Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist
Janice Baker Expressive Arts
Janice Baker, MA, CTRS, CAGS is a certified therapeutic recreation specialist (CTRS), expressive arts specialist, multiple media artist and expressive poet with over 20 years of experience leading programs for children & adults.
Baker established and developed the multi-disciplinary Arts for Healing Program at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, New Haven, CT 2003 - 2022. Program included art therapy, music therapy and artists-in-residence who provided therapeutic interventions, events and collaborative community projects. In her tenure, Baker raised over $1 million in philanthropic funds to expand the program. Janice’s work centered on embodied awareness and multi-modal expression using expressive art and writing processes to support the resiliency of pediatric patients with chronic and acute illness and behavioral health needs, their families and caregivers.
As a creative, Janice finds sanctuary in her garden. She creates art and poetry from the inside out, dialoguing between inner and outer landscapes to discover lessons for life. Creating is an essential component to her wholeness, balance and wellbeing.
Janice combines her love for the creative process and her experience in Arts in Healthcare to develop community-based programs that foster self-expression, mindfulness and connection. Workshops support participants’ authentic creative voice and honor life experiences as strengths for expression.
Ms. Baker earned a Cam Busch Arts in Health Award 2022, first place in Arts Building Resilience Category from theNational Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH), for “From these Roots: An Expressive Art & Storytelling Project with Healthcare Workers at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit”. She created the Art Refresh program for creative resilience for the International NOAHCon, 2019-2023 and currently contributes to the NOAH Credentialing Working Group, developing certification for artists working in health settings.
Ms. Baker’s education includes a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) in the Applications of the Expressive and Creative Arts from Salve Regina University, RI; a MA in Rehabilitation of the Blind from Western Michigan University; BA in Therapeutic Recreation from the University of Connecticut.