Elisha-Rio P. Apilado, LPC, ATR-P is an artist, dancer, and art therapist from Chicago, Illinois. She worked in advertising as a graphic designer/art director for 10 years before switching careers to art therapy. Recently graduated from Adler University, Elisha is currently a therapist fellow at Empower Family Therapy.

She is on a mission to advocate the importance of expressive arts therapy and how it can be utilized to break the stigma surrounding mental health, specifically within the Filipino/a/x community. Her focus is on using the arts to open up communication about colorism and the long-term effects of colonialism. When she’s not advocating for the importance of a multiculturally-informed approach to counseling, she is busily training at the dance studio or traveling to complete an art bucket list: see each city’s art museum at least once.

Links:

Instagram: @erio.art.therapinay & @the.art.therapinay

Twitter: @elishario_

Artist Statement

If you'd like to be featured on an episode of My Relationship With... Check out https://myrelationshipwithpodcast.com/

Garrett Shotwell is the owner and a psychotherapist at Illumination Psychotherapy, PLLC, and lives in Chicago with his husband and three pups.

Follow Garrett:

Twitter: @garrett_lcsw