The Arts, Health, and Society Division Newsletter – July
Embracing Embodiment:
Reflections from Summer Session 2
Summer Session 2 was rich and full. We celebrated the launch of Judith Greer Essex’s new book, Mastering the Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2025) — a beautiful distillation of Paolo Knill’s foundational theories, drawn from fifty years of practice.
Our community arts unfolded across many modalities — movement, voice, instruments, and the visual.
Richard Wainwright gave a lecture on creative forms of research — inquiry that transgresses established patterns and opens new possibilities in our field — and also reflected on AI and the Expressive Arts. Magdalena Karlick presented her doctoral dissertation, Responsibility to the Group: Facilitation, Community Building, and Emergence in Therapeutic Arts Education, an arts-based autoethnography on the embodied responsibility of the educator who holds a learning community. Ellen Levine offered her lecture on EXA and parades, and the next day we did a community art “parade “ format where as a community we celebrate: live, hope, creativity and love and we did the parade around Saas Fee.
And what a celebration to close: fifteen students completed the qualifying phase of the doctoral program and are now stepping into their own research, and one student, Magdalena Karlick, graduated with her PhD in Expressive Arts.
Throughout, we continued to explore this year’s theme of the murmuration, together with the faculty present this session: Shabrae Jackson, Ellen Levine, Greer Essex, Richard Wainwright, Carrie Macleod, Judith Alalú, and the program directors.
See you next year in Saas Fee!
(Photo Sources: Hannah Mourad, Felipe Viveros)
The AHS accepts applications for Summer Sessions on a rolling basis. To learn more about our academic programs, please click below:
Learn More about Professional Development at EGS
Expressive Arts and Global Health Program in Malta (Fall Course)
October 22nd – 31st, 2026
DEADLINE TO REGISTER – SEPTEMBER 30th 2026!
Limited Spots Available for this year’s course!
The Expressive Arts and Global Health program provides didactic learning and practical skills training for artists, peacebuilders, humanitarian workers, health care providers, teachers, and change agents from all fields who work with individuals, groups, and communities experiencing traumatic stress and crisis.
For those working in the intersection of conflict and the arts, it is imperative that we acquire knowledge about how the arts can enhance identity, safety and resilience in communities. This course will explore the different schools within the fields of conflict, as well as highlight various arts-based peacebuilding methods and community engagement techniques
Jack Saul Ph.D., a psychologist and artist, is the founding director of the International Trauma Studies Program (ITSP), a research and training institute based in New York City. He has served on the faculties of New York University School of Medicine, the New School for Social Research, and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. As a psychologist and family therapist, he has created a number of programs both in New York City and abroad for populations that have endured disaster, war, torture, and political violence, documented in his book Collective Trauma, Collective Healing, Routledge Mental Health Classic Series (2022). Dr. Saul is currently working on the public arts and conversation project entitled Moral Injuries of War about the need to have a national public reckoning on United States war-making and war culture.
Save your seat now! If you wish to learn more, please click below. If you are interested in joining our email list, please email administration@egs.edu.
Learn More about the Program
(Photo Sources: Shabrae Jackson, Megan Paterson-Brown, Jack Saul, PhD)
Yeterince İyi Kolektif
Phenomenological Psychopathology Webinar Series with
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs
About the Series
Whatever theoretical background mental health professionals come from, they ultimately sit with the unique lived experience of the person in front of them. Phenomenological psychopathology is a research and clinical framework developed at the intersection of philosophy and psychiatry — one that creates space to hear that experience: how a person lives time, what is happening in their body, where their capacity to be with others is under strain, without reducing any of it to diagnoses or symptoms. Rooted in Jaspers’ principle that “psychiatry must first understand, then explain,” this tradition places the transformation of a person’s relationship with the world at its center. As Yeterince İyi Kolektif (Good Enough Collective), we have designed a five-session webinar series in October 2026 to bring this approach, led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs, into dialogue with mental health practice.
About Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs is the Chair of the Karl Jaspers Professorship for Philosophy and Psychiatry at Heidelberg University both a psychiatrist and a philosopher, and one of the most important contemporary figures in the field of phenomenological psychopathology. His work sits at the intersection of philosophy, psychiatry, and neuroscience. He asks how body, time, and relationship are transformed in mental illness, and answers that question with both theoretical depth and clinical precision. His books, translated into many languages, continue to shape psychiatric and psychological practice worldwide. For Fuchs, mental illness is not a brain disorder, it is a transformation in how a person relates to the world. And psychotherapy is the effort to make that relationship possible again.
Programme
Sessions
The series consists of five online sessions, each 90 minutes in length.
Session Topic Date Time (GMT/TRT)
Session 1 Ground: Why Phenomenology? What Have We Lost in Psychiatry?
Main theme: The limits of the DSM, the understanding/explanation distinction, the clinical importance of the phenomenological attitude.
26.10.2026 17.00 / 20.00
Session 2 Body: The Lived Body and Mental Illness
Main theme: Hyperembodiment (depression), disembodiment (schizophrenia). Phenomenological
observation for the clinician [Session title / topic]
09.11.2026 17.00 / 20.00
Session 3 Time: The Disruption of Inner Time
Main theme: The transformation of temporal structure in melancholia, psychosis, and obsession. Introduction to the EASE instrument.
