Clinical art therapist, musician, and president of the New York Art Therapy Association, Nicole Porter, announces the September 15 release of Calming a Panic, an exuberant healing arts album for children and families by her band You and Us.
Like the band’s critically acclaimed 2022 release, For Children of All Ages, Calming a Panic applies art therapy techniques to upbeat rock and pop music with a lighthearted, feel-good vibe of caring and belonging.
You and Us aims to raise awareness of early childhood intervention and advocacy. Amidst today’s global child mental health crisis, Nicole Porter says her “greatest hope is to elevate joy and open hearts to the transformative power of creativity and the riches that can be uncovered through arts therapy. Our band creates fun children’s music with a deeper intention for transformative growth.”
With arrangements that incorporate elements of rock, jazz, classical, and show tunes, Calming a Panic reflects the human experience in a child-friendly way. The album deals with overcoming the small moments in a child’s world that can seem large and sometimes frightening. You and Us faces this with enthusiasm, helping families engage, acknowledge, change for the better, and live in the moment.
About Nicole Porter:
Specializing in early childhood acute assessment, trauma treatment, family advocacy, and community education, Nicole Porter works as a clinical director, art therapist, and artist. Nicole oversaw child therapy in the days following the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. The processes and tools developed with the Newtown families inspired her to establish a mental health organization and art therapy trauma response team, the Emerald Sketch, which mobilizes clinicians to set up sustainable creative arts therapy services following disasters or traumatic events throughout the United States and globally. Among the greatest beneficiaries of the Emerald Sketch Creative Arts therapy services are traumatized children who have been exposed to gun violence, neglect, or abuse.
Nicole has led trauma response projects at sites ranging from the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina to the March for Our Lives in DC, and beyond. Since the start of the active war in Ukraine, she has provided virtual training support through Voices of Children, DTCare, and the International Humanitarian University. In these sessions, she teaches other practitioners how to integrate the arts into their healing practices and provides virtual therapy sessions for child and family survivors.
Her creative projects include An American Nightmare, a 2019 solo performance at Hudson Guild Theater, NYC, and The JillRabbits, a Philadelphia-based electro-pop band, of which she was a member from 2005 to 2014. The band You and Us is Nicole’s foray into recording and producing family rock and pop music.
Calming a Panic will be available starting September 15, 2023 on all platforms.
No comments:
Post a Comment