When:
Monday, October 20, 2025 | 14:30-16:30

Where:
DC Faculty Lounge

Organized by:
School of Psychology & Human Development, The American College of Greece

Speakers:
Dr. Alessandra Sax
Associate Professor, Psychology Faculty at the American College of Greece

Dr. Jill Weidknecht Van Horne
Associate Professor and Director of the Professional School of Counselling Program, Appalachian State University, USA

About the event:

This presentation and workshop will provide a historical foundation of the creative and expressive arts and how we utilize them in counselling and clinical practice settings. Furthermore, clinical examples will be provided from the author’s work from the newly published book Treatment Planning, Writing, and Documentation in Creative and Expressive Arts Therapies: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals. Experiential activities will be carried out with participants that will illustrate art therapy, music therapy, dance/movement therapy, sand tray therapy and Lego therapy. The event is free and open to the students and faculty of ACG.

For further clarifications, please contact [email protected]

About the speakers:

Dr. Alessandra Sax
Psychology Faculty at the American College of Greece
Alessandra Sax holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Child Development from Hampshire College (USA). She graduated from New York University (USA) with a Clinical Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work, Children, Adolescents and Adults and completed her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology and Supervision in Counselor Education at Argosy University (USA). She has been an instructor in Instructional Consultation, Clinical Interviewing and Consultation, Child Psychopathology, Child Centered Play Therapy, Life-Span Development, Multicultural Perspectives, Cultural Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Advanced Psychopathology, and Group & Music Therapy. She is also a licensed psychotherapist who has been in private practice for over thirty years, working with children, adolescents and adults. Dr. Sax also acts as a consulting psychologist to various organizations. From 2006 until 2019, she was working at the American Community Schools of Athens (ACS), as the Elementary School Counselor and then School Psychologist, and additionally, was the coordinator of the Psychology Intern Program within the Department of Student Affairs. During 2017-2022, Dr. Sax was the Co-Founder and Director of Learning and Wellness Center; a holistic therapeutic center for children, adolescents and adults. From 2019 to 2023 she was the Director of the Psychology Department, including the University Counseling Center at the Hellenic American University and is an Associate Professor of Psychology. She has been an editorial board member and peer reviewer for the International Journal for Elementary Education for SciencePG, the American Journal of Applied Psychology and the International Journal of Progressive Education. She has published several book chapters and articles, and regularly presents her clinical work and research at international conferences both in Europe and the USA. She is a member of EB-ACA and ACA, and a Governor Board Member of EB-ACA. Currently, Dr. Sax is a part-time Associate Professor of Psychology at the Psychology Department of The American College of Greece, and continues with her private practice and consulting, as a specialist in her field.

Dr. Jill Weidknecht Van Horne
Associate Professor and Director of the Professional School of Counselling Program, Appalachian State University, USA
Jill Weidknecht Van Horne PhD, (LCMHCS, NCPSC, RPTS, EAGALA certified)- is Director of the Professional School Counseling Program and Associate Professor at Appalachian State University, USA. Her 20+ years of school counseling and clinical mental health counseling experience is with children and adolescents. Her interests include incorporating multisensory, experiential approaches such as equine-assisted therapy, expressive arts and play therapy in addition to extending dialogue between professional school counseling and clinical mental health disciplines. She recently co-edited a text on creative and expressive arts treatment planning. She is the Past President of the European Branch of the American Counseling Association and Past VP of the North Carolina Association for Play Therapy.