Nadia Jenefsky & Deniz Oktay

Teaches at NY Creative Arts Therapists

Nadia Jenefsky, MPS, LCAT, ATR-BC

Co-Founder | Clinical Director

Art Therapist | Psychotherapist

A co-founder of NY Creative Arts Therapists, Nadia received her Masters in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute and her post-masters certificate in Child and Family Therapy from NYU. Her integrated use of artmaking, talk, narrative work, and humor has helped her clients come to terms with trauma, stress, relational, and developmental issues. She has been offering her services to children, young adults, teens, couples, parents and families for over 20 years, and specializes in working with those affected by ADHD. As clinical director, she oversees and mentors the staff and interns at NY Creative Arts Therapists in order to ensure consistent delivery of the most effective clinical services possible, with special attention to the unique needs and experience of each family and individual served. In addition to a background in film and video, she has a special interest in women's autobiographical comics, and has been making her own cartoon art for over 15 years. She is also a collaborator on "Just Do You", an NYU School of Social Work funded research project designed to increase young adults engagement in mental health treatment. She has been a returning guest instructor at L'Atelier, a Masters-level expressive therapies training program in Geneva, Switzerland,  and will be joining the teaching staff of both Pratt Insitute's Art Therapy Department, and NYU's social work program, in 2019. 

Deniz Oktay, MA, LCAT, BC-DMT

Dance/Movement Therapist, Psychotherapist

Deniz's therapeutic approach uses kinesthetic empathy, a body based approach to listening, exploring, understanding and sharing, in her work with children, teens and adults. She is committed to working with each individual in a unique way that suits their comfort level with movement. Her work can range from high energy with a lot of moving and exploring, to the use of breath work or a stress ball while sitting and talking. Her approach integrates cognitive and expressive interventions to create awareness of the ways in which issues such as stress, grief, mood instability, anxiety, and trauma are communicated and experienced both verbally and through the body.

Deniz earned a master’s of science in dance/movement therapy at Pratt Institute and is a board certified dance therapist and licensed creative arts therapist. She has over 15 years of experience working with people in acute states of mental health disorders in a hospital setting. She also has a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts with a major in dance from the University of Michigan, and prior to becoming a dance therapist, she performed professionally with several modern dance companies in New York. She brings with her a passion for creative exploration and humanistic connections based on a holistic approach to the healing process.

Deniz has certificates from the New York Center for the Study of Authentic Movement and the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society. Her article implementing dance/movement therapy on a forensic service at a city hospital was published in 2009.