Staff profile

Dr Patricia Fenner

Senior Lecturer, Course Coordinator Master of Art Therapy

Faculty of Health Sciences

School of Public Health and Human Biosciences
Department of Counselling and Psychological Health

Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

Dip. Visual Arts, Dip Ed. MA (Berlin), MA (La Trobe), PhD (La Trobe)

Membership of professional Associations

ANZATA

Area of study

Art Therapy

Brief Profile

Patricia, a registered art therapist, lectures in the Department of Counselling and Psychological Health and co-ordinates the Master of Art Therapy. For over a decade she worked in the public mental health sector in psychiatric rehabilitation with a specialization in residential services, group work and group supervision. Patricia studied art therapy in Melbourne and Berlin and has worked with diverse populations. Initially an art teacher in secondary schools, she has also worked as a freelance community artist in Europe and Australia.

Patricia completed her PhD in 2010 which focused on the experience of place and materiality within the psychologically dynamic processes of art therapy. Additionally she has been undertaking research with Professor Margot Schofield and PhD student, Theresa van Lith, in art making and mental health recovery.

Research interests

Art Therapy and Counselling

- Please contact me to discuss a topic.

Teaching Units

PHE4FAA Foundations of Art Therapy A

PHE4FAB Foundations of Art Therapy B

PHE4ACA Clinical Placement Supervision A

PHE5ACB Clinical Placement Supervision B

PHE5ACC Clinical Placement Supervision C

PHE5ATL Art Therapy Literature Review

PHE5CMS Case Management Skills

Recent Publications

  • Rumbold, J., Fenner, P. & Brophy-Dixon, J. (2012). The risks of representation: Dilemmas and opportunities in art-based research. Journal of Applied Arts and Health, 3, 1, 67-78.
  • Van Lith, T., Schofield, M.J., & Fenner,P. (2012). Identifying the evidence-base for art-based practices and their potential benefit for mental health recovery: A critical review. Disability & Rehabilitation, Early Online, 1-15.
  • Fenner, P. (in press). Material sensibility: A sense of place in art therapy practice and theory. In A. Gilroy, S. Linnell and J. Westwood. Art therapy: taking a post-colonial aesthetic turn. Bentham Science.
  • Fenner, P. (2012). What do we see?: Extending understanding of visual experience in the art therapy encounter. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 29, 1, 11-18. 
  • Fenner, P., Rumbold, B., Rumbold, J., Robinson, P., & Harpur, S.  (2012) Is there compelling evidence for using the arts in healthcare? Evidence Brief. AHHA Health Policy Reseach Institute.
  • Rumbold, B., Fenner, P. & Rumbold, J. (2011). Response to: A complex Aboriginal health project and the challenges for evaluation, Australian New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 35, 6, 582.
  • Van Lith, T. & Fenner, P. (2011). The practice continuum: Conceptualizing a person-centred approach to art Therapy,  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Arts Therapy, 6, 1, 17 - 22.
  • Fenner, P. (2011) Place, matter and meaning: Extending the relationship in psychological therapies. Health & Place, 17 (3), 851-857. 
  • Van Lith, T., Fenner, P. & Schofield, M. J. (2011). The lived experience of art making as a companion to the mental health recovery process. Disability and Rehabilitation, 33, 8,  652 - 660.
  • Van Lith, T., Fenner, P. & Schofield, M. (2009). Toward an understanding of how art making can facilitate mental health recovery, Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health (AeJAMH), 8, 2.
  • Van Lith, T., Fenner, P. & Schofield, M. (2009). Art Therapy in Rehabilitation. In: J H Stone, M Blouin, (Eds.), International Enccyclopaedia of Rehabilitation.
  • Bragge, A., & Fenner, P. (2009). The emergence of the ‘Interactive Square’ as an approach to art therapy with children on the autistic spectrum, International Journal of Art Therapy, 14,1, 17-28.
  • Van Lith, T., Fenner, P., Schofield, M., Pawson, Q., & Morgan, M. (2009). The role of art making in mental health recovery. La Trobe University.
  • Van Lith, T., Fenner, P., Schofield, M. Pawson, Q., & Morgan, M. (2008). Creativity, the arts and art therapy in mental health recovery: Developing a research agenda. La Trobe University.
  • Fenner, P. (1996). Heuristic research study: Self-therapy using the brief image-making experience. The Arts in Psychotherapy. 23, 1, 37 - 51.         

Research projects

Art and Mental Health Recovery  2007 - 2012 (Van Lith, T. Fenner, P. and Schofield, M. J.)