View NBC’s news about the art therapy program at Bellevue’s “WTC Environmental Health Center”, and the exhibit “Decade of the Dust Cloud” with artwork from September 11, 2001 through today.
http://360mediawatch.com/download.php?vid=20281
Please put activities in your area commemorating September 11th.
Global Art Therapy Network Blog
I have just been hired by a pediatric hospital in Upstate NY to introduce an art therapy program here. I was wondering if anyone in a similar setting could share their job competencies. I need to write and develop these for myself and for evaluation in the future.
Hi Jessica,
I am Program Director for Tracy’s Kids, an organization that supports art therapy programs for pediatric hematology-oncology patients and their families.
If it would be helpful, I can email you the job descriptions/competencies we use–they are a little different from one program to the other, since we work with four separate treatment centers.
I wish you well in your work.
That would be great, I would really appreciate it. You can email them to me at jess.angle@gmail.com. Thanks!
Hello All,
I am wondering if anyone can help me? I live in Massachusetts and need information on what the average salary is for an Art Therapist with about 3 years experience is.
I would be interested in any and all info you may have,
Thanks Leona (Lesley 1999)
Hi Leona,
I currently work in NYC as an Art Therapist and Recreation Director. This is my second position in the field, my first lasted for around 9 years, where my title was Art Therapist and Case Manager.
Since both these positions are in the “Not for profit” sector, the salaries are low: in the 40k range. It is probably higher in a Hospital setting.
yes, I want to subcribe.
Thank you
I would like to subscribe to the blog. Also, as some of the above discussed what is the average salary for someone returning the the field with 6 years of experience as an art therapist? I am ready to begin my return to practice, but feel somewhat out of the loop with regard to what fees to expect in hospital setting, with contract positions or in private practice. What should I expect?
Thank you.
may I know where can I enrol online Graduate level courses on art therapy so I could transfer to my MFA in fine art later next year? I live in Southeast Asia. Thank you.
Dear Bimmer,
In what country are you living? Singapore and Australia have art therapy training programs. I can give you more info when I know your location.
Hi Frances Anderson,
My name is Vicky Wei. I am living in China now. I got my degree (visual arts) in Canada, and I also would like to know if there is any online course on art therapy I can take. I backed to China last year, I realized that many children in China need help on this program.
Thank you
I would like to join the blog also and am looking for information to further my studies for Art Therapy. I am alternative in life and Reiki Master among other things. I have been doing this kind of work for years but cannot call myself an Art Therapist. I have a BFA and want to continue but don’t know where to start looking. All things are online these days. It seems to me that ART needs much more than an intensive writing program. I am looking for the Creative Arts end and psychological piece. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Dear Joan:
Thanks for your warm and informative blog, I do wish to leave a compliment for your wonderful work in reaching out to all of us.
I am a physician working on teen and woman issues in Asia and with long commitments to make Art Therapy a part of the healing process for
the patients who are underserved. I sincerely request your directions/advices/or informations to be able to start programs for the sector I mentioned above. Your expertise will be highly appreciated. Thanks and regards, Helen
I have just created a series of Coloring Pages For the Young@Heart, designed for teens and women that have proved successful in the healing process. Since they are images of all kinds, the patients don;t feel stressed to draw but to just fill in or enhance the pictures on the page. There are 20 pages in each portfolio and I offer ten different themes. The theme today is: GRACE APPEARING. I don’t believe the shipping would cost much because they can be sent as books are are lightweight. If interested in these pages, please contact me: allthingsartful@gmail.com and I will send you one complimentary. My aim is to help others with my art and ongoing passion for art therapy. Linda Wilson
I would like to get the art therapist community’s ideas on how to facilitate art therapy (group and individual) using remote access. The video system is confidential and secure. The client and therapist are seen by video and heard with less than 1 second delay. Basically, the technology is not the issue. I’m wanting to know about how to manage supplies without storage at the remote site, what type of directives, and the ins and outs from others who are faced with this challenge.
Thanks,
Stephanie
I have no new comments, but still need an answer about fees to charge or approximate expectations to have for contract services in the hospital setting. What should I ask for that will not be set too low or too high for the market and that will not undersell my services?
Heres something I have learned to do. I have been a contractor for 30 years also. If I don’t know the answer, I go seeking the work for myself and ask how much it costs and the procedure. Its a good starting place.
