About Us
Our History
Our founders, Mandy Parten and Melissa Thibodaux, met in graduate school, while pursuing their Masters Degrees in Marriage and Family Counseling. They both began working in homes providing ABA therapy as they worked their way through school. Over the next 2 years, it became apparent that both their friendship and passion for serving the autistic population would last a lifetime. Based on a devotion to family health, their goal was and is to promote healthy family systems in the face of life’s challenges. For it is in addressing these challenges, that we are able to see the most beautiful parts of creation and humanity.
​
While Mandy pursued her certification in Behavior Analysis, Melissa pursued her License in Professional Counseling. The dream to combine these disciplines was realized in 2006, when The Art in Me was established – becoming the first center of its kind in the Greater New Orleans area.
Our Name
Looking back, using “Art” in the name of our center might have been misleading to some consumers. We do not provide art lessons, nor do we do art therapy. But despite the occasional confusion, we are proud to be The Art in Me: A Center for Behavior Therapy and Counseling. This name is based on a song titled “The Art in Me” by Jars of Clay with the intent of expressing it’s theme in the work we do. We believe there is beauty in most everything – sometimes it is obvious and sometimes it is hard for us to see. Nevertheless, it is there waiting to be discovered if we take the time to invest.
Our Logo
Our doors opened the year after Hurricane Katrina ravaged our city. Following the devastation, Sunflowers began to grow everywhere across the city. They were resilient, stood tall above the destruction, and provided beauty and hope that was much needed. We chose a sunflower as our logo in hopes our center could be a sunflower in the landscape. We recognize now, it is our job to help cultivate sunflowers – our clients, our families, and our staff. We are a company dedicated to learning AND teaching, helping to establish boundaries AND create freedoms, promoting science AND compassion.
Our Culture
Our goal, at the Art in Me, is to create a supportive community for the families and children we serve; as well as our staff. A place where differences are not only accepted, but valued. Where everyone feels that they have a place in this world, and can make meaningful change and growth. We dedicate time and resources to invest in growth of individuals and growth in our center as a whole.
One statement often spoken to new staff is "Don't worry, you're never alone." This is a reference to the training period and subsequent supervision provided, but this is also a constant in the community that is The Art in Me. From the design of our office to the creation of our teams, we are intentional about wanting to make people feel welcome, encouraged, and supported. This is not an environment of competition or isolation; but one of helpfulness and collaboration. To encourage learning and collaboration, our individual teams meet bi-weekly to discuss each client. As a full staff, we meet weekly to share newly acquired knowledge, successes, and challenges. We strive to provide parents with communication and support through correspondence from the directors, supervisors, and each member of their team following sessions and during monthly scheduled family meetings.
We also value creativity to provide individualized programs based on each person's learning style and preferences. We have a constant drive to make INDIVIDUALIZED reinforcement the forefront of our treatment with the goal of making learning valuable. This type of reinforcement will likely look unfamiliar to those outside of The Art in Me, but we LOVE that! We LOVE listening to Dreams by Fleetwood Mac while typing, cleaning out freezers because we learned about controlling our emotions, riding scooters down the hall in order to label pictures, making Pixar character T-shirts to reinforce prepositions, creating comic strips to discuss autism, or playing an original game of Lava Ball with friends! The journey through the reinforcement duds and failures may take time, but those shared experiences and the JOY thereafter is a foundation to our community.
​
Sculpting every move, you compose a symphony. You plead to everyone “See the Art in Me."
-Jars of Clay
.jpg)
