About Me

​Bani Malhotra, Ph.D., LPC, ATR-BC is an Assistant Professor in the art therapy program at Florida State University’s Department of Art Education. She is a licensed professional counselor and a registered, board-certified art therapist. Dr. Malhotra’s research focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating psychosocial and arts interventions for improving health related outcomes. She has authored and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed articles related to visual metaphors and specific art media use in therapy, injury/ illness adjustment and rehabilitation, and impact of art therapy in diverse settings. Dr. Malhotra currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Art Therapy Association.

Dr. Malhotra pursued her Postdoctoral Fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation where she also served as an interventionist for the Resources for Enhancing All Caregivers’ Health–REACH-TBI project, a telehealth intervention study for caregivers of veterans/service members with Traumatic Brain Injury. As a clinician, with training in both psychology and art therapy, she has worked with individuals across the lifespan to provide counseling and art therapy services in medical, forensic, psychiatric, and school settings in United States and India.

Dr. Malhotra completed her education in psychology with a bachelor’s from Lady Shri Ram College, India and a master’s from University of Delhi, India before pursuing master’s in art therapy from The George Washington University, USA and a doctorate in Creative Arts Therapies from Drexel University, USA. She is also a certified VTS@Work® facilitator with training in the research-based methodology of using Visual Thinking Strategies completed through the Harvard Medical School.

​Enthusiastic about fostering diversity in scholarly writing and building art therapy programming in multidisciplinary settings​, she is available for consultation on writing projects, and arts and health program development.