Emotional Understanding through Animated Representation: Connecting with Emotion through Music

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About this Event

n this workshop, participants will learn how musical therapeutic techniques can build on all five domains of emotional intelligence described in Daniel Goleman’s model. Utilizing situations from fantasy-oriented animated series created in the last decade which explore emotional and identity development through diverse representation, participants will learn about the ways that music is used in several of these shows in order to either directly discuss deeply emotional experiences, or to create a sense of communal experience as a way of empathizing and connecting with one another. Examples of music from these shows will be played in order to develop therapeutic strategies that incorporate creative expression into a session.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will identify how musical experience can build on the foundation of the emotional intelligence model, and will be able to describe how music intersects with emotional experience in several fantasy-oriented animated series from the last decade.

2. Participants will identify how music from the animated series can be used therapeutically, either to directly discuss emotion, or create a space for emotional experience and connect.

Course Instructor:

Kaitlyn Myers-Brooks is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working as a therapist and executive functioning coach at two private practices (Connection: Counseling & Consultation, Inc. and Paula Kauffman Oberly Counseling, LLC). She also serves at a local non-profit as a neurodiversity consultant, offering trainings to local employers and clinicians to help improve accessibility and support for neurodivergent employees in all aspects of the hiring process. She has previous experience working as a career counselor for clients with mental health diagnoses, where she developed her strengths-based, holistic approach that she brings to counseling, coaching, and consulting, offering a wide variety of trainings to college students, military and veterans, and disability activist groups on the intersections of mental health and professional life.

Kaitlyn encourages active engagement with the many narratives clients create around the personal, professional, and social aspects of their lives, acknowledging the importance of the complex intersections between all our lived experiences. As an avid gamer and science fiction/fantasy fan herself, Kaitlyn particularly enjoys working with clients to explore their creative practices, promoting the therapeutic benefits of engagement with various forms of geek culture and media. Collaborating with her clients, Kaitlyn provides a creative, accepting space to identify the themes of desired change within the sometimes overwhelming “big picture” of a client’s story, offering curiosity to promote the client’s problem-solving process, and drawing from the many aspects of a client’s imaginative life to help them re-author the narratives of their past and find their own solutions to move forward.

Kaitlyn holds a Master of Science in Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Duquesne University, and a prior Master of Arts in Ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she completed her thesis research on the creation of imagined Irish identity through Irish-American music in Civil War re-enactments.

Disability Accommodations

It is the responsibility of the Individual to contact Geek Therapeutics to request disability accommodations at Hello@geektherapeutics.com.   

Geek Therapeutics is committed to helping each student reach his/her academic potential and to providing every student equal opportunity to participate in and engage with the course.  In keeping with this commitment, effort has been made to develop accessible learning materials that provide equal access.  Please contact Geek Therapeutics immediately if access to course materials is restricted due to a disability so the issue(s) can be resolved in a timely manner.

Continuing Education Credits:

Psychologists: Geek Therapeutics is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Geek Therapeutics maintains responsibility for this program and its content

Counselors: Geek Therapeutics has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7042. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Geek Therapeutics is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Social Workers: Geek Therapeutics, #1769, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Geek Therapeutics maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 05/19/2022 – 05/19/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 1 continuing education credits.

Play Therapists:  Geek Therapeutics has been approved by APT as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, No. 21-649. Programs that do not qualify for APT credit are clearly identified. Geek Therapeutics is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Other Professions: This activity qualifies for the specified number of hours of instructional content as required by many licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your course outline and certificate of completion, and contact your board or organization for specific requirements. Completion of the course(s) with a post-test score of 80% or better is required to receive continuing education credit; there is no partial credit.