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Vicky Armstrong

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Postgraduate Researcher in Psychology and Art Therapist, University of Dundee

I am an HCPC registered Art Therapist, currently researching for a doctorate in Psychology.

I completed a masters degree in Fine Art before qualifying as an Art Psychotherapist in 2008. After working for 10 years as an art therapist for a children's charity I developed a model of parent-infant art therapy and started researching the benefits to early attachment relationships from making art together. My current PhD is looking at the impact of art making for parents and young children and is a collaboration between Psychology at University of Dundee and the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre.

I am interested in infant development, especially in the context of their social relationships; in early creativity; in what happens when we make art together; in evaluation methods for arts interventions; in arts for mental health and wellbeing; and in the role of galleries for public health.

Experience

  • 2018–present
    PG research, University of Dundee/DCA
  • 2008–2018
    Art Therapist, Barnardo's

Education

  • 2008 
    Queen Margaret University, MSc Art Therapy
  • 2005 
    University of Edinburgh, MA Fine Art

Publications

  • 2021
    Art boxes supporting parents and infants to share creative interactions at home: an art-based response to improve wellbeing during Covid-19 restrictions, Public Health
  • 2021
    A ‘real-life’ adaptation to Covid-19 to reduce social inequalities: DCA Family Programme working with Art at the Start, Engage Journal. Issue 45, Class and Inequality
  • 2020
    The evidence base for art therapy with parent and infant dyads: An integrative literature review, International Journal of Art Therapy
  • 2020
    Mechanisms of change within a dyadic model of art therapy, In Hogan, S (ed) Therapeutic Arts in Pregnancy, Birth and New Parenthood, Routledge
  • 2019
    A Dyadic Art Psychotherapy Group for Parents and Infants – Piloting Quantitative Methodologies for Evaluation, International Journal of Art Therapy
  • 2015
    Parent-Infant Art Psychotherapy: A creative dyadic approach to early intervention, Infant Mental Health
  • 2013
    Modelling attuned relationships in art psychotherapy with children who have had poor early experiences, The Arts in Psychotherapy

Professional Memberships

  • HCPC registered Art Therapist
  • Member of British Association of Art Therapists