Faculty

Wendy Allen, PhD, LPC, BC-DMT (she/her), is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Dance/Movement Therapy program at Lesley University. Prior to joining Lesley, she served as Chair of the Somatic Counseling Department at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she was a professor from 2011 to 2023.

Dr. Allen has been actively involved in the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) since 2009, serving on the Education Committee and the Committee on Approval (2009–2020). She currently serves as Chair of the Education Committee and as a member of the ADTA Board of Directors.

As a member of the Education Committee, Dr. Allen has co-created and co-presented seminars for educators on inclusivity and social justice in dance/movement therapy pedagogy, featured at multiple ADTA Annual Conferences. Her current research explores the dynamics of power, privilege, and oppression, examining the somatic dimensions of internalized domination and white body supremacy and their impact on empathy, attunement, and responsiveness within the therapeutic movement relationship.

Dr. Allen is deeply committed to the ongoing practice of examining and interrogating her own privileged and marginalized identities and social locations. She is grateful to walk this path of continued learning and reflection in community with others.

Mike is an animation director & educator with a passion for animation, development, educational children's media & puppets! With over twenty years of animation production experience Mike has collaborated with clients such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, PBS Kids, Hasbro, WGBH, and Disney Jr. His prior work includes the role of Art and Animation Director of CloudKid, an award-winning digital creative agency, Animation Supervisor at Soup2Nuts, where he contributed to the production of several television series including the Emmy Award-winning WordGirl, as well as developing and directing an interactive story experience at Jibo, an innovative social robotics design company. Mike is currently creating and developing children's media as well as teaching at Lesley Art + Design.

Catriona (Trina) Baker is an Associate Professor of Animation at Lesley University's College of Art + Design. She is an animator, book artist, and painter whose work centers on themes of social justice, with a focus on intersectional women’s issues—including sexual assault and domestic violence awareness, female empowerment, and immigration. Baker’s animations explore the visual juxtapositions between traditional mediums and digital processes, emphasizing the influence of the artist’s hand and incorporating her fine arts background. Her work is grounded in both aesthetic experimentation and activism, using moving image and mixed media as tools for storytelling and advocacy. Catriona holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College in Studio Art: printmaking, a BFA from Maine College of Art in painting and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in animation and painting. Her works have been shown nationally and internationally in screenings, galleries and corporate collections. Her animations have been internationally recognized with an international awards including a Platinum Pixie and two International CINDY (Cinema in Industry) awards.

Geoff Barnes is an associate professor of psychology and applied therapies at Lesley University, and the music therapist at the Campus School at Boston College.

My specialty areas are multi-cultural understandings in applied practitioner settings with a special emphasis on the strengths and challenges student themselves bring as future practitioners. My clinical work has mostly been in urban settings with less privileged clients and with children whose families have been involved with child protective services. I enjoy teaching undergraduates because its a time of discovery and occasionally I can be found singing in classes.

Elizabeth (Liz) Barragato, MA, LMHC, is the Holistic Studies Specialization Coordinator and core faculty member after teaching as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University since 2014. She earned a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lesley’s program. Liz’s areas of clinical interest include holistic theories and counseling methods, with a special interest in the intersection of Eastern wisdom practices, mental health, and wellness. She is also deeply influenced by existential and relational psychoanalytic counseling approaches. Through these theoretical lenses, Liz views critical theory and issues of social justice permeating the work of counseling and teaching. She has a private counseling and consultation practice in Cambridge, MA, and is a managing co-owner of Crooked Tree Counseling, LLC. Liz’s scholarly interest lies in integrating socioculturally diverse, holistically aligned perspectives that support person-centered development. This engagement may occur through dialogue across differences or by examining counseling praxis as it applies to people from varied sociocultural backgrounds.

Dr. Jason D. Butler is a Registered Drama Therapist, Board Certified Trainer and New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. Jason is a former President of the North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA) and previously served on the NADTA Board of Directors as President-Elect and Communications Chair. He is the editor-in-chief for The Arts in Psychotherapy and the former training director for DvT Montreal, a satellite of the Institute for Developmental Transformations. Prior to joining Lesley University, he was a professor at Concordia University, in Montreal, in the Creative Arts Therapies Department, serving for a portion of that time as the graduate program director for drama therapy and a member of the Arts in Health Research Collective.

Jason is an internationally known drama therapist, having presented on drama therapy in many countries including in the Czech Republic, China, Hong Kong, Egypt, South Africa, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. He has previously served as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University and at New York University and was one of the first recipients of the NADTA Teaching Excellence Award in 2012. In 2022, he received the Lesley University Impact Award for his contributions to the Lesley community.

His publications include various articles and book chapters on drama therapy education, arts therapies pedagogy, schizophrenia, developmental transformations, and role theory. His current research includes exploration of the drama therapy student experience as well as the application of drama therapy theory to experiential learning.