MITCHELL KOSSAK

Mitchell is a professor in the Department of Graduate Expressive Therapies at Lesley University. He served as Department Chair from 2006 to 2013. He has been the President and Executive Co-Chair for the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) since 2010. He has been a licensed mental health counselor, since 1994, and is a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT).

He is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Arts and Health and Co-Chair of the Institute for Arts and Health at Lesley University. His clinical work combines expressive arts therapies with body-centered approaches to a variety of populations addressing issues such as chronic pain, recovery from trauma, depression, anxiety, life transitions, and relationships. In addition, he has worked extensively with autistic children and adults.

Mitchell has trained in a variety of mind-body modalities including Polarity Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy, Deep Tissue Massage, and Bioenergetics. In Expressive Arts Therapies, he has training in music therapy, experimental theater, psychodrama, and authentic movement. He studied Sound Healing with innovators in the field of sacred sound and transformation of consciousness, such as Dr. John Beaulieu author of Music and Sound in the Healing Arts, and Silvia Nakkach director of the Vox Mundi Project. In addition to this training, he has studied and practiced energy-based healing forms such as Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Vipassana meditation, and Iyengar yoga for over 30 years.

He earned his doctorate from the Union Institute and University in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy and transpersonal psychology. He has written about and presented his research on rhythmic attunement, improvisation, psychospiritual and community-based approaches to working with trauma and embodied states of consciousness at conferences nationally and internationally. He is the author of Attunement in Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward an Understanding of Embodied Empathy. He is the Associate Editor of The Journal of Applied Arts and Health and Co-Chair of the Institute for Arts and Health at Lesley University.

Mitchell Kossak is also a professional musician, performing for the past 30 years in the Boston area.