Healing Pathways: Reclaiming Art and Spirituality

Art and spirituality can be healing pathways for survivors of multiple forms of trauma including the trauma of oppression. Art, spirituality, and religious community have been a source of hope, healing, and empowerment for many. Drawing on the artworks of Otherwise/Revival and her own backgrounds in trauma studies and in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. Thema will explore ways art and spirituality have enhanced wellness as well as ways they have been misused as tools of trauma. By exploring these realities, Dr. Thema points the way forward in examining how to apply art and faith to bring liberation not further harm.

Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis is a licensed psychologist, ordained minister, and sacred artist who has worked nationally and globally to provide relief and empowerment to marginalized persons. She is a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and the past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women. She has edited and co-edited books on recovery from sexual violence, spirituality and religion in women’s lives, and womanist and mujerista psychologies. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed books including Thriving in the Wake of Trauma: A Multicultural Guide. Her work is based in an interdisciplinary understanding of spirituality, gender, culture and psychology.