Rachel Sikorski, LCAT, ATR-BC, RPT-S

Rachel Sikorski, LCAT, ATR-BC, RPT-S is a NYS Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) as well as a registered, board-certified art therapist (ATR-BC) and registered play therapist & RPT-supervisor (RPT-S). Rachel is a founding member and webmaster of Art Therapy Buffalo. She is a long-time professional member of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA), the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA), and the Association for Play Therapy (APT).

Rachel specializes in the integration of the creative arts into psychotherapy for individuals of all ages, and in particular, the treatment of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress in children as well as adults with complex childhood trauma. Rachel has extensive professional training and experience utilizing psychodynamic, solution-focused, motivational interviewing, and mindfulness-based approaches in her clinical practice. She has completed full training in the trauma resolution methods of PC (Progressive Counting) and EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing); and, continues to engage in extensive, ongoing training in the most up-to-date adaptations of these methods to meet the developmental needs of children using art- and play-based approaches.

Rachel has been providing mental health treatment to children, adolescents, adults, and families for over 15 years. Her professional experience includes several years of work supporting youth in residential treatment, as well as children, adults, and families in outpatient clinics and school-based settings. She has experience working with a variety of client populations, including those with trauma, attachment, and adjustment-related disorders; anxiety, mood, and dissociative disorders; oppositional and conduct-related behavioral issues; self-harming and emotional dysregulation concerns; as well as deficits in executive functioning and impairments associated with neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD/ADD and ASD.

Rachel is a full-time private practioner, but also serves as a part-time adjunct lecturer and Art Therapy Minor Program Coordinator at Buffalo State College. Her goal therein is to educate the public and work to expand the reach of art therapy to communities in need; she believes that increasing affordable access to graduate-level training in art therapy will serve to increase representation from and accessibility to more culturally and racially diverse art therapy professionals within many underserved communities in Buffalo, as well as the field as a whole.