ATIRA TAN

CEO & Founding Director.

With almost fifteen years of experience working with trauma – informed approaches alongside art, yoga and mindfulness, Atira has a deep commitment and passion in empowering and healing women and girls globally from the inside out.

Hailing from Singapore, she has a deep understanding about Asian cross- cultural women’s issues through her own journey of recovery and empowerment from gender discrimination and domestic violence.

Since 2004, Atira has set up numerous clinical art therapy and trauma recovery programs, researching the benefits of art therapy, somatic therapies, yoga, mindfulness and ritual in trauma recovery and sexual abuse, from the refugee camps in the jungles of Burma, post-war zones in Cambodia, slums and brothels in Kathmandu, earthquake hit areas in Nepal, to the wide open spaces of rural Aboriginal communities in the desert of Australia. In addition to her work at Art to Healing, Atira has worked as a clinician and supervisor in Australia and the Asia – Pacific region in the contexts of psycho-social care, mental health services, disaster relief, community health and as an educator in Transpersonal Art Therapy.

A MA graduate in Art Therapy from Latrobe University in Melbourne, Atira has also been featured on TED X, and is a published author of the chapter: Surviving Shame, from the book Art Therapy in Asia, published by Jessica Kingsley (2012).

When Atira isn’t on the road, you can find her in her Northcote home with her partner, and little cat Mitzy. She loves wheel throwing, doll making, dancing up a storm, moving on her yoga mat, and the silent moments of meditation.