.png)
FOAT® Faculty
The following faculty offer workshops and trainings with the Focusing and Expressive Arts (FOAT) Institute. Please view our additional lists of Certified Focusing Trainers: Specialization in FOAT®, Certified FOAT® Practitioners, and Certified FOAT® Facilitators who offer services in various parts of the world.
Lead Faculty and Trainer
Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC, REAT, pioneered the development of Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy (FOAT®) and Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) that can be applied to clinical, educational, community, organizational, and other settings. She is the author of Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy: Accessing the Body’s Wisdom and Creative Intelligence, editor/author of Mindfulness and the Arts Therapies: Theory and Practice, and has published numerous book chapters and articles.
.jpg)
Laury has been on the faculty of the Expressive Therapies Division at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA for 40 years, where she was the Academic Coordinator of their International Expressive Arts Therapies program. Laury has also served as Associate Professor at Notre Dame de Namur University, Faculty at Sonoma State University, as well as adjunct faculty at other universities. Through the Focusing and Expressive Arts Institute, Laury has brought training programs nationally and internationally throughout the world, including at the University of Hong Kong, University of Guatemala, and in Japan.
Laury is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (CA), Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT), Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC), and a Certifying Coordinator, Focusing-Oriented Therapist, and Trainer with The International Focusing Institute (TIFI). Laury has extensive clinical experience in a wide variety of settings.
Faculty and Steering Team
Doreen Meister, MA, LMFT
Doreen is a Certified Focusing Trainer: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI), Certified FOAT® Practitioner (FOAT Institute), and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist - specializing in creative arts expression, existential contemplative psychotherapy, mindfulness, and developmental trauma. For over 15 years, she has been helping adults connect with their own natural, authentic resources to develop resilience, regulation, self-compassion and authenticity. She has a private practice in Oakland, California working virtually with individuals and groups. Her specialty areas of training include: FOAT®, guided imagery, somatic touch for resilience and regulation, self-inquiry and existential humanistic contemplative psychotherapy. In addition, Doreen has over 20 years mediation experience in non-dual traditions and expresses her creativity through jewelry design.
Grace Brillantes-Evangelista, Ph.D., RPsy
Grace is a Clinical Psychologist, Professor, and Expressive Arts-Based Practitioner from the Philippines. She is a Certified Focusing Trainer and FOT: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI) and a Certified FOAT® Practitioner (FOAT Institute). For over 20 years, Grace has woven together clinical practice, teaching, research, and community-based interventions to promote mental health and well-being. She served as Executive Director of the Integrative Lifestyle and Well-being (ILAW) Center and as Chair of the Psychology Department at Miriam College, where she continues to teach and mentor. Grace is deeply appreciated for her pioneering work in arts-based psycho-social interventions and school mental health care. She finds grounding in pottery and joy in family life.
Lynn Pollock, MA, LMHC, REAT
Lynn received her Master’s degree in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Massachusetts. She is a Certified Focusing Trainer and FOT: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI) and Certified FOAT® Practitioner (FOAT Institute). Her clinical work includes over 17 years of experience in community-based services and private practice. She specializes in working with adults who struggle with mood, anxiety, trauma, and adjustment issues, and is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR). In addition to being Faculty at the FOAT Institute, Lynn offers Approved FOAT® Training courses through her own platform, Expressive You. She is the co-producer of a series of training videos, Creative Inspirations from the Field: Staying Engaged with the Arts.
Marise Lariviere, LMFT, ATR, TCF
Marise received her Master’s degree in Art Therapy and Marriage and Family Therapy from Notre Dame de Namur University in California. She is a Certified Focusing Trainer: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI), a Certified Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) Practitioner (FOAT Institute), and a Registered Art Therapist with the the American Art Therapy Association. Marise’s passion for the visual arts inspired her to acquire artistic skills in a variety of media and to experience the profound value of art for self-expression. She now uses the expressive arts to help others access their own inner knowing for positive growth and healing through a wide range of mindful creative experiences. Marise is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and Quebec, Canada.
International Faculty
Hong Kong
Grace Wing Yee Chan, BFA, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT,
Grace graduated from New York University with a Master's degree in Art Therapy. She is a Board-Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC) with ATCB in the U.S. and a Certified Focusing-Oriented Therapist: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI). Grace previously worked as a Creative Arts Therapist in the psychiatric unit of New York City Hospital. Since returning to Hong Kong, she works full-time at NGO’s rehabilitation service. Grace serves in individual and group settings for a wide scope of population, including people with mental and physical challenges, elderly with dementia, children with special needs (SEN), as well as their caregivers. She is currently a Focusing Coordinator-in-Training at TIFI, specializing in FOAT®.
Katherine Kwok, FOT, RMT, NICU-MT, MIFA
Katherine is a Certified Focusing-Oriented Therapist: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI), Certified Children Focusing Trainer, Registered Music Therapist, recognized music and imagery therapist, certified neonatal intensive care unit music therapist, and registered aromatherapist. She has a Master's degree in Music and Music Therapy– and is a clinical placement supervisor for Music Therapy Master’s degree students. Her specialty is integrating music, images, sound, and other bodily senses for wellness, emotion regulation, and mental health. Katherine offers psychotherapy services for people with mental illness, cancer patients, elderly (dementia), students (SEN, emotional problem, anxiety), caregivers, family with premature infants, bereavement, etc. Katherine offers professional training for helping professionals and therapists, and is a Focusing Coordinator-in-Training at TIFI, specializing in FOAT®.
Guatemala
Lic. Evelyn Ammon
Evelyn is a Certified Focusing Trainer and FOT: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI) and a Certified FOAT® Practitioner (FOAT Institute). She graduated from Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala with a BA degree in Clinical Psychology. Evelyn was an Organizing Member of the Symposium “Weaving the Americas,” sponsored by the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). Evelyn also worked for 18 years as a volunteer psychologist in a home for at-risk girls using art therapy techniques that she learned in various workshops and symposia abroad with Maria Gonzalez Blue and Graciela Bottini, who trained with Dr. Natalie Rogers in Person-Centered Expressive Arts. Evelyn currently works in private practice, where she also incorporates EMDR and Neurolinguistics in her clinical work.
Lic. Frances Ingouville
Frances is a Certified Focusing Trainer: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI) and Certified FOAT® Facilitator (FOAT Institute). She graduated from the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute (PCETI) in Argentina and received her degree in Psychology from The Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG). Frances has taken on leadership roles to help bring the Expressive Arts Therapies to Guatemala including the following: being a organizing member of the International Expressive Arts Therapy (IEATA) symposium in Guatemala, Regional Coordinator for the IEATA Guatemala’s symposium “Weaving the Americas”. She has also been involved in assisting and teaching in the Post-Graduate Program in Expressive Arts Therapy at UVG, as well as offering workshops in their Continuing Education Program. Frances has been the translator for Dr. Laury Rappaport’s teaching FOAT® at UVG and was Assistant Faculty for the Levels 1 and 2 courses in May 2021. She is passionate about teaching FOAT® in the Spanish speaking world.
