Karen Yarosh’s childhood passion for painting was influenced by a great-uncle who cared for her in infancy. He was an avid artist and an improvisational musician from the Vaudeville era. With her uncle’s guidance, Karen learned how to communicate through art even before she could connect through speech. Early, throughout her school education, and outside the of the rich programs offered, she studied with other artists after school, culminating in her formal studies at Paier College of Art with professionals from New York in both Fine Arts and Commercial Freelance work.
Karen taught art informally in private settings and after-school programs. Over the next twenty years, she worked with Disney-owned Jim Henson and Associates and had other commercial print jobs within the graphic arts industry. At the same time, Karen continued teaching and opened up studios both large and small in the northeast region of Connecticut. Returning to school, she earned her second degree in the field of Psychology at Albertus Magnus College; a Psychology Major with a focus in Art Therapy. Karen’s practicum assignment was with the dually diagnosed at River East, a program of Natchaug Hospital. In conjunction with earning her degree, Karen worked for five years within a community health care agency in a residential psychiatric program.
The populations included people of all ages with a wide variety of diagnoses, socioeconomic, and multicultural backgrounds. Working side by side with families and individuals, Karen was a liaison to therapists in shelters, facilities, and private homes statewide in Connecticut.
It was after relocating her studio from a commercial zone in Tolland to a private farm in Columbia, CT, that Karen discovered the need for two nonverbal modalities. Art and Animal Assisted Therapy provides for a more enriching exploration of identity. To fully learn about this crossover, Karen began formal training in Eagala, an Equine Assisted Therapy. This began the combined application of the Eagala model of Animal Assisted Therapy with Art Therapy.
Recently, Karen returned to Tolland, moving both her art studio and farm animals. The gift of moving to her current location is that it offers more accessibility to her client base, highways, and the offerings of the land. It is a more private, rural, and protected property. Karen is honored to own and be the steward of part of Joshua’s Trust, which offers trails, a rich history, a handicap accessible studio, and the opportunity for agricultural programs. Students from UConn, E.O. Smith High School, and even Wormley, England come to study with Karen for agriculturally based learning. Karen has shared that during many times of her personal life challenges, it was the creating of art that helped her. The animal relationships transformed her life in profound ways. It is these personal experiences in art and with animals that have led her to do the work and offer the programs.