Lesli-Ann Belnavis
M.S., Art Therapy
Department of Art Education
“I would have never thought that years ago when a teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up that my answer would have been an Art Therapist. Such an occupation is foreign to most Jamaicans. However, I always knew that I had a great love for the Arts and was determined to obtain a career involving it”. Such passion and drive is what led Lesli-Ann Belnavis to pursue a Masters of Science degree in Art Therapy at Florida State University. Her intense willpower brought her from her home country of Jamaica, to the United States, at the tender age of seventeen. Lesli-Ann was brought up in a culture that nourishes the Arts, such as music, art, dance, poetry and drama. Lesli-Ann has been active in the arts since age six, where she has danced with a variety of organizations and performed with a few theatrical productions. Her love for the arts was influenced by her family’s dedication and participation in the Visual and Performing Arts for many years. Lesli-Ann’s family unconditionally supports her success. Although, leaving behind her family was a huge sacrifice, Lesli-Ann believes that “If yu waan good, yu nose havvi run”, a Jamaican patois proverb which means in order to accomplish your goals you must be willing to face and overcome the challenges and obstacles along the way.
Lesli-Ann earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Studio Art from Florida State in 2003. It was during her initial time here that she was introduced to Art Therapy. Immediately, the idea of combining art and psychology caught her attention. She has volunteered with various organizations including the Dare to Care Hospice that housed children living with HIV/AIDS in St. Catherine, Jamaica. Lesli-Ann has also traveled with the FSU Art Therapy Department utilizing the therapeutic process of art to help children cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This project is in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club of Mississippi. Her ability to help others can also be found here on campus. As a Caribbean Student Association (CSA) Adjunct in 2006, Lesli-Ann used her skills to act as a counselor for their dance troupe, Category 5, of which she was a founding member. Clearly, she exhibits a fondness for helping those around her. Currently she is finishing her second year in the program which will culminate in a Masters of Science degree in Art Therapy in August of 2008.
As part of the Art Therapy program, Lesli-Ann has served three internships in the Tallahassee community. She has worked with elderly clients living with the effects of dementia at the Alterra Sterling House, an assisted living facility. Lesli-Ann expanded her art therapy experience by working with both groups and individuals including adolescents and adults at the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Behavioral Health Center. Her third internship, at the Dick Howser Center, rounded out her final practicum by incorporating her unique therapeutic techniques in a psycho-educational setting helping Pre-K students with developmental delays. This diverse range of experiences, has given Lesli-Ann a holistic approach when applying her skills in the realm of Art Therapy. In her approach and experience, Lesli-Ann has discovered that the therapeutic aspect of Art Therapy is strengthened by the combination of the process of creating the art as well as the product. She has found that various clients depending on their developmental, emotional and psychological needs all have different yet sometimes powerful reactions to the process. This reaction aided those who found it extremely difficult to express themselves; they then applied art as another form of expression.
With all the knowledge she has acquired here at Florida State University, Lesli-Ann’s dream is to implement an Art Therapy program in Jamaica. Lesli-Ann has the philosophy that the future application and introduction of Art Therapy to Jamaica makes an innate connection with the culture and will empower effective problem-solving during the therapeutic process. This philosophy coincides with the Jamaican motto “Out of many, one people” or on the therapeutic level, out of many experiences, one person. Having experience with similar populations here in Tallahassee, Lesli-Ann hopes to bring her skills back home to help at-risk adolescents and children living and coping with socioeconomic issues. Ultimately, Lesli-Ann hopes to further enrich her home country, a culture already rich in the arts, by empowering her fellow Jamaicans through the use of Art Therapy.