Profiles

E. Spencer Powers, MS, LPC, ATR-BC

Spencer is a Registered and Board-Certified Art Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor. Spencer previously served as the Vice President of the Virginia Art Therapy Association and brings his experience and clinical knowledge in addictions, community mental health, inpatient psychiatric care, and almost 20 years of teaching part-time to the program. Spencer is most fond of watercolor and charcoal media. He is a graduate of Eastern Virginia Medical School, with a Master of Science degree in Art Therapy in 1999 and of The College of William and Mary with a double major in art and psychology in 1997.

In 2004, Spencer joined the art therapy and counseling program as a part-time community faculty member and was appointed to Assistant Professor in 2014. He has taught Introduction to the History and Theory of Art Therapy, provided individual supervision of clinical internships, and served as Thesis/Capstone Chair for students. 

He was the first faculty to teach on-line course offerings via Blackboard when he began teaching Addictions in 2006 followed by Career Counseling a year later. As a clinician, Spencer provided clinical art therapy and counseling at the John Randolph Medical Center (JRMC) in Hopewell, Virginia, working with adults in psychiatric inpatient, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient programs. He has coordinated temporary detention order hearings and frequently testified in his role at JRMC.

In 2004, Mr. Powers accepted a full-time position at Hanover Community Services Board as the Lead Clinician for the Hanover County Juvenile Recovery Court, providing individual, group, and family psychotherapy and art therapy to teens struggling with co-occurring disorders. Over the course of his career, Spencer has established expertise in addictions and with mandated populations. He has served as a Crisis Intervention Trainer (CIT), preparing new sheriff’s deputies and other first responders to interact with children and adolescents in ways that minimize trauma and deescalate intense interactions.

He was a trainer for new CSB employees in the assessment and clinical management of suicidality and has served as an overnight on-call crisis clinician..