Our Team
THERAPY, PARENT COACHING, SUPERVISION
Marygrace Berberian
PhD, LCAT, ATR-BC, LCSW
Marygrace Berberian has committed her 30-year career to empowering children and adolescents with the social and emotional skills to manage this ever-changing world. Beginning her career as an art educator, Marygrace has worked with young people, ages 4 through 21, in schools, alternative programs, social agencies, psychiatric care, and shelters. Marygrace is a licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, Board-Certified, Registered Art Therapist, and trained as a Sand play Practitioner. She is well-trained in Trauma Informed Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Internal Family Systems, crisis recovery, and Dialectal Behavioral Therapy. She is currently the Director and Clinical Assistant Professor for the Graduate Art Therapy Program at New York University. Marygrace has established school-based art therapy initiatives throughout New York City for over 25 years for the NYU Art Therapy in the Schools program. Marygrace regularly trains New York City Department of Education teachers to implement creative mental health interventions in the classroom. She has spearheaded many community-wide and global crisis recovery efforts including The World Trade Center Children’s Mural Project, the Standing Tall initiative, and The Parachute Project. She also works extensively with parents to model helpful practices to aid families during periods of upheaval. Marygrace was awarded the Rawley Silver Research Award (2020) and the President’s Choice Award (2022) by the American Art Therapy Association. She is on the Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Art Therapy, the Canadian Journal of Art Therapy, and the Executive Board of the American Art Therapy Association. She has authored several chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, and a co-edited book, Art Therapy Practices for Resilient Youth: A Strengths-Based Approach to At-Promise Children and Adolescents, published in January 2020.
THERAPY, SUPERVISION
Anita Battagliola
MA, LCAT, ATR-BC
Anita is a licensed Creative Arts Therapist and Board-Certified, Registered Art Therapist. Prior to becoming a therapist, Anita worked as an elementary school teacher in various private, public, charter, and specialized educational settings. She has worked with children, adolescents, and their families for the past decade learning how best to support their social and emotional needs as they navigate life’s different stages.
Anita is committed to providing holistic, evidence-based care. She blends her Art Therapy clinical skill set with Mindfulness-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy training and leans on psychoanalytic theory and a trauma-informed approach when working with children and adolescents. Anita has worked with diverse populations and has extensive experience providing support for neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ individuals. Anita has witnessed firsthand the ways in which the developmental landscape has changed post Covid, and she works closely with educators and parents on how to meet our young people where they are today. Anita specializes in helping children and adolescents, as well as their families, feel empowered to embark on a journey of self-discovery and meaning-making to cultivate the tools necessary to navigate life with self-acceptance and a sense of agency.
Anita provides individual and group art therapy and psychotherapy services at a high school and consults for a metropolitan psychiatric facility. She has also earned advanced certification in mindfulness instruction. She is currently co-authoring a chapter specific to art therapy and adolescents for a comprehensive art therapy text.
THERAPY, SUPERVISION, PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
Rohita Kilachand
MA, MSc, LCAT-LP, ATR-BC
Rohita’s work centers around children and adults, focusing on areas such as trauma, chronic illness, and adverse life experiences.
She is a board-certified art therapist, educated and trained at New York University’s master’s in art therapy program. She also received a master’s degree in strategy from Warwick business school in England. 12 years ago, she began her journey working with (and learning from) children as a teacher with Teach for India (Teach for America’s sister program). Thereafter, she has worked with children, adolescents, families and adults from varying cultures, in school and hospital settings, managing different life challenges that include social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties; displacement; abuse; grief and loss; chronic / neurodegenerative illness; depression; anxiety; autism and developmental disabilities. Each of these experiences have further reinforced her belief in the power of arts to heal and embrace the human experience - authentically and creatively.
Currently, Rohita is a faculty member at NYU’s Graduate art therapy program where she teaches, supervises students, and supports the development of mental health programing for under served populations. She also provides consultation to the World Bank Group on mental health programming for children and adolescent displaced populations.
She continues to engage in cross-cultural clinical work with clients in India and New York.