Definition: Art therapy is a form of
expressive therapy that uses the creative process of making art to improve a
person’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Art
therapy, sometimes called creative arts therapy or expressive arts therapy,
encourages people to express and understand emotions through artistic
expression and through the creative process.
The
Free Dictionary
Art for me has always been my “stay
out of trouble” card. I remember when I was little if I got in trouble my
grandma and granddad would have a “stern” word with me but then they would hand
me a colouring book or let me watch art attack to calm down.
My granddad loved art. He was more
fine art based where I'am textiles. But he was amazing. There house was full of
his wonderful paintings. Wow. His work was truly incredible. I would love to
have shown you his work. Anyway, I didn't get the best of grades in school and
I couldn't get into sixth form because of my grades, it was clear I was a
visual learning.. from that I got onto a level 3 BTEC in Art and Design.
During my time in college we had to
think about jobs or further education doing our specialist subject... He
mentioned about art therapy and how I would be good at it as I have the ability
to talk to others confidentially and that people find it easy to open up to me.
I liked the idea of communication through art, I heard of art therapy before
and once looked into Art therapy it became very clear that it was something to
bare in mind.
"The
British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) is the professional organisation
for art therapists in the UK. It works to promote art therapy and provides
professional support and advice to its members. The BAAT represents art therapy
within national organisations and has a growing international profile.
The
BAAT provides information to members of the public about art therapy Careers & Training and maintains a
list of State Registered Art Therapists in private practice. The BAAT is
also the learned society for UK art therapy and publishes a peer reviewed
journal "The
International Journal of Art Therapy: Inscape" three times a
year."
BAAT is a useful website to look into,
its easy to navigate on and to find info that your needing and reading through
the blog page it looks like a very useful guide to have, you can became a member of the BAAT. The BAAT welcomes qualified art therapists, art therapy trainees as well
as individuals and organisations with an interest in art therapy.
A little further into college my grand parents started
getting early stages of dementia, that illness took my granddads ability away, he didn't know he was an amazing artist, he didn't know how to draw those little
funny men he used to draw me, he just didn't know, And that was a talent that
had just disappeared. heart breaking.
From my personal experience I was
really interested in how others would/could communicate through art. How others
do it to communicate.. I took that on board and thought more into when we ask
kids to draw a house? Well they do a square, bricks, windows, a pathway to the
front door, a garden full of flowers even a cheeky little dog in there but then
another child is more minimal. One window and no door, no pretty flowers or a
dog. Well why? Is it because they don’t like to draw or are they unhappy? From
that thought I wanted to know, I started to be more aware of my other groups
drawings during college.. I started question them, why that colour palette? Why
are you doing it so small and not big? Things like that, and how art to me and
others was relaxing and expressionist.
Through the research from BAAT website
and even googling art therapy, its quite common these sessions can be for group
works and even some are 1:1 and they cater for Adults and even children
with:
alcohol problems
Dementia / alzheimer
kids in care
victims
genders
art therapy helps to make a positive difference in the life of many people who find verbal communication difficult.
art therapy helps to make a positive difference in the life of many people who find verbal communication difficult.
Art therapists work
with children, young people, adults and the elderly. Clients may have a wide
range of difficulties, disabilities or diagnoses. These include emotional,
behavioural or mental health problems, learning or physical disabilities,
life-limiting conditions, neurological conditions and physical illnesses.
Art therapy is
provided in groups or individually, depending on clients' needs. It is not a
recreational activity or an art lesson, although the sessions can be enjoyable.
Clients do not need to have any previous experience or expertise in art.
During my research I came across CWB art therapy Manchester
a organisation based in Manchester by a man called Christopher Whitehead-Baines (Chris). The link to
his website is on the blog. All the info about Chris is on his webpage and what
he does and what he has done. I contacted Chris for some information about where it
all started for him, what interest him etc. Im taking this moment now to thank
Chris for his kindness of giving me as much info as possible as it has boosted
my research into art therapy.
"university
as a mature student to do a BA in Fine Art. I followed this with an MA in Art Psychotherapy
(which you need to register and practice as as an art therapist). I was then fully qualified.
"
" To get on to the MA you usually need a degree in an art based subject and
experience of working with mental health paid
or voluntary. There can be some exceptions so I would advise to look at
the individual universities for full details. "
"There is also the question of
getting experience of working in mental health. I already had this but would
recommend volunteering at an arts for health charity like Venture Arts or Start in Salford to gain some experience of how art can be
used to improve mental health on a basic level. "
The info Chris has given me of the
universities that do the Art therapy course and even extra that could get me more
into the Art therapy world was very nice of him to give ad it was nice to hear about his progression into Art therapy. I feel I learn more knowing others backgrounds and stories (Personal Experience) I felt that Chris has given me the information to start getting more into art therapy by applying and signing up to places and even contemplating a MA.
just from thinking about art therapy back in college and to now having a good source to refer to being Chris has developed my research more and has given me more and more knowledge and especially now as times are changing the Art therapy business is becoming more and more popular
Chris website: http://www.cwbarttherapy.com/
Additional Information
Once qualified, art therapists need to
be registered with HCPC who are the regulatory body for the profession and
ensure all therapist on the register meet the standards necessary to practice
effectively. It is also advisable to register with BAAT. It is illegal to offer
art therapy without registration with HCPC.
Link
BAAT http://www.baat.org/
Northern Programme http://shsc.nhs.uk/service-a-z/art-therapy-northern-programme/
These additional links are helping me get more information into art therapy.
To conclude all the information I have received has been copied from reliable resources from the internet, and the conversation with Chris was through my email address,
I have chosen to speak about and research into art therapy the information I have gathered has influenced my choices into the educator unit and the additional information received is going to guide me further into Art therapy.
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