Judy Weiser

Judy Weiser, R. Psych., A.T.R., Director PhotoTherapy Centre
E-mail: jweiser@phototherapy-centre.com
Website: http://www.phototherapy-centre.com
Phone: 604-689-9709

Judy Weiser is a psychologist and art therapist specializing in PhotoTherapy techniques (using clients' personal snapshots and family photos to connect with feelings, thoughts, and memories during their counselling sessions, in ways that words alone cannot do) -- and also in HIV-related psychosocial issues (particularly in Aboriginal/Indigenous communities).

Founder and Director of the PhotoTherapy Centre in Vancouver, Canada, and former Editor of the Journal Phototherapy, she consults, lectures, and has given over two hundred workshops and presentations world-wide, teaching people about using these techniques to improve their counselling practice.


Photo ©2002 Gaelynn W. Bordonaro

Author of the book, "PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums" (now in second printing), and the informational website explaining the field ("PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy", at: http://www.phototherapy-centre.com), she has also produced a video, numerous book chapters and many professional articles on these topics.

She has also discussed and demonstrated PhotoTherapy in a variety of radio and television interviews in several countries, as well as been featured in depth in television programs such as Arts Express (Vision Television Network), the PBS special Photographing America, and highlighted in a two-hour special ("150 Years of Photography") on CBC Television's The Journal.

Also serving as Adjunct Faculty for a number of Art Therapy and other Postgraduate Training Programs, as well as serving on numerous Thesis and Dissertation Committees, Judy is also the B.C. Representative for the "Creative Arts in Counselling" Chapter of the Canadian Counselling Association, and has frequently been invited to Keynote Art Therapy and other Conferences.

A therapist and trainer for over twenty years , she has long specialized in using PhotoTherapy techniques in counseling Aboriginal people who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, especially street-involved youth, residential school survivors, and IV drug users (and their families and communities) -- and has authored numerous book chapters, professional articles and other publications on these subjects also.

Fluent in a variety of Deaf Sign and nonverbal symbol languages, she is also a photographic artist whose art has appeared in many galleries and publications. Formally adopted into an Oglala Lakota family, she has been given one of their ancestral family names -- and (when invited) assists with Circles and Ceremony.

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List of Selected Publications* by Judy Weiser:

*Most of the following publications can be downloaded for free at: www.phototherapy-centre.com/biography.htm#

On PhotoTherapy:

2005 -- Remembering Jo Spence: A brief personal and professional memoir. In: H. Hagiwara (Ed.), Jo Spence autobiographical photography (pp. 240-248). Osaka: Shinsuisha Press.

2004(a) -- PhotoTherapy techniques in counseling and therapy: Using ordinary snapshots and photo-interactions to help clients heal their lives. The Canadian Art Therapy Association Journal, Fall, 17:2, 23-53.

2004(b) -- The continuum of arts-based healing practices: Arts-in-Therapy/Arts-as-Therapy. Creative Arts in Counselling Chapter Newsletter (Canadian Counselling Association), Fall, 1:2, 3.

2003 -- A picture is worth a thousand words: Using PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counselling Practice. Bulletin of the Private Practitioners Chapter Newsletter (Canadian Counselling Association), March, 3:2, 3-4.

2002(a) -- PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums. Child & Family, Spring/Summer, 16-25.

2002(b) -- PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums. B.C. Psychologist, Winter, 26-27.

2001(a) -- PhotoTherapy techniques: Using clients' personal snapshots and family photos as counseling and therapy tools (Invited feature article in "Special Double Issue: Media art as/in therapy"). Afterimage - The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, 29:3(Nov/Dec), 10-15.

2001(b) -- PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy. Website: http://www.phototherapy-centre.com (50+ pages).

2000 -- PhotoTherapy's message for Art Therapists in the new Millennium. Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 17:3, 160-162.

1999 -- PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums (second edition; first edition: 1993) , Vancouver, PhotoTherapy Centre Press [ISBN: 0-9685619-0-X]. •Please contact the author for list of published reviews of this book.( Warning: This book has been plagiarized; see details at: www.phototherapy-centre.com/plagiarized.htm)

1990 -- "More than meets the eye": Using ordinary snapshots as tools for therapy. In: Laidlaw, T.; Malmo, C.; & Associates (Eds.), Healing voices: Feminist approaches to therapy with women (pp. 83-117) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

1988(a) -- "See what I mean?" Photography as nonverbal communication in cross-cultural psychology. In: Poyatos, F. (Ed.), Cross-cultural perspectives in nonverbal communication (pp. 245-290). Toronto: Hogrefe.

1988(b) -- PhotoTherapy: Using snapshots and photo-interactions in therapy with youth. In: Schaefer, C. (Ed.), Innovative interventions in child and adolescent therapy (pp. 339-376). New York: Wiley.

1984 -- PhotoTherapy: Becoming visually literate about oneself. In: Walker, A.D.; Braden, R. A.; and Dunker, L. H. (Eds.), Visual literacy: enhancing human potential (pp. 392-406). Virginia Polytechnic State University Press.

1983 -- Using photographs in therapy with people who are 'different'. In: Krauss, D. A. and Fryrear, J. L. (Eds.), Phototherapy in mental health (pp. 174-199). Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas.

On HIV/AIDS-related Counselling Topics:

2003 -- "How does it feel?": Eight reasons why asking yourself this question may make you healthier. The Positive Side (Canadian AIDS Treatment and Information Exchange), 6:3, 4-7.

2000 -- Emotional, mental, and spiritual counselling for Aboriginal HIV/AIDS issues: How it improves physical health (and personal stories to prove it!). Submitted for publication; typed draft available.

1999 -- Heart, mind, spirit, and AIDS: Emotional, mental, and spiritual issues affecting Aboriginal HIV nursing care. Invited Plenary Address, Conference of the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care; Winnipeg, April 23, 1999; Submitted for publication; typed draft available.

1998 -- Taking the Medicine Wheel to the street: Counselling Aboriginal street youth about HIV/AIDS and educating those who help them. In: Rowe, W. and Ryan, B. (Eds.), Social work and HIV: The Canadian experience (pp. 160-182). New York: Oxford Press.

1996(a) -- HIV/AIDS psychotherapy: What psychologists need to understand. The Canadian Health Psychologist, 4:1, 18-23.

1996(b) -- Psychosocial consequences of living with HIV/AIDS: Or, "What I learned from my clients and friends". The Social Worker, 64:4, Winter, 18-33.

1995 -- Psychology and HIV/AIDS. B.C. Psychologist, Spring, 5-6.

1992 -- Report of the "Art Therapy and HIV/AIDS" Study Group. American Art Therapy Newsletter, 25:3, 12.

1989 -- Stitched to the beat of a heart, to comfort the terrors of the dark. Art Therapy; the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association (Viewpoints Section). 6:3, 113-114.

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