therapy workshops at the Centre for Family Support within the framework of the 'Social Responsibility in Science' project. She is an advocate of inclusive education. She encourages students to engage in scientific activities by co-authoring academic papers related to art education with them. She cooperates with art therapy centres in Poland and internationally. She is an expert of the National Science Centre and the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland.
Head of the Center: dr hab. Elżbieta Bogus-Spyra
E-mail: e.bogus@ujd.edu.pl