*Mirroring the Client: Art Therapists are there to lend their egos to their clients. This is an example of client-therapist collage work in a dyadic setting.*

What is Art Therapy?

The American Art Therapy Association defines Art Therapy as 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, self-
awareness, and achieve insight. Many clinicians practice art therapy in their therapeutic work. An Art Therapy Registration is a credential that the Art Therapy Credentials Board approves to ensure an art therapist meets established standards, with successful completion of advanced specific graduate-level education in art therapy and supervised, post-graduate art therapy experience.

The Content Art Therapy is the use and interpretation of art making in the process of healing and awareness of an individual. In the context of Art Therapy, the content of the art is created within each individual’s capabilities, however varying they may be. Free Art expression, is applied for those that want to free themselves from their neuroses that block their creative voice. The art itself is used to question and communicate the self in the hopes to come closer to self-awareness. Media can vary from collage clippings, paint and markers, pencil and paper, photography or jewelry-making. The clients can come from all ages from children to the elderly that are dealing a high level of specific conflicts in their lives as well as intangible struggles difficult to articulate.

The Process Art therapy is a multidisciplinary field which incorporates therapeutic modalities in the form of art directives to enhance an individual’s experience in self-exploration. The process in which an individual communicates through another language (in this case the language of art) evokes a new narrative and promotes new meanings to experiences. Art exploration is also helpful when experienced outside the therapy room to further enhance the client’s experience with the self and process. Introducing art into an individual’s world in turn becomes a voice that brings about a liberating experience from the inhibitions within the struggling individual.