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Jennifer La Civita, Psy.D.
Department Chair + Professor
Art Therapy
Chicago
I am deeply committed to community and person-centered engagement through the arts using a gentle, therapeutic Adlerian approach to increase wellness and foster healthy living.
Since 2013, Associate Professor, Psychologist, Counselor, Art Therapist, and Artist Jennifer La Civita, Psy.D., has been the department chairperson of the internationally recognized Master of Arts in Counseling: Art Therapy programs — both the on-ground and online modalities — and creator of the Ph.D. in Art Therapy Online/Virtual Department in 2017 at Adler University in Chicago.
For over 25 years, she has served as the learning and behavior specialist, administrative and education consultant for the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools, leading teacher, parent, and student in-services and workshops on Adlerian teaching and parenting skills, arts advocacy, curriculum development, mindfulness and meditative practices, and health and wellness practices.
In addition, she was the therapist at two Chicago alternative therapeutic day schools from 2004-10. Prior to that role, Dr. La Civita served at two children’s hospitals as the psychologist and art therapist specializing in autoimmune diseases including scleroderma, syndromes, oncology, hematology, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries (quadriplegia, paraplegia), orthopedic, orthognathic, and craniofacial injuries, and syndromes with patients and their families using alternative and complementary medicine.
Dr. La Civita works part time as a psychologist and art therapist at Reclaim13/Compassionate Care Counseling, an organization dedicated to freeing children from sexual exploitation and helping them reclaim a life or freedom, healing, and hope.
She has extensive expertise in administering psychoeducational and neuro-psychoeducational evaluations, overseeing school-based implementation of Individual Education Plans, and developing educational programs — across grade school, high school, and graduate levels — for learners with diverse learning abilities, behavioral needs, and physical impairments. She specializes in working with children, adults, and families in both individual and group therapy or seminar settings. Her approach integrates Adlerian theory and the principles of Individual Psychology with art therapy, play therapy, and expressive arts as healing modalities. She is widely recognized as a national and international advocate for the arts, particularly in community development and urban revitalization. She has presented across the United States, as well as in South Korea and Italy, and has delivered online presentations for the Expressive Arts Egypt Festival. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.
MEMBERSHIPS + ASSOCIATIONS
North American Society of Adlerian Psychology 2006-present
American Art Therapy Association, 2007-present
Illinois Art Therapy Association 2007-Present
Illinois Counselors Association, 2007-Present
Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association, 2007-Present
Creative Arts Therapist Network of Chicago, 2007- 2017
Cultural Network, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Chicago, 1999- 2009
Wright College Advisory Council, 1999-2013
West Portage Park Neighborhood Association, 1999-2010
Portage Park Chamber of Commerce, 1999-2010
Old Irving Park Neighborhood Association, 2000-2010
Old Irving Park Historical Association, 1999-2010
Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association, 2005-2010
Jefferson Park Historical Society, 2007-2010
Woman Made Gallery Board of Director, 1995-1995
Woman Made Gallery Member, 1995-Present
Women’s Schools Together, 1994-1995
Administrative Advisory Council Member, Good Counsel High School, 1991-1992
St. Mary of the Woods College Alumnae Board of Directors, 1994-1996
Friends of the Arts, Cornelia Arts Building member, 1988-Present
Chicago Artist’s Coalition Member, 1998-Present
Chicago St. Mary of the Woods Alumnae Club President, 1992-1995
Chicago St. Mary of the Woods Alumnae Club Member, 1988-Present
Who’s Who of American Women 1999 – 2007 Editions
PRESENTATIONS + PUBLICATIONS
Presentations
Publications
LEADERSHIP + COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Dr. La Civita has over 30 years of experience working in the field of education as a teacher, artist, psychotherapist, art therapist, learning and behavior specialist, and administrative and education consultant. As a fourth generation Chicagoan, Dr. La Civita is deeply committed to urban revitalization through the arts and community engagement.
For 10 years she was the founder and executive director of the West Portage Park Neighborhood Improvement Association: Portage Park Center for the Arts in Chicago. It was the only City of Chicago-owned and -operated Art and Wellness facility that focused on urban revitalization and health through the arts. She credits her use of Adlerian Psychology in being able to successfully work with the City of Chicago in establishing the site, using Adlerian teaching techniques within her classes, and serving as a mentor in helping other instructors and community advocates at the center to apply Adlerian principles within their teaching and within community.
Her years in leading Adlerian group therapy at residential psychiatric and nursing facilities has also proven to her and the facilities’ administrators that the “ways of Adler” truly bring all good things. She has worked for many years in hospitals, nursing, rehabilitation, psychiatric residential facilities, and alternative therapeutic day schools and private and public schools as a psychologist and art therapist. Her undergraduate degree is in art and English from St. Mary of the Woods College, the oldest Catholic, liberal arts college for women in the United States, located in Terre Haute, Indiana. She is the proud parent of a 22-year-old daughter who attends St. Mary of the Woods College and will be attending veterinary school in the Fall, and a 20-year-old son who is a U.S. Marine and currently attends the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Her private practice of 8 years, La Civita HealthCare, offers all forms of Adlerian art therapy, individual and family therapy, as well neuropsychoeducational testing, using a gentle therapeutic approach towards increased wellness, and fostering healthy living through positive psychology. She was also a learning and behavior specialist, and administrative and education consultant at five Catholic schools in Chicago and one Catholic school in Glenview, Illinois.
RESEARCH INTERESTS + OPPORTUNITIES
Adlerian Psychology, Early Recollections, Adlerian Art Therapy, Adlerian Archives from the Jane Addams Hull House Museum/University of Illinois, Chicago campus, Soxila Interest of Artists, Community Revitalization and the Arts.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Dr. La Civita is reflective and purposeful about her best teaching practices and compassionately communicate her goals as an instructor with her corresponding actions. She does her best to provide an opportunity to point to and tie/bridge together the other courses so that students understand and appreciate what they are learning. When students see the meaning in what they are learning, it ultimately fosters professional and personal growth. She continuously assesses and examines herself and reflects upon the goals she wishes to achieve in teaching. It is her hope to provide a safe, warm, experiential and inclusive space, a sense of peace through compassion, encouragement, and long-term guidance to her students and alums. Engaging communities, embracing and embodying Adlerian theory and philosophy, using encouragement, advocating and working for a more just society, modeling mutual respect for human diversity, including people of all abilities, cultures, and identities are all elements she values and upholds in order to graduate socially responsible practitioners who are stewards of the earth and its people.
