Call for Content: Dreaming Together

Written By Claudia Kloc

Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Call for Content

Dreaming Together: Co-Creating Belonging through the Healing Arts as a Collective
In collaboration with the 46th Annual CATA-ACAT Conference and OEATA

Submission Deadline: January 15, 2026

The Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Research, Practice, and Issues / Revue canadienne d’art-thérapie : recherche, pratique et enjeux invites submissions for a special issue aligned with the theme of the 46th Annual CATA-ACAT Conference: “Dreaming Us Forward: Co-Creating Belonging through the Healing Arts.”

This special issue builds upon the conference’s focus on belonging, reflecting the shared vision of the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA ACAT), the Ontario Expressive Arts Therapy Association (OEATA), and the WHEAT Institute. The 2025 conference will take place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Treaty 1 Territory, the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.

In a world marked by ongoing ecological, social, and spiritual challenges, the healing arts offer a powerful path for fostering belonging, connection, resilience, and renewal with an intentional focus on togetherness. This special issue seeks to honour the interconnected ways art therapists and expressive arts practitioners are dreaming us forward by co-creating belonging, cultural resurgence, and relational responsibility through our varied intersectional identities, creative practices, and professional perspectives.

Through the lens of Two-Eyed Seeing, a guiding principle developed by Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall and further elaborated by Bartlett, Marshall, and Marshall (2012), this issue encourages contributors to hold space for multiple worldviews, truths, and ways of knowing. This foundational approach, which informs the ethos of our journal, calls on us to bring together the strengths of both Indigenous and Western knowledges for the benefit of all.

Guiding Themes

This issue invites reflections, research, and creative work that explores the conference’s five key themes:

  1. Amplify Indigenous Voices: Honour, celebrate, and engage Indigenous knowledge systems, healing traditions, and creative expression in art therapy.

  2. Decolonize: Explore decolonial approaches to research, pedagogy, supervision, and practice across healing arts contexts.

  3. Welcome: Share practices that cultivate inclusive, culturally safe, and affirming therapeutic spaces for diverse communities.

  4. Sustain: Consider how the arts can foster environmental stewardship, practitioner well-being, and long-term social impact.

  5. Unite: Showcase collaborations that transcend disciplines, geographies, and identities to create collective healing and advocacy.

Types of Articles Accepted

The Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Research, Practice, and Issues welcomes submissions in the following categories:

  • Cover Artwork: Submit a JPEG artwork and a brief artist statement (200–400 words).

  • Art Therapy Research Articles (2,000–4,000 words): Empirical studies grounded in theory and methodology.

  • Art Therapy in Practice (2,000–3,000 words): Descriptions of practical interventions based in literature.

  • Art Therapy Approaches (2,000–3,000 words): Theoretical explorations or conceptual models.

  • Soundings (up to 2,000 words): Creative reflections, proposals, and perspectives.

  • Book Reviews: Contact the editor directly at journal@canadianarttherapy.org.

Submission Instructions

Submit your manuscript via our Editorial Manager system: https://www.editorialmanager.com/ucat/default.aspx

Please ensure that:

  • Submissions are in MS Word format and anonymized.

  • Manuscripts are double-spaced, with 1-inch margins.

  • Pages are numbered consecutively and include an abstract (100–250 words).

  • APA 7th edition guidelines are followed for style and referencing.

Full submission guidelines are available at:

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=ucat20&page=instructions

We look forward to your contributions.

Sincerely,

Haley Toll

Editor 

Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Research, Practice, and Issues

Revue canadienne d’art-thérapie : recherche, pratique et enjeux

For more information, please see: https://www.canadianarttherapy.org/submissions/

Claudia Kloc
Next

Canadian Journal of Art Therapy New Special Issue