When people say art therapy they can mean a few different things. A lot of this stems from the casual usage of the word “therapy”. This word is often used to mean, things that make you feel better. To be precise, therapy is a treatment plan (by a professional) to relieve or heal a problem. So professional art therapy should involve a board certified professional. Often what people actually mean is closer to cathartic, an expression of strong emotion that provides psychological relief. Let’s dig in a bit more.
Professional Art Therapy
When you’re in a therapeutic relationship with a board certified art therapist, you’ll find yourselves focused in on a particular issue that you’re trying to address. The therapist will invite you to explore different things through various mediums as they make observations. Being trained gives them the expertise to infer, based on psychology and art, some subtle or underlying issues that may need to be addressed in the course of the therapy. They are experts at knowing which threads to pluck to unravel a knot.
Because art is such a vulnerable platform, there’s a lot of power in the work of art therapy and there’s a chance of doing harm when an unqualified person attempts it. So what is ok for a layperson to do?
Layman Art Therapy
When you’re not working with a professional, art therapy SHOULD NOT involve other people coming to conclusions about you through your art. Only a board certified professional art therapist should attempt to psychoanalyze someone.
Without a professional, art therapy can still be cathartic and there can still be valuable questions you ask yourself to grow and develop in self-awareness. This is more like a self-guided tour. Prompts and questions can be suggested, but the process of delving into the prompts, opening yourself to your emotions, expressing that emotion through whatever medium, and observing the product of that investigation is your quest alone.
When Should You Hire a Professional
Here’s the traditional answer: if you have a problem that you need to address, you should talk to a therapist. An art therapist can help with nearly any problem (given the specialty of the individual therapist) that a traditional therapist can, and they are especially good at dealing with issues that are too big or hard or complicated or perplexing to talk about. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words!
The traditional answer being given, I cannot tell you how many people in leadership have told me that you should have. a. therapist. Not get a therapist when _________. But have a therapist always. When (not if) a crisis happens, it’s so much better to have an established relationship with someone than try to stumble along, avoiding help until you can’t anymore, and then have to spend 3 sessions just getting to know someone. (And the process is only worse when you don’t like the therapist and have to start all over with someone new!)
So if you don’t already have a therapist, maybe try an art therapist! If you already have a therapist, then doing some layman art therapy exercises might work well for you, especially with a professional that you can process things with. If you can’t afford a therapist, then the self-guided tour is probably the way to go, but I encourage you to make it a goal to find a way to include a therapist in your budget. You’re worth the professional care!
I’m not a professional art therapist. While I would love to be one day, today I’m just a mom who loves art and loves to see emotionally healthy kids. I’m here to present prompts and questions to help young people (and not so young people) to be thoughtfully introspective, because that’s what emotionally healthy people do.
