Debra Linesch
Debra Linesch is currently a professor and chairperson in the Graduate Department of Marital and Family Therapy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. She has long been interested in the possibilities of the creative process for helping people make meaning of and understand their lives more fully.
Early in her career, first as an elementary school teacher and later as a child and family therapist, she thoughtfully integrated the art process in her educational and clinical endeavors. In recent years she has been investigating the ways in which art making can support experiences that have traditionally not included the creative process.
For the past seven years, she has delved deeply into the study of Torah as part of a lay lead group at Temple Israel of Hollywood. Within that group she has become a teacher/facilitator and often includes creative exercises in the study she facilitates. Additionally, she has taught arts based workshops and classes for many institutions including the University of Judaism, the Women’s Rabbinic Network and the Museum of Tolerance.
Dr. Linesch has authored numerous articles and three books focused on the inclusion of art in life experiences. Her latest book is reviewed here. Other work includes, Celebrating Family Milestones by Making Art Together, which helps families find ways to face changes and transitions. She believes that the creation of imagery is a process that gives contemporary Jews access to the creative engagement embedded in the rabbinic phenomenon of Midrash.
