Gretchen Hillhouse, Director
Gretchen Hillhouse, Director of Artly Therapy
Gretchen Hillhouse is an accredited Neuro-Associative clinician and holds a postgraduate degree in Visual Art with 30 years’ experience of arts practice and 10 years’ experience of therapeutic practice. Her work is trauma-informed and evidence based.
Gretchen is an accredited practitioner of Time Line Therapy, Hypnotic Languaging, Extend DISC, Neuro-Associative Conditioning and is an internationally certified Master of Neuro-Linguistic Practice. A fully qualified, internationally certified Life Coach, Business Coach and Leadership Coach, Gretchen’s approach is holistic and often combines aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and Neuro-associative Life Coaching with somatic aspects of Art Therapy.
Gretchen has a particular interest in supporting sensory integration in neuro-diverse clients on the Autism spectrum and with ADHD. Her work is informed by lived experience supporting neuro-divergent family members (Autism and ADHD) as well as her own experience as a neuro-divergent Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).
With history of working with clients who have experienced torture and complex trauma; are differently abled or for whom English is a second language, Gretchen enjoys working with clients from many varied backgrounds. She brings an intersectional focus to her work, acknowledging that we are all informed by our varied positions within the dominant culture and that racial and gendered norms play an integral part in shaping our individual experience of the world.
Gretchen is committed to enabling access to the mental health benefits of therapeutic art and Life Coaching for as many people as possible, regardless of ability or geographic, economic or social location.
Dr. Amanda Musicka-Williams,
Program Author
An ANZACATA registered Creative Arts Therapist, Dr. Amanda Musicka-Williams completed her Masters in Drama and Movement Therapy at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London in 2004 and her PhD in 2020.
She has been practicing in Australia since 2005 with a wide variety of client groups, including young people with disabilities in school and communal settings, youth/adults in psychiatric care/community mental health, individuals in the justice system and youth in flexi-learning programs and young people who have experienced family violence
Amanda has also been involved in supporting staff in special education and mainstream settings to integrate creative arts therapies into the classroom to support social and emotional learning and life skill development. She has 17 years’ experience using creative arts therapies with young people as both a therapeutic and educational tool.
Amanda currently lectures in Professional Practice and Dramatherapy Methods at Melbourne University's Creative Arts Therapies Master’s Program.
Vanessa Johnstone,
Art Therapist
Vanessa’s life’s work lays at the intersection of creativity and nurturance.
An art therapist of 25 years’ experience, Vanessa holds Post graduate qualifications in Fine Arts from RMIT, Melbourne ,Victoria and a Diploma of Transpersonal Art Therapy from the Phoenix Institute in Prahran, Victoria. Vanessa also earnt a Diploma in Shamanic Studies which informs her ability to actively hold the space for a broad range of people with varied abilities to explore their creative potential.
Vanessa has a long held interest in community building and inclusion and has worked in schools, community art contexts, and art teaching in the disability sector. Particularly skilled at working with children on the Autism spectrum, Vanessa has facilitated programs in imaginative play and in afterschool care programs.
Vanessa’s community art project delivery includes programs for people with Dementia through Bendigo Art Gallery, a Grief and Loss Program for Castlemaine Health, and a gardens and mosaics project for disenfranchised people in six primary schools.
Vanessa loves empowering people to get in touch with their own creative process and has a special commitment to children. She comes from a place of acceptance, acknowledging where individuals are at in a wholistic sense, identifying their strengths, and facilitating the fullness of expression of who they are.
Jo Fraser,
Program Advisor
Jo Fraser holds a master’s degree in social work and has 8 years’ experience within non-government mental health services and with clinical mental health services in residential prevention and recovery care.
Jo has extensive working knowledge of the Mental Health Act, recovery model of care, trauma informed practice, and has expertise in biopsychosocial model of care and evidence-based psychological interventions (Mindfulness, CBT, ACT)
Jo is a compassionate advocate for individuals and is also an experienced art/psycho-educational group facilitator, able to harness the strength of the group to create therapeutic environments for people to process their traumatic experiences and foster healing.
Thirty years’ professional experience as an arts practitioner and educator prior to working in mental health has offered Jo extensive experience working with a variety of arts media and the creative ability to design effective therapeutic interventions suited to specific individuals and groups.
Sarah Sivaraman,
Associate Art Therapist
Sarah holds a Masters Degree in Creative Art Therapy and has over 10 years experience working creatively and therapeutically in both community and health settings.
Sarah has developed, and currently delivers, a program for the Starlight Children’s Foundation that works in partnership with health professionals to facilitate meaningful experiences of joy and connection for children receiving palliative care, and their families.
This has afforded her extensive experience working within the fields of grief and bereavement and program development.
Sarah is passionate about every child's right to a safe, healthy and engaging childhood, and is particularly interested in the role of play within health and well-being.