Kendra Schpok, ATR, LCMHC
About Kendra Schpok, ATR, LCMHC - Director
A life-long artist, Kendra received a Bachelor of Fine Art in Glass/Ceramics from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1988. She ran Fisher King Stained Glass Studio in Burlington, Vermont before studying painting for two years with Vermont artists: Kate Hartley, Jeneane Lunn, Carol MacDonald, and Janet Fredricks. In 2000, she moved to Colorado to train as an art therapist, receiving a MA in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology/Art Therapy from Naropa University in 2003.
As a counselor and art therapist, Kendra worked in a variety of settings from adult and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care to children's residential treatment to outpatient community mental health, obtaining Colorado licensure in 2007 and her ATR (Registered Art Therapist) in 2009. During that time, she completed training in Internal Family Systems Therapy, a gentle approach that uses guided inner dialogue to to heal past wounds and increase one's well being.
For over ten years, Kendra worked with families and children. She partnered with Rob Meltzer, Certified Educational Consultant, family therapist, and founder of Northlight Family Services, co-leading parent support groups and providing transition coaching for families with teens returning home from residential programs. From 2006 to 2011, she worked with children ages 5 - 12 at Mount Saint Vincent, a Denver-based residential treatment center for severely maltreated children ages 3 - 13 and a flagship organization of the Child Trauma Academy founded by Dr. Bruce Perry. In 2008, Kendra co-founded the Creative Arts Therapy Program at Mount Saint Vincent, becoming clinical supervisor of a multidisciplinary team of creative arts therapists overseeing the integration of the Creative Arts Therapies throughout the programs of Mount Saint Vincent. She was a contributing author to Doodles, Dance, and Ditties: A Somatosensory Handbook (2013), a creative arts therapy intervention manual for mental health professionals and parents of children with severe trauma histories.
In addition to her work in the field of psychotherapy, Kendra is passionate about engaging others in art making and offering opportunities for community members to come together in the art studio. As Coordinator of The Naropa University Community Art Studio in Boulder, Colorado from 2004 - 2006, Kendra developed, funded, and led an arts-based entrepreneurial program for teens, mentoring both graduate students and teens in that process. From 2011 - 2012, Kendra was Director of the The Canvas Community Art Studio and Gallery at Reach in Juneau, Alaska - a program that provides a supportive environment that fosters creativity and inclusion of adults and children who experience disabilities through shared art experiences and exhibitions. She has presented nationally on the role of the community art studio and co-authored a chapter published in Art and Social Action: Treating a Wounded World (Jessica Kingsley Press, 2006). Kendra returned to Vermont, the place in the world where she feels most connected and creative in July 2013. She works with children and adults, paints in her studio, and offers art making opportunities to the community.