Valerie Bostory, PhDc, LCAT, LPAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, RPT-S is an art and play therapy supervisor and school psychologist with over 25 years of experience in urban public schools. She has been on the faculty at New Jersey City University for 16 years teaching art therapy and has also taught postgraduate play therapy at New York University and Monmouth University.

Her work centers on supporting children and families experiencing adversity and C-ACEs (Culturally Informed Adverse Childhood Experiences) that can often lead to developmental and generational trauma. Her approach is grounded in somatic, "bottom-up" approaches: using sensory integration through physical art making and play interventions to strengthen the neurological brain-body connection. This sensory foundation serves as a scaffold, externalizing the internal felt sense, acts as a bridge upward toward embodiment — the capacity to consciously think about, recognize, interpret, and integrate internal body signals as a source of self-knowledge, emotional regulation, and meaning-making. 

She brings this same embodied framework directly into her university teaching. Through experiential, sensory-based learning, she guides the next generation of art therapists to understand the brain-body connection from the inside out. Believing that art therapy students must first experience and develop their own embodied awareness before they can skillfully hold that space for others. 

Valerie has presented locally, statewide, and nationally, contributed to Childhood Revealed, and is an author in The Embodied Art Therapist. She lives in NYC and is completing certification in Jungian Sandplay Therapy.

Chapter 7: Sensorimotor therapy and sensory modulation applications within art therapy

Kelley Linhardt, Valerie Bostory, and Mia de Béthune

For supervision, consultation, or trainings, contact her at: valeriebostory@gmail.com