"How is making art going to help me?"
"Is an art therapist even a real job?"
"How does this even work?"
These are a few of the questions I have received countless times regarding art therapy. So here I am to clarify with a few key points of what art therapy is (and is not) and how it can be beneficial for anyone who engages with it. Let's begin with our first point:
1) Art therapy is a legitimate mental health profession with its own accrediting body (the art therapy credentialing board) and educational, ethical, and professional standards of practice.
Not anyone is allowed to call themself an art therapist. Not everyone is able to practice art therapy. Can an artist practice art therapy? No. They cannot. Can a counselor who has not taken the necessary coursework to become a REAT (Registered Expressive Art Therapist) or an ATR (Registered Art Therapist) conduct art therapy? No.
They cannot. It may sound like I am gatekeeping my profession, and maybe to an extent I am, but here me out.
I handle art materials differently than an artist or an art teacher. I call it my art therapy brain versus my artist brain. An artist or an art teacher is trying to get their students to create a good product and hopefully have fun in the process. However, in art therapy, I am working on regulating the nervous system through helping people get into the flow state with art materials. I utilize techniques, materials, and prompts very intentionally to not only keep myself regulated, but regulate the other person. When any of these factors is not well thought through, the session can go sour. I put intentionality into how much I talk in session, if I offer help or advice on techniques in session, what materials I allow access to, how much guidance or prompting I do, if I make art alongside the individual, etc. It's a science. One that I have spent literal years studying, practicing, and undergoing supervision for.
So why can a counselor not practice art therapy? Well, art therapy is more nuanced than a series of prompts and techniques. Just the same as no well respected therapist would casually toss around terms like "EMDR trained" "trauma informed" etc., art therapy required education. Art is disarming. Art rapidly can disarm someone without them realizing. Sometimes this means a simple early session can suddenly be catapulted right into the middle of a traumatic memory. Those trained in art therapy can tell you horror stories of well intentioned professionals casually "art therapizing" someone gone wrong. As therapists, we are ethically obligated to care for the wellbeing of our clients. Just as I am careful not to say I know how to conduct EMDR because I myself did a series of EMDR sessions and have read about it in a textbook, it is vital that counselors not pick up an art therapy textbook and decide they're ready to specialize their practice without the proper education.
If you would like to find out more about art therapy as a profession, you can do so by visiting the American Art Therapy Association's website: arttherapy.org
****I'll be back soon with part two!
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