Halligan Creative Arts Therapy, PLLC

03/05/2026

Today, my office joined Licensed Creative Art Therapists, allies, and AM Bronson to advocate for funding LCATs and expanding mental health access. My bills S1001 and S6025 would expand insurance coverage for outpatient care provided by LCATs and allow them to bill Medicaid directly, helping more New Yorkers access the care they need.

02/27/2026

☀️ New York families deserve improved access to creative arts therapists! We are urging leadership to include the Bronson-Brouk proposal to include LCATs in the Medicaid provider list and ALL commercial health insurance plans in this year’s budget!! 🙌🙌🙌

☀️Creative arts therapy is an accessible form of psychotherapy- well suited to the unique needs of children and teens who don’t respond well to other types of therapy! 🙌🙌🙌

☀️ Including the Bronson-Brouk proposal in this year’s budget ensures that families will not have sacrifice when choosing the right therapy for their family. They will have the option to use their commercial insurance and Medicaid coverage to pay for psychotherapy with LCATs. Let’s keep NY kids and families strong! 🙌🙌🙌

☀️ Thank you Senator Samra Brouk and Assemblymember Harry Bronson for their dedicated legislative efforts and support!! 👏👏👏 We are also thankful for the continued advocacy of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, District Council 37, AFSCME, and Northern Rivers Family of Services!! 👏👏👏

02/25/2026

Check out another training offering we have coming up in collaboration with Family Service of Corning.

The webinar covers the neuroscience and clinical rationale behind collage, populations who benefit most, and the specific goals it can support, including grounding, emotional identification, narrative development, and assessment. Emphasis is placed on ethical use within scope of practice, avoiding interpretation, and honoring client-led meaning-making.

We hope to see you there!
Also check out our in house trainings here: https://www.halliganarts.com/continuing-education

https://www.familyservicesociety.org/3626-no-drawing-required-using-collage-in-clinical-interventions.html

Continuing Education Licensed Creative Arts Therapists in New York State can now earn Continuing Education Credits through our trainings.Some of our trainings are also eligible for LMHC and LMSW/LCSW credits through some of our partnerships. Schedule February 2026The Healing Power of Humor: Laughter...

02/19/2026

Happy Birthday to our amazing assistant Courtney!!! There isn’t just one title she has with us as her role has evolved and grown over the years! We hope she has a wonderful birthday of relaxation and joy. She deserves it!!

02/17/2026

Join Teaching Artist ROC - Gil Merritt as he teaches us how to make heroes out of chenille pipe cleaners!

02/13/2026

02/11/2026

Your 2026 CE calendar just got an upgrade! 🌟

Laugh a little. Play a little. Get a little shadowy.

Learn more and register at www.halliganarts.com/continuing-education

02/10/2026

Check out all of our upcoming CE workshops!

2/27: Use code: LAUGHHCAT for $10 off!

All other trainings, you can use code EARLYBIRD for $10 off at this time!

You can view the full collection at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/continuing-education-workshops-4475343?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=creatorshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=odclsxcollection&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

02/06/2026

A wonderful community cause! Laughing Gull Chocolates

The menstrual products collection continues!

🔴 Now through 2/14, we are collecting pads, liners, and tampons. We’re assembling 50 period kits to give away to community members. To make it happen, we need:

1500 pads
500 tampons
500 liners

Thanks to several super (pun intended) generous donations, we are missing just a few tampons and about 25 liners. ❗️ The biggest need we still have to fill is pads.

🔴 A person will use ~ 4 tampons/pads/liners per day for approximately 5 days every month for an average of 35-40 years.
2023 data shows New York State is the most expensive state to buy period products. It costs a lot to manage a period!

☎️ If you are a person who has NOT had to pay for a monthly period, consider donating menstrual products!

Stop into the shop to donate products (and purchase chocolate for a loved one who menstruates). Don’t live locally? Have products shipped to our shop! (1686 East Main St, Rochester, NY 14609). We will enter you to win a $25 gift card when you donate!

02/04/2026

Support us in advocating for Lcat’s to be added to the NYS budget for commercial and Medicaid coverage for mental health therapy! Lack of insurance coverage is the number one barrier for access to care! Read more below and thanks to the LCAT Advocacy Coalition for all their devoted and continued advocacy!

📣 Announcement! New Press Release from Assemblymember Harry Bronson, Senator Samra Brouk, Billy Joel, and mental health advocates: Call For Budget Action to improve access to mental health and substance use disorder care in New York! 👏👏

https://www.lcatcoalition.org/news/bronson-brouk-joel-call-for-budget-action

🔗 Read about how the proposals to include LCATs on the Medicaid provider list and commercial health insurance panels in this year’s budget will improve much needed access to affordable mental healthcare! 👏👏

📣 Share the link! And keep calling your state senators and assembly members to get these proposals on this year’s budget! Call scripts are also linked in our bio! Every call counts! 👏👏

📣 Thank you to 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, District Council 37, AFSCME, and Northern Rivers Family of Services for their continued support of licensed creative arts therapists! We appreciate everything you do to support LCATs and New Yorkers! 👏👏

02/03/2026

Join us on February 27th for this online workshop! 1-4PM.

Use code LAUGHHCAT for $10 off this training!

01/24/2026

Due to the anticipated weather, our 1/26/26 continuing education workshop is moving to a virtual format. We hope you all stay warm.

We are still so excited for this training and would love to have you join us. We also still have tickets available, and the virtual option may make it easier for more folks to participate.

Information:

January 26th, 6-9PM

Understanding Inference-Based CBT for OCD: A Practical Clinical Training

3 contact hours are available to NYS LCATs, LMHCs, LMSWs/LCSWs, LMFTs.

Learn the foundations of Inference-Based CBT for OCD and gain practical tools to help clients distinguish obsessional doubt from reality.