Lez’arts thérapie ^{Summer 2025}

Émilie Barrette is a graduate of the École supérieure de ballet du Québec (ESBQ) and Ballet Divertimento’s college program. She has also completed the 27 credit Voie Alternative dance therapy training program offered by Les Grands Ballets’ National Centre for Dance Therapy (NCDT). Always in search of new learning opportunities, Émilie explores numerous continuing education courses in dance pedagogy. She has twice taken part in Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Teachers Training Program, as well as obtaining the ESBQ’s Attestation d’études collégiales (AEC) accreditation in dance pedagogy.

She has had the privilege of collaborating on various NCDT projects, notably with children, teenagers and adults living with autism and/or cognitive disabilities.

After fifteen years of teaching in the recreational and junior programs at ESBQ, Émilie is currently in charge of dance therapy at NCDT. Concurrently, she is pursuing a master’s degree in dance at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) under the direction of Lucie Beaudry. Her research focuses on enriching her adapted dance practice, notably through the development of dance pictograms.

Professional art therapist Yan Yee Poon holds a master’s degree in art therapy from Concordia University and is a member of the Québec Art Therapy Association (AATQ). She has acquired extensive experience over the years working with a diverse clientele—children, adults, seniors—and more specifically with women in vulnerable situations experiencing mental health issues, domestic violence, and homelessness. Accessibility and inclusion lie at the heart of her practice. Yan Yee has designed and integrated art therapy services into various existing programs, especially in the healthcare network, to support stress management among people living with chronic illnesses. She also helped to develop a support program for immigrant women facing social and economic vulnerabilities.

For over 10 years, Yan Yee has been involved in Montréal’s Art Hive network. She currently works at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Art Hive, an inclusive and intergenerational community workshop launched in 2017, through which she promotes creativity as a vehicle for wellness and social connection.

Guided by a humanistic and person-centred approach that attends to each person’s individual strengths, Yan Yee provides a gentle and welcoming presence. She is deeply convinced of the transformative and healing power of artistic expression, which can function to transcend boundaries and form connections between beings.

Since earning her bachelor’s degree in music therapy in 1993, Nathalie Leroux has developed a satisfying combination of working experiences both as a teacher and a music therapist. In addition to offering private singing and piano lessons to a diverse clientele, she works in a wide variety of settings. She has taught in music schools, run musical awakening workshops, and conducted children’s choirs in regular curriculum schools. For over 30 years, her teaching style has been characterized both by rigour and the importance of transmitting the joy of playing music. Her training in music therapy has enabled her to work with special clienteles who traditionally have limited exposure to music.

For the past several years, Nathalie has practised music therapy in schools with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) clientele. While her practice fosters individual development through music, she also runs integration projects—musicals, theatre and storytelling with audio—that integrate ASD clients with regular curriculum students.

Nathalie also serves as a consultant and gives training and talks aimed at raising awareness and equipping anyone (teachers, professionals, parents, etc.) working with children with particular needs.