HUMANITIES AND HUMAN FLOURISHING PROJECT

Newsletter | November 5, 2025

Advancing the understanding, assessment, and cultivation of well-being by means of a deep and sustained collaboration between the arts, humanities, and social sciences

Spotlight on: Jordan S. Potash

Jordan S. Potash, PhD, ATR-BC, REAT, LPAT (DC), LPCAT (MD) is a registered, board certified, and licensed art therapist and registered expressive arts therapist. He is Associate Professor in the Art Therapy Graduate Program at The George Washington University, practitioner focused on grief, and former Editor of Art Therapy (2019-2024). Jordan is primarily interested in the applications of art and art therapy in the service of community development, cross-cultural relationships, social change, and peace building. www.jordanpotash.com.

What is a recent encounter with the arts that contributed to your flourishing in some way?

As an art therapist, I am always inspired by the ways that clients create art to enhance their self-reflection, strengthen their relationships, and remedy their communities. Whether they are new to art making or not, they fashion images and make meaning from them to discover metaphors and perspectives.

Tell us about your research/work.

Much of my work is rooted in the ways that art-making generally and art therapy specifically can uniquely enrich our well-being. At the individual level, I focus on enhancing psychological flexibility as a characteristic for achieving goals across a range of stressors. At the communal level, I am interested in adapting the practices we use in art therapy studios for addressing societal ills and enhancing citizenship. Even as I state these are seemingly separate areas, they are intimately linked as individual and communal conditions that mutually impact each other.

How did you first become interested in this field?

While an undergraduate at Syracuse University, Francis Mcmillan Parks, Director of Students Offering Service at Hendricks Chapel, instilled in me the importance of tending to individuals’ suffering while remedying the root causes of their suffering. Her particular interest in storytelling and her continued mentorship for 30 years led me to view my work, clinically and communally, through a lens of peacebuilding and human rights by building connections across difference and shifting misperceptions to shared understandings.

Aside from your own, what research/work do you find especially promising, innovative, or illuminating for your field?

My work has been centered on the use of arts-based narratives to bring people together but that is just one component of bolstering respectful, pluralistic societies. In these times of great political polarization, I am hopeful by work that shores up democratic processes, models healthy debate, and promotes intellectual humility.

Without asking you to divulge too much, what’s on the horizon for your research/work? What topic areas are you excited about exploring more?

One stream of my current research involves the applications of generative AI art making to support psychosocial welfare. I am finishing up a project specifically focused on adults with multiple and severe disabilities. Although I am cautious about AI, co-designing a protocol with the participants challenged me to understand how generative AI can offer a platform for creative expression when it is engaged thoughtfully. I am looking forward to the next iterations of this work with this population and others

Jordan S. Potash will be presenting as part of In Conversation (with Jennifer Drake) TODAY, November 6, 2025 at 2pm ET. For more details, including registration, please click here.

HHF News

• HHF's Katherine N. Cotter (Associate Director of Research) and James O. Pawelski (Director) edited a recently released special issue of the Journal of Positive Psychology. Check out the issue to learn more. (And bonus: many of the articles are not behind a paywall!)

Upcoming Events

We are delighted to continue our fourth season of In Conversation, part of the HHF colloquium series. In Conversation brings scientists and practitioners into dialogue to discuss their work in the arts, culture, and well-being. In Fall 2025, we will hear from innovators working in research institutions and cultural organizations on how engagement in the arts can promote well-being in individuals and communities. We welcome you to join us for these virtual events and to take part in these important exchanges.

• TODAY, Thursday, November 6, 2025 | 2:00 to 3:30pm EST - Jennifer Drake (Brooklyn College) and Jordan S. Potash (The George Washington University) will be discussing the impact of creativity and art-making on individuals and societies. More information and the registration page are available here.
• Wednesday, November 19, 2025 | 10:30am to 12pm EST - Daphna Blatt and Katarzyna Kowalska (New York Public Library) will be speaking about how public libraries contribute to human flourishing. More information and the registration page are available here.

Couldn't make it to one of our past colloquia? Check out the recording on our HHF YouTube Channel.

Other Announcements

• The Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, & the Arts is hosting its third annual research conference in Omaha, Nebraska on March 12-14, 2026. Call for papers and presentations is now open, with a deadline of November 7, 2025. More information, including conference registration and meeting details, is available here.
• James Pawelski, Director of HHF, will be leading a Special Session at the American Academy of Religion's 2025 Annual Meetings in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 22-25, 2025. The session, "Freedom and Flourishing in Fraught Times," is scheduled for Sunday, November 23 at 12:30 to 2:30pm. More information, including conference registration, program, and meeting details, is available here.

This newsletter was created by Sarah Sidoti, Katherine Cotter, and James Pawelski.