Carey MacCarthy, MA, ATR, LPCC, Founder/CEO of START UP! Art Therapy, Trauma Expert, Art Therapist, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Presenter, Researcher, and Author was recently selected as Top Art Therapist Year for 2024 by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) for her outstanding leadership, dedication, and commitment to the industry.
Inclusion with the International Association of Top Professionals is an honor in itself; only a few members in each discipline are chosen for this distinction. These special honorees are distinguished based on their professional accomplishments, academic achievements, leadership abilities, longevity in the field, other affiliations, and contributions to their communities. All Honorees are invited to attend the IAOTP annual award gala at the end of this year for a night to honor their achievements.
With more than two decades of experience in the Psychology industry, Carey has certainly proven herself as a seasoned and trusted professional in the field of Art Therapy. She is a dynamic, results-driven leader who has demonstrated success and professionalism throughout her entire career. Carey has been working in the field of Art Therapy since 2001. Over the years, she has provided training to thousands of mental health professionals, coaches, and educators. Through her work, she has successfully healed numerous patients from diverse populations, specializing in child and adult trauma. Carey’s passion and expertise is healing Intergenerational and Historical trauma within Native American Tribal Nations, rebuilding the First Nations People and believes it is our sacred responsibility to right the wrongs of the past.
This is why she originally founded START UP! Art Therapy To Rewire Your Brain™, in 2014 (originally Indigenous Healing Arts Alliance 501c3), training educators, therapists and coaches in the START UP! Art Therapy Whole Brain Healing System™; a trauma-informed, culturally competent trauma treatment program for the K-12 classroom and therapy office, putting mental health into the classroom as prevention and early intervention. The START UP! Art Therapy Whole Brain Healing System™ is scientifically proven to rewire the brain from depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADD & ADHD, while fostering relaxation, coping skills, emotional regulation, self-esteem, heathy boundaries, identity formation & more. START UP! Art Therapy empowers mental health professionals & educators to learn & implement a trauma treatment curriculum in Tribal classrooms as well as in classrooms in Non-Tribal schools to reduce trauma symptoms that lead to substance use & suicide, improve behaviors and IQ’s, while addressing inter-generational and historical trauma in Native American Youth and all Cultures.
START UP! Art Therapy™ is a program that utilizes Neurodevelopmental Art Therapy (NDAT), pioneered by renowned Art Therapist, Linda Chapman, colleague, and co-author of Carey. Linda Chapman retired in 2017 and has handed her work over to Carey to continue its development and global reach. START UP! Art Therapy™ engages the 4 functioning structures of the brain with specific Art Therapy Directives that develop physical, emotional, cognitive homeostasis, and develops the executive functioning part of the brain for improved decision-making, problem-solving, empathy, compassion, wisdom and, importantly, understanding right from wrong. START UP! Art Therapy literally rewires the brain to help children and adults alike, to prevent and recover from trauma. Engaging in this this program can effectively rewire the brain, and also facilitates reduced stress levels, healing and personal /spiritual growth while having fun.
Through Carey’s research, it was shown that The START UP! Art Therapy Whole Brain Healing System™ is the foundational building block to learning, to develop the nervous system, sensory motor, emotional/perceptual & cognition, crucial to learning academics. It’s a bottom-up and left/right brain integration = a Whole Brain Healing, creating optimal brain function so children can learn academics, as well as daily life skills. START UP! starts up the brain, giving every child the key they need to succeed.
START UP! Art Therapy Whole Brain Healing System™ is currently being offered in Tribal/non-Tribal schools and juvenile detention centers throughout the country. Carey’s goal is make START UP! Art Therapy Whole Brain Healing System™ a National Mental Health model as a mandatory curriculum in schools, juvenile detention systems, behavioral health, adolescent substance rehabilitations and residential schools across the U.S., as well as translate the START UP! Art Therapy System™ into other languages to offer globally and in war zones abroad.
Today, Start Up! is an inclusive online platform that can be accessed by individuals of all cultures and age groups. The primary objective of this program is to assist in reducing the impact of different mental health conditions and behaviors, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression, Anxiety, Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), Substance Abuse, Suicide, and other related issues. Additionally, it serves as an early intervention tool designed to prevent the emergence of symptoms later in life that are associated with a range of conditions, such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Pain, and others. A number of these conditions are associated with a chronic stress response and dysfunction of the limbic system, which typically originates in childhood.
Carey obtained a Master’s in Psychology from Sonoma State University in 2005 and has an impressive repertoire of prior roles. For 12 years, she served as the Founder, Executive Director, Art Therapist, and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor at the Indigenous Healing Arts Alliance and rebranded in 2021 as START UP! Art Therapy To Rewire Your Brain™. In addition, she worked as an Art Therapist at St. Joseph’s Health System, a Physical Rehabilitation Hospital and with the U.S. Federal government in Indian Health Services hospitals.
Throughout her illustrious career, Carey has received many awards and accolades and has been recognized worldwide for her accomplishments. This year she will be considered for the Empowered Woman Award and to be featured in TIP (Top Industry Professionals) Magazine. She will be honored at IAOTP’s annual awards gala at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville next December for her selection as Top Art Therapist of the Year.
Aside from her role as the Founder, CEO, and Facilitator of START UP!™, she has co-authored the book START UP!™: A School-Based Arts Curriculum for Native American Youth and ALL Cultures: Interventions for Development and Learning, Facilitators Manual© (Amazon Kindle 2017). Additionally, Carey is a contributing author to the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association and Executive Contributor to BRAINZ Magazine. She is also a researcher, having conducted scientific research in collaboration with South Dakota State University on the efficacy of the START UP! Art Therapy Program within the Tribal classroom.
The President of the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP), Stephanie Cirami, stated: “Choosing Carey for this honor was an easy decision for our panel to make. She is inspirational, influential, and a true visionary and thought leader. We cannot wait to meet her and celebrate her accomplishments at this year’s gala.”
Looking back, Carey attributes her success to her perseverance, work ethic, and the mentors she has had along the way, as well as her own history as a trauma survivor, compelling her commitment to heal the children. When not working, she enjoys traveling, boogie boarding and being a beach bum, doing art (of course) and spending time with her family.
Her mission is to help rebuild the First Nations People one classroom at a time. Carey believes that healing should be accessible to ALL People of ALL Ages & ALL Cultures, regardless of economic status. Carey believes that if every child has access to healing in the classroom K-12, we will have healthier generations of children becoming healthier adults with the ability to make healthier decisions for the people and the planet. Simple…Heal the People. Heal the Planet.
Join her in her movement to Heal the People & Heal the Planet.
For more information on Carey MacCarthy please visit: www.startuparttherapy.com/
Contact directly: carey@startuparttherapy.com
About IAOTP
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