Season 1 -Ep.8 Ed Kuczaj - Art Psychotherapist (Ireland)
Ed Kuczaj is the former Head of the Department of Arts in Health and Education at Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork, Ireland which is part of Munster Technological University, retiring in 2017. He started as course coordinator there in 2000 when it was a PG Dip in Art Th, moving to MA level in 2004.
In 2013/ 2016 he helped curate, along with Louise Foott/ Anne Boddaert/ Maeve Dineen, the Outside In and Perceptions exhibitions, which showcased the work of artists from supported studio settings internationally.
Prior to the position in Cork, he worked in the NHS in the UK, as a clinician and Arts Therapy manager in the area of learning disabilities. He has published a number of articles and contributed to books in this area particularly around the area of loss and bereavement. During his time in the UK, he was a council member of the British Association of Art Therapists and also Vice Chair for a number of years.
Since retiring he has been involved in the Cork/ BVI Art Therapy Initiative, which worked in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, shortly after the occurrence of Hurricane Irma in 2017, working in schools and with community groups there.
He was also chair of the Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists in 2018 – 2020 and is still involved in the association's work. He also works as a supervisor and is an advisor for the Soearth Project in Kill, Co Kildare, as well as Academic Council Chair at the Childrens Therapy Centre. He is also currently the external examiner of the MA in Art Psychotherapy at the University of Ulster.
Ed also engages in his own creativity through photography/ painting and sculpture and exhibits occasionally in Cork and Co Waterford where he is based.
Irish Assoc of Creative Arts Therapists - www.iacat.ie
