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Susan Ainlay Anand, MA, ATR-BC, ATCS, LPAT, LMFT

Also known as: Susan A. Anand, Susan M. Anand, Susan Anand

MIT ADT University, Mississippi Museum of Art, New York University, Indiana University Bloomington, The University of Mississippi Medical Center

ORCID iD 0000-0002-6083-3480
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About

Susan Ainlay Anand is a registered, board-certified, licensed art therapist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and fine artist in Mississippi. She is also credentialed as a supervisor with the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB). A New York University art therapy program graduate trained under Edith Kramer, Susan has worked with children and adults in inpatient and outpatient settings. She served as faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center from 1987-2025, where she provided clinical services. She also supervised psychiatry residents and taught residents and medical students about group and art therapy during her tenure as faculty. Her current work in the Jackson area involves art therapy programs for adults with cancer, memory loss, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, and general wellness at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Susan has been a member of the Board of Directors for the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) for two years, from 2019-2021. She has been a member or chairperson of several committees within the AATA, including Program, Scholarships, Nominating, Membership, and the International Subcommittee of the Membership Committee. She is currently involved with the International Special Interest Group of AATA. Susan was a board member and treasurer for the Art Therapy Credentials Board. She was the founding president of the Mississippi Art Therapy Association. She is a member of the Advisory Council for Professional Art Therapists with the Department of Health and advocates for advancing art therapists as recognized mental health professionals in Mississippi.

Susan’s husband is from New Delhi, India, and she has traveled there since 1982. She has provided lectures on art therapy at Delhi University and led workshops and training in Delhi, Chennai, and Auroville, India. In 2015, Susan and Sangeeta Prasad co-founded the Indian Art Therapy Discussion Forum (IATDF), a group dedicated to the advancement of the profession of art therapy in India. For two years, beginning in the summer of 2019, Susan and other art therapists from the US taught a survey course (hybrid model) on art therapy at Women’s Christian College in Chennai, India. She is an adjunct faculty for the MFA in Art Therapy program that began in fall 2021 in the School of Fine Arts, MIT-ADT University in Pune, India. She provides online teaching and supervision to students and mentorship to faculty in this program. The first cohort graduated from the university in May 2023.

She is a board member of the Wolfe Creative Legacy Foundation in Jackson, MS. She previously served as a board member for the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi, lobbied for the ACLU on state issues, and member of the Community Advisory Council for the Center of Art and Public Exchange (CAPE) through the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Employment

  • MIT ADT University Adjunct Faculty, MFA in Fine Arts
    2021 - Present
  • Mississippi Museum of Art Art Therapist
    2016 - Present
  • The University of Mississippi Medical Center Instructor/Art Therapist
    1987 - 2025

Education

  • New York University MA/Art Therapy
    1979 - 1986
  • Indiana University Bloomington BA
    1973 - 1976

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (10)