What is Art Therapy...

When we encounter obstacles in life it gives us an opportunity to pay close attention to what is and is not working.  Counselors lend a compassionate perspective to deciphering how our thoughts and actions influence the outcomes we are receiving.  Therapy offers a safe and supportive environment that can provide you with an optimal setting to make positive changes. 

Art therapy has the added benefit of a creative process and product, which are informed by our unique perspective and experience.  Due to being action-oriented and concrete, the process and product lend more opportunities for insight.  With the process, we can see patterns of actions in real time, as opposed to talking about the past.  As an added bonus, the process of using art materials can also be less threatening than talk therapy, soothing, enjoyable, enlivening and cathartic.  To participate in and benefit from art therapy no artistic skills are needed. 

Art Therapists are masters level mental health practitioners who in New York State are licensed under the same umbrella as Marriage and Family Therapists and Mental Health Counselors.  Just like other counselors Art Therapists must pass a board exam and acquire at least 1500 hours of supervised experience after graduating.  Art therapists specialize in the fields of counseling, psychology, human development, visual art and the creative process.


To learn more, please visit http://www.arttherapy.org


 

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."  Thomas Merton