Suzanne’s suggestion seems a great one. I would add that markets vary quite a lot. I would recommend that you find out what others in your area are charging and work from there. Maybe the hospital’s Human Resources department would give you the salary range they might expect to pay an art therapist? Usually consulting/hourly rates are a tad higher because you will have to pay your own withholding taxes.
I just wanted to add a quick hello and thankyou for creating an art therapy specific blog
As an internationally based Transpersonal Art Therapist it can be quite isolating and every tool (such as this blog and other fabulous on-line resources) are really helpful to stay connected to what’s happening globally
Thanks again
Shannon
Dear Shannon,
In what country/city are you work?
Thank you for this blog. I am interested in pursuing a degree in art therapy and have been an artist for 35 years. I am 62 years young and have also studied Polarity, Hypnotherapy and healing arts for several years and now would like to combine healing with art. I am completely lost as to how to go about getting financing and acceptance into a college. please help. p.s. I have a B.A. in art education. Thanks to anyone who can give me a little guidance.
I am in line with you Ava…similiar situations. Please pass on whatever you receive. Thank you
Suzanne
I have been offered a contract with the local school district as an Art Therapist,but before we can enter into it the school’s attorney wants to know that they will not have any legal ramifications. What schools in Ohio are currently using Art Therapist ?
My second issue is I am in need of an Art Therapist that can supervise 50 of my 1000 hours as I work toward becoming credentialed. I live in Southern Ohio some one from the Cincinnati area or someone to work with me via skyp. Looking for help.
Hi JoAnn: Have you found an Art Therapy supervisor? I am a (rural, SW) Ohio native, Miami U grad, who is practicing in Delaware — skype would be a good way to facilitate the superviory process. I have been an Adjunct Professor at Hahnemann University with onsite Art Therapy interns and have been racticing for some 25 years, 15 professionally.
Best regards,
Jennifer August, MCAT, A.T.R.
302 / 381 / 0121
I just wanted to let all our international friends know that there is a conference in October in Jerusalem. I just learned of this a couple of days ago. I hope some of you in the region might be able to attend. For information, see this website:
http://www.altmedor.com/44554/English
Hello fellow Art Therapists. I have been working in the field since January of 2000 and am currently employed at my second job as an Art Therapist. The position I now hold is that of Recreation Director in a Single Room Occupancy residence in New York City. About 75 percent of our tenants were homeless at some point in their lives. Other were in danger of becoming so, due to mental and/or physical illness, low income, and/or drug abuse.
I have been working in this setting since May of 2009.
As a preamble to my blog I first have to describe the location, look and feel of my recreation room and adjacent office: it is in the basement of this apartment building which was once a hotel. The building is almost 100 years old, and was once a nice place to live. Then, during the ’70′s and 80′s it became run down and all but abandoned. It also became home to junkies, drug dealers and prostitutes.
My organization bought the building from the city in 1993 for $2.00, and then commenced a renovation that cost millions. Until the time of this renovation the space I now occupy was a swimming pool. None of the rooms that now exist in the basement existed at that time; they were all under water.
This brings me to the title of my blog: My Work in the Swimming Pool, which I feel is an apt metaphor for my working life in this facility.
The notion of ‘swimming pool’ is at times brought literally to mind, as I have experienced as least three floods since my time here began. At these times I find myself telling people, “This place used to be a swimming pool, and it’s trying to become one again.”
The notion is also figuratively true, as I find in my work I must be free-flowing as is the water in the pool, but also structured as the pool’s walls and floor need be.
I will continue this blog, hopefully on a regular basis, and I hope some of you will comment.
That is a wonderful metaphor and it probably helps you stay afloat!
This is a powerful video. It also shows that many can benefit from art therapy personally. They do not need an art therapist to benefit. This is why I went on to get a doctoral degree in psychology so that I could get a job as a psychologist. Unfortunately for me the graduate degree in art therapy and counseling did not provide what I needed to get a job here. Many people can just use art themselves without having to go to an art therapist. This truth may seem harsh, but it is the truth.
I agree Cassie…often labels and credentials ruin the whole purpose. I certainly understand the importance of edu. and have earned mine but I also do what I call ‘ therapuedic art’ to show others in need how to help themselves. Obviously creating art and healing go hand in hand. I would love to see a more open program to those of us that serve regardless.
I decided not to renew my membership with this organization. There is no profession of art therapy. I feel very angry that I spent over forty thousand dollars in tuition and I cannot find a job that pays more than 28 a year. The jobs are also not for art therapists. You have to work as a case manager or counselor. I think it should be unethical to promote something as a profession when there are no jobs as art therapists. I hope you understand that I am just expressing my experience here and can accept what I am saying. There are others like me.
