Reasons To Be Hopeful About Art Therapy’s Future

In my previous posts I discussed the changing nature of work in the US. The model that we’re all used to, which was developed in the beginning of the 20th C, is not standing the test of time. The advice our parents and teachers gave us isn’t holding up. It just doesn’t make sense to drown in student loan debt hoping that an inflated government or unionized salary will be waiting on the other side. Wisconsin is just one example of the changes to come.

Got it, Liz. This post is about being hopeful about art therapy’s future – Tell me more about that.

There’s lots to be hopeful for!

• For starters, even though we still need more and better outcome research, art therapy has promise to demonstrate what art therapists (and many clients) already know – that art therapy has enormous healing potential and is intrinsically rewarding. With technological improvements allowing us to study the brain in detail, the more I believe art therapy will be validated.
• Second, art therapy can be a very rewarding career choice. Helping people is very fulfilling and helping people heal through art is doubly so. At least for me. Art making and helping others comes so naturally, that it feels good to do both simultaneously.
• The stigma of therapy is slowly being chipped away in our culture and people are realizing they can benefit from counseling. This is just anecdotal, but I feel that people today are much more interested in self-awareness and self-understanding than in the past. Many people now enter therapy simply so they can become their best selves. If this is indeed a trend, there will be a greater demand for therapists in a private practice setting.
• I’m also hoping that with the crumbling Blue Model will come a new way of conceptualizing licensing. My old professor Ron Hayes used to talk about his efforts to get art therapy licensed under the LPC in Pennsylvania. He would say, “licenses are to protect the clients! To ensure that there is a certain standard of education and practice in our field”. While it’s true that I wouldn’t want just anyone messing with my psyche, just like I wouldn’t want just anyone to be my doctor, licensing has gotten completely out of control. At this point, it serves to protect the interests of those who hold the licenses, the educators within the field and credentialing bodies, not the clients. My hope for art therapy’s future is that reciprocity between states will be a simple process so that we can be free to move and work where we want with our hard earned degrees. I also hope that the death of the Blue Model will bring affordable tuition that is inline with the true salary prospects of those practicing in the field.
• Lastly, the number of people who contact me to let me know they share my concerns also keeps me hopeful for the future of art therapy. I hope these worries can be transformed into real action so that art therapy will one day once again be considered a “Hot Job”.

That said, I have something to share with you. My feelings about it have been so varied and overwhelming that it’s difficult for me to say – so much so, that I’ve been putting off writing this post. I’m leaving art therapy for the foreseeable future and have accepted a position as the Website Manager at a private all girls school.

I cannot tell you what a tremendous opportunity this is for me, and how grateful I am to have successfully transitioned careers during one of the toughest economies in the past 100 years. But, it’s with a heavy heart that I’m leaving the field because I truly love art therapy and know that with a lot of hard work, art therapy can successfully survive in a post-Blue Model world. But, I cannot wait for these changes to happen and I’ve done my best to feel out how “ready” the field is…and I think we have a long way to go.

For those of you who wonder if you too can make such a transition, I want to let you know it’s absolutely possible. I learned how to design websites by taking online courses starting 2 years ago, built my business and raised twin babies all at the same time. If I could do it (with a little help from friends and family), surely you can to.

I plan to continue blogging, although the topics will become more diverse. I plan to focus a more on work/life balance issues, as well as education. I’ll also do my best to keep up on art therapy related topics, and would be happy to accept guest posts from art therapists who’d like to write a little something for the blog.

As always, I’m so very grateful for your support and I hope you’ll stick with me throughout this transition.