Freddy Malone

Education: BA Developmental Psychology, 1998, DePaul University, Chicago; MAAT, 2002, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Licenses:  LCPC licensure, 2003, Illinois; ATR credential, 2009, Illinois. Bibliography: Catholic Charities Spirit Magazine.

Currently, I am an art therapist and clinical manager for the Inspiring Hope program at Catholic Charities, under the Youth and Family Therapeutic Services department. I began working with Catholic Charities as a clinical subcontractor shortly after graduating from SAIC in 2002. My career has centered on clinical work with individuals, families, groups and children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences and complex traumas. For over 15 years, I have worked primarily with those impacted by the child welfare system and community violence, with a specific focus on victims of child abuse.

In my work as an art therapist, I have focused on integrating trauma-informed practices along with the art making process in order to facilitate clients’ abilities to improve functioning across multiple domains. My clinical frameworks include Jungian, relational, systems and developmental theories that help inform my practice with clients. I use art as a process to assist clients in gaining insight, developing coping skills and emotional and behavioral regulation and modulation, as it pertains to their trauma processing. Additionally, I received training in Trauma-Focused CBT and EMDR, became a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and adapted art making to these interventions in order to facilitate regulation and the integration of traumatic experiences. My work with clients often includes drawing, sculpting and origami/paper folding for bilateral stimulation of the brain to further trauma processing, as well as using mask making for the narrative component of trauma processing by focusing on the dynamic of the inside-outside self.