Career Post- Art Therapist

Art Therapists use creative processes and artistic expression to help clients and patients process their own emotions, reduce anxiety, and manage their past trauma. They work with groups or individuals like other therapists and work in various settings. Many of their key tasks often include assessing how a client is feeling and what they need, along with designing and implementing art-based therapy programs to help the client. They need to be able to facilitate a variety of creative exercises and be able to collaborate with other psychologists or professionals. First off, to become an art therapist, people usually pursue an undergraduate degree in psychology, art, or art education; however, they then pursue a Master's Degree in Art Therapy, and these graduate programs must align with the standards of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA). Clinical experience is also usually required to obtain a license in art therapy. Some good programs for this can be found at NYU, which offers a good program for a Master of Arts in Art Therapy, or the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), which offers a similar program.