Daniel Wong, MA ArtTh, MA ArtAdmin, BFA, AThR
- MA Art Therapy, Western Sydney University, NSW, Australia
- MA Art Administration, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia
- BA Fine Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL, USA
Daniel is an art therapist and researches the intersection between the arts, health and well-being. With over 18 years of experience working with diverse populations in Australia, Thailand and Singapore, he brings a wealth of knowledge to his practice.
Daniel's work is informed by psychoanalytic theory, which he applies to his therapeutic approach. He is particularly interested in object-making, material engagements, embodied creative practices, and relational dynamics pertaining to grief, traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth. As an artist by training, Daniel primarily works with fabric, yarns and found objects, finding aesthetic, sensory and ideational appeal in their transformative potential through assemblages, collages and bricolages.
Daniel actively contributes to the field of art therapy in various capacities. He serves as a committee member of the Art Therapy Foundation Thailand and is a founding member of the Art Therapists' Association Thailand. His expertise is recognised internationally, as he has been invited to provide external and international advisory roles in art therapy. Notably, he is a member of the External Advisory Committee (EAC) for the Master of Art Therapy program at Western Sydney University in Australia (November 2022 to October 2024). Daniel also holds the position of co-editor for JoCAT: Journal of Creative Arts Therapies, the journal of the Australia, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association.
In 2021, Daniel co-edited his first book, Found Objects in Art Therapy: Materials and Process, with Ronald Lay, which Jessica Kingsley published in the UK.
Research and Practice (select)
Publications
- Co-edited Found Objects in Art Therapy: Materials and Process, with Ronald Lay, published by Jessica Kingsley. ISBN / ISSN: 9781785926914 (2021)
- Contributed to a joint paper Shared Narratives: Museum, Memory Boxes, and Art Therapy, with Kelly Reddy for the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Art Therapy (ANZJIAT) (2019)
Projects
- Shared narratives: Museum, memory boxes, and art therapy, a collaboration between LASALLE College of the Arts, St Luke's Eldercare and the National Museum Singapore (2019). The project was awarded funding through The Irish Funds Singapore, further supported through the Cultural Matching Fund. This led to a showcase at the National Museum of Singapore in 2022
- Artful World: Safe Art Space Project in Southern Thailand, for children and youth living in the troubled communities of Saturn, Songkhla and Nakon Si Thammarath, in collaboration with Silpakorn University (2011)
- Expressive Art 4 Flood Relief Project which used puppets as a therapeutic medium with children and their families at the Bangkok Planetarium and Science Center in collaboration with MD Patcharin Sughondharom and HuaChiew Chalermprakit University Social Science students (2010)
Recent conferences and workshops
- Presented Textile, Fibre, and Other Wrapped and Woven Objects in Art Therapy, a workshop at the International Programme of Art Therapy, Thailand (IPATT) (2023)
- Presented Handling Loss with Found Objects, a workshop at the International Programme of Art Therapy, Thailand (IPATT) (2019)
- Presented Response Art in Supervision, a workshop at the International Programme of Art Therapy, Thailand (IPATT) (2019)
- Forum on Shared Narratives: Museum, Memory Boxes, and Art Therapy at the National Museum of Singapore (2019)
- Presented a paper on Found Art: The Beauty and Promise in the Mundane at the ANZATA/ACATA Conference, Melbourne, Australia (2017)
- Presented Supporting Teens with Social Media Addiction: One Image at a Time, a workshop at the 3rd Conference on Counselling for Malaysian Caregivers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017)
- Consulted and presented at Therapeutic Art Applications in Oncology Care, a train-the trainers workshop series at the National Cancer Institute of Thailand, with MD Patcharin Sughondharom, Thailand (2015)
- Presented Art Therapy in Action, a workshop for teachers in special needs at Furama Riverfront Hotel, Singapore (2015)
- Consulted and conducted a series on Art Experiential Group Training for Nurses in Oncology Care at the Thanyaburi Cancer Center with co-trainer MD Patcharin Sughondharom, Thailand (2012)
- Co-presented Nurturing Resilience: Therapeutic Art Workshop for Professionals Supporting Vulnerable Children, a workshop with co-trainer MD Patcharin Sughondharom, at the World Vision Foundation of Thailand, Phuket (2012)
- Presented The Therapeutic Potential of Artmaking, a workshop at Silpakorn University (2011)
Research Interests
- Grief and loss
- Trauma
- Addictions
- Stress management
Other responsibilities
Clinical Placement Supervisor and Dissertation Supervisor