Annie McFarland

Annie McFarland is a board-certified art therapist and arts educator at West Virginia University. She earned her BFA in photography and design from Kendall College of Art & Design in 2008 and her MS in art therapy from Florida State University in 2013. She continued her academic journey at Florida State University and earned her PhD in art education with emphasis in art therapy in 2020. Her doctoral dissertation, “The Impact of Papermaking on Self-Efficacy of Older Military Veterans: A Mixed-Methods Single Case Study”, focused on narrative storytelling and trauma recovery through art therapy papermaking methodologies. She has continued engaging in papermaking art therapy practices and recently published a chapter her personal experiences with the papermaking practice in the book, “The Art and Art Therapy of Papermaking”.

She has clinical experience working in inpatient psychiatric facilities, hospice and bereavement, memory care, developmental disabilities, and community arts settings. She has also expanded her artistic and therapeutic practice in papermaking to work with community loss, bereavement, mental health recovery, and social activism. She is an active collaborator with Peace Paper Project, an international community-arts initiative that utilizes traditional papermaking as a form of trauma therapy, social engagement, and community activism. As the program coordinator for both the art therapy program and the graduate certificate in therapeutic art, Annie emphasizes the importance of accessibility, culturally responsive teaching pedagogy, and collaborative relationships in the arts, mental health, and medical disciplines.