General

Happy Memorial Day From Art Therapy

While we concentrate on art therapy most of the time (and how art therapy can help vets with PTSD), we also like to take time to acknowledge a variety of important things.

That said, we want to say thank you to all the men and women who have valiantly served the United States and who are currently serving in the Armed Forces. Regardless of what you think about government or politics, it’s important to appreciate what all these men and women have done to preserve our rights and freedoms among many other things.

Please take some time to reflect about these wonderful people and their families. If you like, feel free to leave a comment and tell others about people who deserve to be acknowledged. Others need to hear these stories!

Happy Memorial Day

October Update & Thank You

I’d like to thank our readers and visitors for making this site what it has become over the last year and a half. It has truly become a great resource for people interested in art and art therapy. We’ve opened the world of art therapy to thousands and thousands of people since its inception and we’ve done a great job of promoting art therapy around the world. A lot of that is because of you. So, thank you!

I’d also like to give a quick update around some new items on the site. You may have noticed that we’ve started doing Online Roundups. This is a way to catch up on what’s been happening with art therapy in the news and on the web, but it’s also a way for us to highlight some interesting art-related items as well. We hope you enjoy these, and feel free to suggest any sites or articles you think might fit by email (arttherapyblog@gmail.com) or twitter (@arttherapy). You can also become a fan of ours on Facebook.

We are also creating an art therapy schools section to help those searching for schools and programs. In addition to this, we’ll also be focusing a few articles and posts around art therapy education, becoming an art therapist, etc. If you know of any good schools or programs or if any art therapists would like to promote their alma mater, please let us know. Thanks, and we look forward to spreading the good word about art, art therapy, creativity, and their many benefits.

Thank you!

Reader Story: Art Therapy, Painting, Osteoarthritis, Anemia, & Collages!

Angela Harrison originally left these comments on the site, but I thought they deserved to be shared and thusly their own post. There’s a few comments, but I thought they were very moving. Enjoy, and thank you Angela for sharing your story with us. Continue reading »

Share Your Art Therapy Experience & Promote Art Therapy

Have you been positively affected by art therapy? Have you participated in an art therapy workshop? Have you benefited from the creative process of art in any way? If so, we want to hear from you!

We are hoping to promote art therapy and share people’s art therapy experiences on the web as it has been on a decline over the last 4 years. How can you help spread the word about art therapy? Well, there’s lots of ways! You can tell people about your experiences and how beneficial they were for you. You can share your experience with people who visit our site to learn about art therapy (click here for more information). And you can tell people about this site, whether it’s by word of mouth, through your website or blog, through your social network, or whatever particular medium you prefer to communicate with your friends, family, general public, etc.

We encourage creativity…you can write a poem, tell a story, share images of your art therapy artwork, or anything else you can think of. Learn how you can help promote art therapy and share your art therapy experience.

Thanks, and let’s encourage the discussion of art therapy on the web!

August Update

Just wanted to give my loyal readers a heads up that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth! It’s been a little hectic this summer including a grandmother potentially passing away, family visiting, and various other going-ons. Anyhow, I haven’t been able to post as much as I would like, but I assure you I’ll be posting something very soon. I’ve got a few ideas, but if there’s anything that you all would like me to write about, please leave a comment below. More art therapy activities? Any particular topics? Want to see more artwork? Anything else? Let me know if there are any special requests!

Thank you for supporting art therapy!

June Update

Hello my loyal readers! Sorry I’ve been slacking on the posts the last few weeks, I went on vacation for a little bit and have been trying to get back in the swing of things. I was down in sunny Florida where I was able to sneak in a little fishing, some fun in the sun, and some well-needed relaxation. Anyhow, just wanted to let you know I’m working on writing some more posts so stay tuned…

Thanks!

A Message to Art Therapy Readers

Part of my hopes and goals for the Art Therapy Blog is that it becomes a useful resource to anyone on any level with regards to using art in a therapeutic way, including the average person as well as the seasoned art therapist. Whether the site is a resource for general information about art therapy, or whether it is a source for inspiration or new ideas, my hope is that the site can speak to many people at once, without feeling daunting. Continue reading »

Where Does Art End and Therapy Begin?

Some people have come to question the use of the term “art therapy” on this site. While there is nothing wrong with this, I feel that this is a topic worth addressing as there may be other readers who feel the same way.

One visitor to the site, Fiona, made the following comment on the benefits page that I’d like to address:

“I can’t help but question the suggestion that art therapy can be learnt and done at home on your own minus the therapist. I believe a significant portion of the therapy in art therapy is the supportive, witnessing and therapeutic safety net that the presence of a qualified art therapist provides. I agree that art work created away from the art therapy environment can be a stress reliever but argue it’s not therapy; just art.”

I am not saying that anyone can learn “art therapy.” Fiona’s interpretation of art therapy may differ from mine. The intrinsic value of therapy is going to be different for everyone and subject to the individual’s needs. Some people may need or want an art therapist…and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I’d encourage it if that’s what the individual wants or needs. However, I don’t believe everyone always needs an art therapist present to achieve therapeutic results.

I very much disagree with Fiona’s last statement about art work created away from an art therapy environment not being therapy, just art. I feel like that really undermines what art therapy is about. I know this is a rather cliché approach, but I’m going to pull the dictionary out for the sake of meaning. Continue reading »

Some Updates

Just wanted to let you know that I added a new page about the benefits of art therapy. It is meant to be a general overview about, well, how art therapy can benefit anyone that’s willing to give it a shot. Feel free to let me know if you think I should add anything, general comments about the blog, whatever…I’m really trying to make this a great resource for people and any feedback is greatly appreciated.

On that note, I am working on a resources section of the site that will essentially be links to other useful sites. I’m having a hard time finding some quality, useful sites (part of the reason I started this blog in the first place) that are related to art therapy. I’m considering including links to sites that are more artist-related, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m also considering adding a good directory of art therapists across the world, or maybe just the U.S., I’m not sure. Again, any thoughts you have on the matter would be greatly appreciated! You can leave a comment on this post if you’re so inclined, and let anyone else know about the blog if you think they might be interested.

Thanks!

Welcome!

Welcome to The Art Therapy Blog! I hope you find this site useful or inspiring in some way shape or form…