Rate My Professor Fiona Gardner

Fiona Gardner serves as a Lecturer in Creative Arts Therapies within the School of Health Professions at Murdoch University. She holds the position of Academic Chair for the Master of Creative Arts Therapies and serves as coordinator for the Graduate Diploma in Creative Arts Therapies. These postgraduate programs represent Western Australia's only offerings in creative arts therapies, emphasizing experiential learning through expressive arts psychotherapies in workshops, clinical practice, and supervision. Students gain skills in applying creative modalities including drama, movement, painting, and poetry to support mental health, with a focus on working with children and adolescents. The Master of Creative Arts Therapies builds upon the Graduate Diploma, providing advanced standing for graduates. Both programs are accredited by the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and approved by the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA), qualifying graduates for student and professional memberships.

Gardner has actively contributed to the development and promotion of these programs. In April 2018, following the opening of a dedicated arts therapies teaching space at Murdoch's Mandurah campus, she remarked, “The arts are understood to play a central role in human culture. Working with each person’s potential for growth and creative expression, the course ensures the arts are central to the therapeutic process.” She further noted, “It is very rewarding to see the art therapies teaching space alive with the energy of creative exploration and commitment to learning as students embrace the rewarding challenge of training in the creative arts therapies. We are delighted at the success of the course so far and enthusiastic about the strong interest it is continuing to generate.” In June 2019, Gardner discussed the stress-relieving benefits of creative arts, stating that “painting and drawing can work like meditation, reducing feelings of stress and increasing feelings of relaxation.” She elaborated, “Engaging in creative methods can help us process overwhelming feelings, in addition to helping us face life’s dilemmas,” and that “making and collaborating in creative arts activities is an ideal way to engage in a situation where you might be able to discover more about what is going on in that part of us we don't often think about.” Gardner is also listed as an Academic Staff Member in Murdoch University's Ally Network.