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Therapist, Art
Summary
| Activities | Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. |
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| Outlook | Average job growth |
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| Median Income | $50,700 per year (2008) |
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| Work Context & Conditions | According to the American Medical Association's Health Care Careers Directory (2009-2010), Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. It is based on the belief that the creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight.
Art therapists work in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, local community settings, educational institutions, businesses, and private practice |
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| Minimum Education Requirements | Master's Degree
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| Skills | Social Perceptiveness, Learning Strategies, Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Instructing, Active Listening, Writing, Service Orientation, Time Management, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Science |
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| Abilities | Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Deductive Reasoning, Problem Sensitivity, Speech Clarity, Information Ordering, Inductive Reasoning, Written Expression, Oral Comprehension |
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| Interviews | Megan Robb |
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Job Description
| Job Category | | Healthcare Practitioners & Technical |
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| Job Description | | According to the American Medical Association's Health Professions Career and Education Directory (2009-2010); Art therapy is a human service profession that uses art media, images, the creative art process, and patient/client responses to the artwork as reflections of an individual’s development, abilities, personality, interests, concerns, and conflicts. Art therapy, through the nonverbal qualities of art media, can help individuals access and express memories, trauma, and intra-psychic conflict often not easily reached with words. Art therapist helps individuals reconcile their emotions, foster self-awareness, increase self-esteem, develop their social skills, manage behavior, solve problems, and reduce anxiety.
Art therapists use drawings and other art/media forms to assess, treat, and rehabilitate patients with mental, emotional, physical, and/or developmental disorders. Art therapists use and facilitate the art process, providing materials, instruction, and structuring of tasks tailored either to individuals or groups. Using their skills of assessment and interpretation, they understand and plan the appropriateness of materials applicable to the client’s therapeutic needs. With the growing acceptance of alternative therapies and increased scientific understanding of the link between mind, body, and spirit, art therapy is becoming more prevalent as a parallel and supportive therapy for almost any medical condition. For example, art therapists work with cancer, burn, pain, HIV-positive, asthma, and substance abuse patients, among others, in pediatric, geriatric, and other settings |
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| Working Conditions | | According to the American Medical Association's Health Professions and Career Education Directory (2009-2010), Art therapists work in private offices, art rooms, or meeting rooms in facilities such as medical and psychiatric hospitals, outpatient facilities, clinics, residential treatment centers, day treatment centers, rehabilitation centers, halfway houses, shelters, schools and universities, correctional facilities, elder care facilities, pain clinics, and art studios. Art therapist may work as part of a team that includes physicians, psychologists, nurses, rehabilitation counselors, social workers, and teachers. Together, they determine and implement a client’s therapeutic, school, or mental health program. Art therapists also work as primary therapists in private practice. Other art therapists work independently and maintain private practices with children, adolescents, adults, groups, and/or families., |
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| Salary Range | | Median annual earnings for Therapist, All Other (including Art Therapist) was $50,700 in 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $37,900 and $65,900. the lowest 10 percent earned less than $28,900 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $82,600.
Art therapists with doctoral degrees, state licensure, or who qualify in their state to conduct private practice, have an earning potential of $85 to $120 per hour in private practice. |
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Education
| Education Required | | According to the American Art Therapy Association, professional entry into art therapy requires a master’s degree and post-education supervised experience. Individuals holding a master’s degree in a related field may enter the art therapy profession through the acquisition of a second master’s degree (in art therapy) and post-education supervised experience.
All education must be offered in an academic institution accredited by one of the regional or national institutional accrediting bodies recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). AATA offers educational standards under which programs may apply to the AATA Education Program Approval Board (EPAB) for approval. Programs that have received approval by AATA have met standards in effect at the time of their application for initial approval or re-approval. The AATA Education Standards for Master’s Degree Programs are noted below.
In 2008, the AATA adopted standards for Post-Master’s degree programs as an education for those who already hold a master’s degree. Preparation for the practice of art therapy requires the completion of a master’s degree. Approved status is granted to master’s degree programs that elect to undergo evaluation by the AATA Education Program Approval Board [EPAB]. All education must be offered in an academic institution accredited by one of the regional or national institutional accrediting bodies recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). |
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| Recommended High School Courses | | History, Sociology and Anthropology, Fine Arts |
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| Postsecondary Instructional Programs | | Education and Training, English Language, Psychology, Fine Arts, Therapy and Counseling, Biology, Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry |
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| Certification and Licensing | | The Art Therapy Credentials Board, Inc (ATCB), an independent, nonprofit organization, grants postgraduate registration (ATR) after reviewing documentation of completion of graduate education and supervised postgraduate experience. The registered art therapist who successfully completes the written examination administered by the ATCB is qualified as Board Certified (ATR-BC).
In order to qualify as a registered art therapist (ATR), in addition to the educational requirements, an individual must complete a minimum of 1,000 direct client contact hours after graduation. One hour of supervision is required for every ten hours of client contact. Recertification is required every 5 years by examination or by documentation of continuing education credits (CECs). |
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Skills, Abilities, & Interests
| Interest Area | | | Social | Involves working and communicating with, helping, and teaching people. |
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| Work Values | | | Social Status | Looked up to by others in their company and their community. |
| Achievement | Get a feeling of accomplishment. |
| Social Service | Do things for other people. |
| Ability Utilization | Make use of individual abilities. |
| Co-workers | Have co-workers who are easy to get along with. |
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| Skills | | | Social Perceptiveness | Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. |
| Learning Strategies | Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. |
| Monitoring | Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. |
| Critical Thinking | Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. |
| Instructing | Teach others how to do something. |
| Active Listening | Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. |
| Writing | Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. |
| Service Orientation | Actively look for ways to help people. |
| Time Management | Manage one's own time and the time of others. |
| Active Learning | Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. |
| Complex Problem Solving | Solving novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings. |
| Coordination | Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. |
| Reading Comprehension | Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. |
| Speaking | Talk to others to effectively convey information. |
| Science | Use scientific methods to solve problems. |
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| Abilities | | | Oral Expression | Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. |
| Speech Recognition | Identify and understand the speech of another person |
| Deductive Reasoning | Able to apply general rules to specific problems to come up with logical answers, including deciding whether an answer makes sense. |
| Problem Sensitivity | Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. |
| Speech Clarity | Able to speak clearly so listeners understand. |
| Information Ordering | Able to correctly follow rules for arranging things or actions in a certain order, including numbers, words, pictures, procedures, and logical operations. |
| Inductive Reasoning | Able to combine separate pieces of information, or specific answers to problems, to form general rules or conclusions. This includes coming up with a logical explanation for why seemingly unrelated events occur together. |
| Written Expression | Able to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. |
| Oral Comprehension | Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. |
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More Information
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