Cheryl L. McLean M.A. Independent Scholar, Writer, Ethnodramatist (masters Creative Arts Therapies, Concordia University, Montreal, BA Social Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London) has edited three books on arts and research, Creative Arts in Humane Medicine (2014),  Creative Arts for Community and Cultural Change (2011) McLean, C. L., & Kelly, R. (Eds.) and Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice (2010)  McLean, C. L., & Kelly, R. (Eds.) Brush Education Inc., Edmonton.  She was founder and publisher of The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice (IJCAIP) with international board members across disciplines, leaders in the arts, education, healthcare, design and business.  She taught the courses Problems in Education Research in Creativity Summer Institute, MEd Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Creativity in Death and Bereavement, University of Western Ontario, London, and has facilitated the workshop, Living Stories for Hope and Change for allied health professionals, physicians, psychiatrists, mental health counsellors as well as sex abuse survivors. She speaks widely about the arts in research and was a guest presenter for The American Medical Association (AMSA) Medical Humanities scholars’ program web podcast and has presented keynotes for The Alberta Psychiatric Association, Congress of The Humanities (CASSW) University of Western Ontario, and Acadia University Summer Institute among others and has helped advance the creative arts in interdisciplinary practice in leading international journals (The Advancement of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy,V. 12, No. 2, 2015).  She is also an ethnodramatist and studied acting under the direction of Muriel Gold, former AD of The Saidye Bronfman Theatre, Montreal.  Her research took place while working as a group therapist in residential homes where a number of her clients were Holocaust survivors. She wrote and performed the solo ethnodrama Remember Me for Birds about aging, mental health and autonomy which premiered at McGill Medical School.  She has written and performed plays based on dietetic research about aging, care and food issues.  She is currently writing a new book, The Walkers: Contemporary Stories of Life in Transition Challenge and Change with essays that explore the contemporary realities of modern living, change and survival.  She recently launched a new website artinpandemic.com designed to feature art and art related work created during the Global Pandemic of 2020.

*recently invited to serve on the steering committee for the proposed 
Arts, Design, Health Research event plan proposal for 2021, Penn State University Arts and Architecture

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