Each year at commencement, the Art Therapy Program recognizes top graduates who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to social justice with the Liberatory Community Engagement Award, and equity-based practices with the Commitment to Equity and Access Award. Congratulations to this year’s recipients,Paris Richelieu andKassandra Leyva!
June 22, 2026
Paris Richelieu and Kassandra Leyva are Art Therapy’s 2026 awardees.
Paris Richelieu, Art Therapy MA ’26, is the recipient of the Liberatory Community Engagement AwardLiberatory Community Engagement Award: Paris Richelieu
The Liberatory Community Engagement Award honors art therapy graduates who demonstrate exceptional commitment to social justice, cultural humility, and, specifically, dismantling oppressive hierarchies in favor of community-centered healing. It recognizes those who promote equity and access through innovative, relational, and, often, rural or marginalized-focused, arts-based, clinical, practice.
This year’s awardee is Paris Richelieu, an individual who exemplifies liberatory practices through her lived experience and innovative approach to art therapy. Over the past 18 months, Paris has worked tirelessly with communities impacted by the justice system across the Portland metro area. Whether facilitating in-person art therapy groups, conducting virtual sessions, or providing individual services, she has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to helping others truly thrive.
Paris approaches her work through a lens of liberation and genuine humility. Regardless of the environment, a private home, a residential setting, or the clinic office she shows up with a professionalism grounded in relational exchange, integrity, and compassion. She possesses a rare gift for seeing the person behind the history, refusing to let a past crime or a single moment define a participant’s identity. Instead, she leads with the belief that every individual is a whole person capable of healing and growth.
Throughout her time in the program, Paris has demonstrated inspiring perseverance, consistently working on her own personal growth while supporting others in their journeys. She is not only a fierce advocate for her participants but also a diligent collaborator who works seamlessly alongside her team of social workers and fellow art therapists. Congratulations, Paris!
Kassandra Leyva, Art Therapy MA ’26, is the recipient of the Commitment to Equity and Access Award.Commitment to Equity and Access Award: Kassandra Leyva
The Commitment to Equity and Access Award is presented to a graduate who demonstrates a profound dedication to service, disrupts societal barriers, and carves out pathways for equity-based practices within our communities. This year, we are honored to recognize Kassandra Leyva, whose journey through this program has been defined by a tireless work ethic and a deep-seated commitment to meeting people where they are.
Kassandra’s clinical experience has been both broad and deeply immersive. She spent her first nine months in a residential program with teens, navigating the high-intensity demands of that environment with clinical rigor and heart. Following that, she transitioned into her most recent placement providing Spanish services to residents of East Portland. It had been years since the site hosted an art therapy intern, but Kassandra stepped into that empty space with a mission. She has skillfully balanced the delicate nuances of family, and individual work.
Her work in East Portland coincided with a period of intense national and local political challenges that paralyzed and mobilized the Latinx community. Guided by exceptional site supervisors and counseling staff, she navigated these external pressures with steadfastness and cultural humility. She used supervision exactly as it was intended: as a space of honest reflection where she could process the weight of broken systems alongside her peers. Like many of our students, she faced moments where her “imposter syndrome” was tested to the limit by participants and parents alike. Yet, she met these challenges with a remarkable blend of grace and confidence, qualities she didn’t just find within herself, but nurtured through the power of community and the profound wisdom shared by her clients.
By utilizing her Spanish language skills to bridge systemic gaps, continuing to ask the questions some mental health providers don’t want to ask, and advocating for her clients, she embodied what it means to advocate for true accessibility in mental health. She has proven that “access” is not just about opening a door, but about how you show up once you are inside. Congratulations, Kassandra!
Lewis & Clark Graduate School’s commencement ceremonies are a true and celebratory reflection of who we are as a community with threads of connection running throughout all of those in attendance, bound by the words shared from the stage and in the joyous atmosphere created by all.
A recording of the ceremony will be available on our commencement web page.
Bowman will work closely with Graduate School leadership and faculty and with partners across the state to scale the school’s impact and expand the use of data and research to improve outcomes in Oregon K-12 schools.
Carlos Sanchez Huizar BA ’18, MA ’20 has turned his love of coffee and his experience at Lewis & Clark into Kilo D’ Cofi, a Latinx-owned café and community space in downtown Portland.
The certificate program approaches well-being from an integrated ecological perspective, teaching students how to work in and with nature using relational, somatic, verbal, spiritual, and artistic expressions.
