REJI MATHEW, PHD, LCSW, REAT
REGISTERED EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPIST
MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATOR
INTERMODAL ARTIST
Pronouns: (she/her/hers)
The expressive arts are central to my worldview, work, life, and social activism. I am an award-winning intermodal artist, thinker, educator, and neuroscience-informed psychotherapist. Integrating different art forms is intrinsic to my creative process and therapeutic approach. My philosophy for therapeutic expressive arts is grounded in several core principles that inform my approach to healing, teaching, and training.
My therapeutic worldview is based on narratology and narrative therapy. This intersects with a commitment to understanding our complex identities, including class, culture, location, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and accessibility. I begin my understanding of a person in the context of time, place, and culture.
My therapeutic worldview is based on narratology and narrative therapy. This intersects with a commitment to understanding our complex identities, including class, culture, location, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and accessibility. I begin my understanding of a person in the context of time, place, and culture.
My graduate education in social work, cultural studies, and community health at New York University shaped my therapeutic framework. I specialize in evidence-based treatment approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), mindfulness, positive psychology (PP), resiliency, and mind-body wellness. My approach is also trauma-informed, and I have trained in eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR).
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Human experience can sometimes defy language, and the arts can provide the safety of aesthetic distance and limitless accessible entry points through movement, sound, story, art, and imagination to find one's narrative. In the expressive arts, intermodal is a concept that offers the arts as a processing tool. The "intermodal invitation" conceptualization guides my counseling approach; specifically, how does this person or community enter their inner world?
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In my expressive training, I have built a broad palette: for art, I work with digital animation, drawing, and sketching as my visual processing tools. For writing and poetry, my background in journalistic writing helps me understand how narratives are constructed and re-imagined.
My storytelling is informed by my education in academia, mental health, social work, and community advocacy. I am currently the Arts Reporter for the Disastershock Arts & Recovery team and am curating a narrative on the role of the arts in trauma recovery and a secondary Dance for Health, Movement Stories Project initiative. |
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In drama, I specialize in using improv as a tool to cultivate spontaneity. I also have a passion for cinema therapy, using short films as a tool for processing complex emotions. Lastly, dance/movement and music are intertwined expressive forms for me. As a disability and accessibility advocate, I have both studied and witnessed firsthand the power of music, movement, and imagery as a resource in neuro-medical-rehabilitation recovery. The Dance for PD (Parkinson's Disease) model is a powerful source of inspiration for me, informing my creative process and philosophy.
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In my expressive arts training, I have also learned that each person has an expressive range, and methods of therapeutic expressive play can be a path for self-expansion, problem-solving, and developmental growth. In 2020, I received an ARTS Leadership award from BRIDGES, the Rockland Independent Living Center, for my community-based arts initiatives.
As a street academic, I present in settings ranging from non-profits to hospitals, primarily speaking on providing mental health coping skills education with culturally affirming attunement. I collaborate with various communities to teach evidence-based psychotherapy models integrated with an expressive approach to healing and well-being. |
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For my own arts-based work, I am an intermodal artist. My current art practice includes arts advocacy and art creation. My art installations are intermodal, and I create work in several mediums: visual, narrative, animation, and live spoken-word performance. My art explores themes of wonder, resiliency, and expressive play. In my Expressive Arts advocacy work, I serve on several boards and advisory committees:
- BRIDGES, (CIL): Rockland Center for Independent Living Center: Board Member
- Rockland Music Conservatory (RMC): Advisory Board member
- Daniel's Music Foundation (DMF): Advisory Board member
- Anti-Racist Art Teachers (ARAT): Arts Accessibility Advisory Board
- International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA): Board Member
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Expressive arts are my lifelong path of healing, discovery, and integration of mind, body, spirit, and imagination. Having a neuromuscular condition and relying on a complex set of mobility/adaptive equipment presents a constant challenge to accessing my inner resilience. When I realized that my medical condition is an evolving journey, I had to accept pivoting as a way of life. Music, specifically percussion studies, is a significant source of inspiration for me. Percussion serves as an incredible metaphor for the art of improvisation and the hope that inner musicality offers. Percussive notes can be soft, loud, nuanced, and inserted at any pace in a musical composition. What I've learned through the study of percussion is that I can access a percussive mindset and improvise my way through my day at any pace. My musical palette includes the voice, percussion - cajon, shaker, clave, and the piano.
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In other words, I've learned how to honor and work with the pace of my body as an improvisational challenge, not just a stressor, no matter how hard the day. The mission of my work is to teach the benefits of cultivating inner artistry as a direct problem-solving tool to address life challenges. I live my daily life with the spirit of this mission.
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COPYRIGHTNo part of this web site or blog may be reproduced without written consent from the author. Reji Mathew, PhD- Writer © 2022. All Rights Reserved.
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DISCLAIMERThe content and suggested links on this Web site are for educational purposes only. They are not meant to substitute for advice from your health care provider.
If you are in need of medical, therapeutic, or wellness care, please see a medical doctor or other qualified health care provider. |