23.11.2026 17.00 / 20.00
Session 4 Being-With: Intercorporeality and Psychopathology
Main theme: Enactivism, intersubjectivity, the phenomenology of the therapeutic relationship.
07.12.2026 17.00 / 20.00
Session 5 Integration: What Is the Phenomenological Attitude Good for in Clinical Practice?
Main theme: The embodiment of the phenomenological attitude. Case discussions. Looking ahead.
21.12.2026 17.00 / 20.00
Session Format
• Each session includes a presentation by Prof. Fuchs followed by a discussion and Q&A segment.
• Sessions will be conducted in English with simultaneous Turkish interpretation.
• Participants outside Turkey are welcome to join.
• Sessions will be recorded and shared with registered participants for a limited time.
Note: the final 30 minutes of each session (discussion and Q&A) will not be included in the recordings.
Registration & Conditions
Who Can Attend
• The series is designed for clinicians and academics working in the field of mental health.
• Open to international participants.
Participation Certificate
A certificate of participation will be issued to participants who attend at least 60% of the sessions (a minimum of 3 out of 5 sessions).
Fee & Registration Fee:
Early Registration Fees
Student / Resident: €200 + VAT (€240 VAT included)
Specialist / Clinician: €320 + VAT (€384 VAT included)
Late Registration Fees
Student / Resident: €270 + VAT (€324 VAT included)
Specialist / Clinician: €420 + VAT (€504 VAT included)
Please note:
VAT regulations may differ for participants registering from outside Turkey. Please contact us for further information.
The registration fee must be calculated in Turkish Lira based on the exchange rate on the date of payment. Payment may also be made in Euros.
To complete your registration, you must fill out the form in full and upload your proof of payment to the relevant field. Applications will be finalized upon confirmation of payment.
Participants registering under the Student/Resident category are also required to upload a current student certificate to the relevant field.
Payment Details
IBAN: TR43 0001 0006 7997 8290 0850 01 (Turkish Lira Account)
IBAN: TR16 0001 0006 7997 8290 0850 02 (Euro Account) – SWIFT Code: TCZBTR2A
Recipient: Yeterince İyi Kolektif Danışmanlık Eğitim Organizasyon ve Yayıncılık
Registration form: https://docs.google.com/
Registration deadline: The early registration period runs until August 15, 2026. Registration
ends on October 01, 2026.
Contact & More Information
Organisation: Yeterince İyi Kolektif (Good Enough Collective)
Website: yeterinceiyikolektif.com
Email: yeterinceiyiegitim@gmail.com
Instagram: @yeterinceiyikolektif
(Photo Source: Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs)
Issue Theme: Power to the Imagination
Submission Categories – The issue will include three sections:
● Poetry, creative writing, and visual art
● Essays and reflections responding to the issue theme
● Peer-reviewed research engaging inquiry through the arts
Research submissions may respond directly to the theme, although this is not required. Submissions to the research section will undergo peer review by members of the journal’s newly formed Editorial Board.
Invitation
We invite submissions that approach imagination as a practice of transgression.
Contributions may work through poetry, image, movement, performance, story, field notes, clinical reflection, research, or other forms of inquiry.
We are especially interested in work that asks how the arts can intervene in knowledge, care, therapy, education, community, and social life. We welcome contributions that explore what the arts can know, make, disturb, and transform.
Submissions and Inquiries: Please contact the Co-Editors with submissions or inquiries concerning the forthcoming issue:
Tatjana Jansen: tatjana.jansen@egs.edu
Richard Wainwright: richard.wainwright@egs.edu
Submission deadlines and detailed author guidelines will be announced shortly.
Online Information Sessions
We now have dates confirmed for our Information Sessions for the Masters Program, PhD Program, and Professional Development (Continuing Education), with Lucía de Urioste, Student Advisor, and José Miguel Calderón, PhD, Program Director:
- September 29, 2026
- October 27, 2026
- December 8, 2026
- January 26, 2027
- March 16, 2027
Time: 16:00–17:30 CET (Central European Time)
If you want to join, please send us a message with your name and interest (administration@egs.edu).
Tune in to the EGS Arts, Health & Society Podcast
The AHS Podcast is your ongoing connection to the EGS community. Right now, we are celebrating our 30th Anniversary with a special series of conversations featuring our pioneer faculty. As we continue to roll out new episodes, you will hear fresh dialogues diving deep into the latest developments, theories, and practices in the Expressive Arts.
Don’t miss out on these inspiring dialogues. Subscribe today on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to get notified whenever a new episode drops!
** Announcements **
For PhD students – Please contact PhD Program director, José Miguel Calderon, if you would like to be included in monthly PhD meetings with your peers.
Our alumni are the torchbearers of our institution’s legacy, and it is our mission to create a platform that not only keeps you connected with peers but also offers opportunities for professional development, networking, and personal growth.
You can get involved by joining as a general member of our alumni community, or for a more active role, you can be a part of the EGS Alumni Committee! You could also help defer the cost of tuition for a current student by donating any amount in honor of a student you know or to the general tuition fund.
We can’t wait to welcome you and build a thriving EGS Alumni Community together. Reach out today and take the first step towards reconnecting with your alma mater and fellow graduates!
(Photo Source: Fulya Musnitsky)
(Photo Source: Long Him Issac Wong)