Sandra Graves-Alcorn

Sandra Graves-Alcorn, 78
Louisville
Sandra Graves-Alcorn was a licensed professional art therapist and a retired Professor Emeritus from the University of Louisville, where she started the first Masters Degree in Art Therapy Program and developed the Institute of Expressive Therapies. She taught there for 30 years before retiring to practice in the private sector. During her tenure at the University, she was privileged to take several courses in law school that ended up contributing to her Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Special Education. Her studies in trauma, oncology and high-risk neonatology lead her to a career in grief counseling and trauma-informed practice.
Graves was a founder of four companies in her career, one in aftercare services for funeral homes throughout the U.S., two counseling agencies and one foster care agency. She began her career as an Expert Witness approximately forty years ago by identifying factors in children's drawings indicative of trauma and abuse. She has been affiliated with high-profile cases such as the Standard Gravure murders, the Radcliff bus crash and the Shanda Shearer murder case, which led to an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show. She evaluated serial rapists and murderers in death penalty cases as well as provided other forensic services across the country. Graves vast experience also lead her to become a regular guest expert on WAVE Country News, in which she talked about creative coping with daily life events as well as those involving trauma.
In her scholarly activities, Graves has lectured throughout the United States and Canada. She published and edited a journal on grief, has written numerous articles for professional journals and associations, and is one of the founders and past president of the American Art Therapy Association. She was a published book author, including Expressions of Healing and Implementing the Expressive Therapies Continuum. She also wrote chapters for other books, and her work with death row inmates was published in Art on Trial. She presented in several venues about the Art Therapist as an Expert Witness. Upon her retirement from the University of Louisville, Graves was awarded the distinction Outstanding Alumnae.
As part of community service, she was co-therapist for Survivors of Suicide and founded SAME (Surviving a Murder Effectively). She also helped develop RESPOND, a crisis team comprising a coalition of mental health agencies in Louisville and was on the Steering Committee and Coordinator of Training for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing teams in seven counties in Kentucky and southern Indiana. Appointed to the Governor's Task Force on Childhood Sex Abuse, she was invited to be co-chair of the Intervention Committee, Task Force on Childhood Sex Abuse appointed by the Commonwealth Attorney. She was also a member of Rotary, graduated from the Leadership Oldham County program, helped found and later served as president of the Oldham County Arts Association where she helped start Arts on the Green. She was also a Coordinator of Teen Court for Oldham County. Graves was currently serving on the Board of Expressive Media, Inc.
Graves was a member of the American Art Therapy Association and the International Society of Mental Health Forensic Science. She provided forensic evaluation, treatment and Expert Witness Testimony for Shelton Forensic Solutions.
Graves was a loving mother, daughter, sister, wife and Nana/Bannie. She took care of her father Roy Graves until his death at age 97, helped support her children through addictions, spiritual journeys and hardships, divorces and family crises, and her grandchildren with their academics and mental health.
She was a woman who emanated joyfulness and love, which was personified by her boisterous laugh and contagious happiness. She was someone who you always wanted in your corner, and your audience, as she would revel in each joke, story or anecdote you had to tell her and would listen as though what you said had infinite value. She was uncompromising in her playfulness, always being herself and never anyone else. She encouraged everyone in her life to do the same. She was extravagant, sparkled inside and out, and could be found dancing in twinkling shoes and brilliant colors any day. She was someone who had great empathy, and knew what it meant to acknowledge pain and to give the grace needed to move past trauma. She was someone who was loved and reciprocated that love to the fullest of her ability. She was a marvel. She has left a dynamic legacy.