South Florida Art Therapy FAQs

Art therapists work in a variety of settings as primary or adjunct therapists. Some locations include hospitals, private practices, mental health agencies, schools, and community art studios. Art therapy is utilized world-wide.

Art therapists use a wide variety of media such as clay, sculpture, craft supplies, paint, chalk, and pencils. They are trained to also teach people how to use certain media as a way to enhance the therapeutic process for an individual's needs.

Stick people are fine--they have a lot to tell us! Clients do not need art training or specific skills. Free of judgment, simply playing with color, lines and gesture are all regarded as a useful form of expression. Art therapy helps free creativity, but it is not an art skills lesson.

People of all abilities and ages are able to reap the benefits of art therapy.

The professional standards for training involve master's degree level work in art therapy or another related field with 24 semester hours of additional art therapy training.

Master's level art therapy training usually lasts two to three years and includes most of the curriculum a counseling psychology program would cover, along with a curriculum which concerns the utilization of art materials and visual art expression in the therapeutic process. Students typically fulfill two practicum internships and have supervision with an art therapist, as well as with other supervisors in social services, educational and mental health settings. Ethically, art therapists go by the same standards as counseling professionals.

Coach Jan began working in the field upon her graduation with a Master's degree in 1976.

Coach Jan attended Ohio State University where she majored in fine arts, education, and psychology. In her program, she received specialized training through Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center at Harding Hospital and studied under the auspices of art therapy pioneer, Don Jones, HLM, ATR-BC. Don brought his established "milieu" art therapy program from Topeka's Menninger Clinic to Ohio. Later, Jan pursued a Master's Degree art therapy specialty in Philadelphia at Hahnemann Medical College (aka Drexel University) and studied under the tutelage of Myra F. Levick, Ph.D, HLM, ATR-BC, the founder and first president of The American Art Therapy Association. Graduate training in art therapy along with medical school psychiatric residents helped set Coach Jan's foundation in art psychotherapy. Later studies in the fields of education and psychology led to an Educational Specialist's degree at Nova University.

Coach Jan is a credentialed professional Art Therapist through the National Licensing Board, The Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB), and also maintains educational certification through the Florida State Department of Education in the fields of Education and Administration and Supervision.

First and foremost, we provide a safe, private environment that is conducive to exploration. Within this setting, the Art Therapy Coach actively listens, observes, reflects and asks questions. Rather than analyze or interpret, she aids clients in connecting their art to their history and current life situations. Together, the client and Coach attempt to understand what the art is expressing. Usually, the art becomes part of the storytelling as it conveys the emotion or unrealized importance of events, relationships, and memories.

The art belongs to the client.

The art therapist will not show your artwork to anyone without permission. The code of ethics followed by art therapists specifies that an art therapist must safeguard a client's art creations the same way he/she would protect any other privileged information.

Art materials have inherent healing qualities, but some may be appropriate for certain types of situations. For example, there is a therapeutic difference between the use of colored pencils, which are very dry and controlled, as opposed to watercolor paint, which is extremely wet and difficult to control. Your art therapist has specialized training in assessing which materials to suggest based on the issues that you may be facing, your frame of mind during the session, as well as other factors. Art therapists also have an extensive personal background in studio art which allows them to be personally familiar with the use of specific types of art materials so they can guide you through any challenges that may arise in the creative process.

Art therapists employ a variety of approaches, just as counselors or psychotherapists may utilize different approaches. It is not customary to interpret art. In a humanistic or transpersonal approach to art therapy, the focus will be on the personal meaning that can be found within a creative work, rather than an arbitrary meaning imposed by the therapist. The client is the expert of his/her artwork and creative process. The art therapist's role is solely to facilitate exploration of the work instead of analyzing or interpreting it.

No. Services are not set up for that. Client sessions are confidential and private.

Yes. One-to-one or small group supervision for art therapy graduate students and practitioners can be arranged upon request.

There are a variety of professional level training programs in art therapy. In the United States, there are approximately thirty master's level programs and five Doctoral programs. The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) sets educational and credentialing standards for art therapy training programs and practicing professionals. Accredited programs have been approved by AATA. In addition, many of these programs offer a Post-Master's Certification in Art Therapy after completing a master's degree in a related field.

Contact ART THERAPY COACH for information on South Florida Art Therapy.

Simply call or e-mail. Janet Bush coaches out of South Florida