I am second year master degree in social work and an art teacher.
Hello,
I am an artist and would love to pursue Art Therapy. I have been searching for online education without success. Could you pls recommend an online program?
Thank you for your time!
I posted this question before but it did not appear. What is the job outlook for this art therapy? I read that many people take out huge loans and then cannot find work. Some work as counselors and not as art therapists. Is this because it is an art degree? I would like to study this field but it does not seem like there are many jobs.
Hello,
I’m just reading your posts about finding Art Therapy work after all the study. I have been trying to find posts in the USA in view of leaving England behind in an attempt to find work. I was employed in a psychiatric hospital in Derby for twelve months, and now I’m training as a Counsellor and Teacher so it feels a little like I am moving further away from what I had hoped to be doing. There’s no work in the UK at all, all posts require a minimum of three years’ experience.
All networking would be most welcome!
Andi xx
I am a former para-legal with 8 years experience in Litigation and Calendar clerking. Race does not matter in the over-all arch of these discussions but I wish to disclose my race as a African-Aerican male to outline my empaty for those experincing frustration about not finding work after investing so much in preparation as ART THERAPIST. oK, from 1989-98 I work as a Calander Clerk to in one of the busiest courthouses in America. I watched the implementation of zero tolerance in criminal justice and the three strikes your out felony rules. I did this watching and knowling full well it was racially biased. I left the legal community and have just now returned. I now work in a Drug Court program. The system is finally correcting years of misjudgment in sentencing persons with addiction along with violent criminals. And now I wish to implement art. I trust in time art will return just as Drug Courts came about to ameliorate years of zero tolerance. I guess race did not matter…but I do feel a special place for the marginalized.
Hello:
I am interested in becoming an art therapist. For the past 5 years, I have been teaching art therapy using the labyrinth as a tool. I have developed and teach the “Beaded Quilted Labyrinth” classes at Mayo Clinic and in the Mpls. – St.Paul, MN metro area. This fall my new class is the “Beaded Labyrinth for Breast Cancer” offered in Oct. through Anoka-Hennepin Comunity Education. My work is offered as an artist and three time cancer (pancreatic and breast) survivor. (I also carry the BRCA1 cancer gene). I am a ‘retired’ Registered Dietitian. If anyone is interested in connecting, please write.
Mary,
Here is a link to a series of articles on becoming an art therapist.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-healing-arts/201104/so-you-want-be-art-therapist-part-six-should-i-get-doctorate
There is much good information on those articles.
Cay
Hi everyone,
I am living in China. I got my degree (visual arts) in Canada, and I am really interested in art therapy. I am wondering if there is any online course on art therapy. I want to help children with different problems, but I do not know how to start this career.
I recieved an email from our colleague in Russia, Mr. Alexander Kopytin, who sent me information on a conference in Moscow and St. Petersburg in May 2012. For more information, contact him directly at alkopytin@rambler.ru.
Hello, I’m currently a student at ASU and need help determining whether I should continue pursuing an education in art therapy. If some one who is currently practicing in this field can take some time to answer some questions via email or if you live in the Phoenix Arizona area and we can set up a meeting it would be greatly appreciated.
thank you!
Dear Liz,
Read this excellent series of articles to learn more about art therapy.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-healing-arts/201104/so-you-want-be-art-therapist-part-six-should-i-get-doctorate
I have had a wonderful career in art therapy but I am retired. I now work in watercolors and win prizes for my art.
Cay
Dear Cay,
It is good to read something from you. That is a great series and I wish I had read it before I went to grad school. Here is another informative posting:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-healing-arts/201201/so-you-want-be-art-therapist-part-seven-art-therapist-identity-confusio
It discusses the confusion about art therapy and recreation therapy in the job market. I am struggling with this. Everyone wants to hire me as a recreation therapists and it does not pay very well. Can anyone advise me about how I can actually get a position as an art therapist.
Cay you are my mentor. Thank you for all you do for the field.
Deena S.
Maybe Angela Fail wants to read this link? Seems to have to with the identity of art therapists. Liz, maybe this will help you too. Is there a region in the US where there are a lot of jobs? I have been not been able to get a job for 3 years.
Alison
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-healing-arts/201102/so-you-want-be-art-therapist-part-four-can-i-get-art-therapy-job/comments