Lauren Chester

Lauren Chester (she/they) is a registered and board-certified art therapist (ATR-BC) who is passionate about cultivating environments where people can practice sharing their whole selves. Lauren believes in the process of art as a conduit for communication and expression and is passionate about the use of art to encourage meaningful conversations. Lauren’s practice of Art Therapy has been heavily influenced by the Disability Justice and Healing Justice movements and is non-hierarchical, co-creative, and gender-affirming. Lauren’s journey as a clinician began with formal education (a Bachelor’s of Fine Art at the University of Georgia and a Master’s of Professional Studies in Art Therapy from the School of Visual Arts in New York City). However after navigating a major health crisis in 2013 Lauren became passionate about understanding how our minds and bodies can work together, and pursued additional training in supportive modalities, such as yoga (200-hour plus additional training in restoratives and trauma sensitive yoga), Hypnotherapy (Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist) and Herbalism (Certified Herbalist). Lauren has worked in a wide range of clinical and community-based settings and with a range of populations in over 14 years of experience, including: schools (K-12), hospitals, affordable housing, day treatment, and HIV treatment and prevention. Lauren focuses on work with clients who are navigating: grief, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation, addiction, trauma and themes of identity such as gender and sexuality. A significant portion of Lauren’s clinical work (6 years) has been with supporting clients who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. When not working in Art Therapy, Lauren spends time loving their rescue dog and bestie Tucker, learning about motorcycles and digging around in the leaves for mushrooms. Future goals include building out a schoolie as a mobile art studio, and using it to host meaningful conversations in the community through art making.