BAAT Introduction to Art Therapy

To broaden my knowledge of art within the healing environment, I went down to London for an information day on the profession of Art Therapy at the BAAT (British Association of Art Therapists). I've recently been thinking about becoming an art therapist in later life for a number of reasons, mostly due to my fascination of the human mind and behaviour, and how creative therapies can improve patients recovery.

The day was SO INTERESTING! So much so that I wrote 10 pages of notes about the things that I'd learnt, which I will summarise below. It was lead by Janet and Tobias who are both practicing art therapists, so they were the best people to tell us about the trade. 

(what is a.t.)

Initial Questions

Coming up with questions in groups of aspects of A.T that we wanted to find out about by the end of the day. Some examples were:

• What are the routes into Art Therapy?
• Is supervision mandatory?
• Is it better to do an online course?
• Is funding available for the MA degree course?
• Is a medical background required?
• Does having a mental illness yourself hinder your chances of becoming successful in the profession?
• How much work experience is recommended?
• What needs to be included in a portfolio?

Informative response from Janet and Tobias:

• Art therapy is all about relating, the training mirrors that process
• It is all about being current, so having an up to date portfolio alongside regular art practice yourself
• Work experience is absolutely mandatory
• Work experience in mental health isn't essential BUT it would be really helpful
• With A.T there isn't a national standard of provision; it is very self-lead
• CONTACTS ARE IMPORTANT (just like in illustration)
• You have to undergo therapy yourself when practicing as an art therapist, once a week at the bare minimum (just to keep you sane and to keep a strong relationship going with your own mental state)
• Do NOT rush your training
• Training is a journey; the longer you take, the more you learn

My thoughts so far

I got the impression that like with many positions in the caring sector, life experience is mandatory to success. I can relate a lot to my Mum's experience with students; the ones who have had a few years out, gained work experience and have a higher level of maturity are a lot more likely to succeed than 18 year olds that have come straight from A-levels. In other words, at 20 years old I would absolutely NOT be prepared to begin training for A.T.

I found as well that keeping current, making contacts and having a self directed practice is really similar to Illustration. So if I were to go ahead and take up a masters in a few years down the line, I would be confident in familiarising with creative learning processes alongside contact and communication with clients.

Drawing task: what I thought

So this is what I drew in response to the information that was just given to us. I found this so hard because I went into 'Illustration Mode' and my perfectionist habits came into the picture too. But basically I wanted to show how artistic materials can be used as tools to unlock, record and express everything that is whizzing round your head, whether this be good, bad or just really complicated.

More information:

• The choice of art material reflects on the quality of art making, meaning the action, the doing and the starting point
• The quality of the art making is personal to us. Our own language, being controlled or not (like a tone of voice)
• Drawing connects to a phase of our learning as children, how the fantasy is played out, how it is projected and objectified into an image
• Drawing resolves the inhibiting quality of putting into words
• Symbolisation - What does something mean? Can you read something in a picture?
• An artwork is a space between two people, it provides some safety (imagine like a triangle!)
• Understanding more just by the process of doing

Role of the Therapist/Identifying needs

• In the last 15 years there has been a great development in neuroscience
• The importance of the primary carer to an infant is mandatory, and an essential contributing factor to an infants development
• A baby has no language, it communicates through expression
• Most clients who partake in therapy are those whose primary carers have upset the early years of development, therefore they struggle to express themselves
• ART THERAPY GIVES THEM THE WORD TO DESCRIBE THE FEELING
• At age seven children develop censorship, so they decide whether or not they are 'good' at something. For example 'I'm good/not good at art'. If they are not good they will not continue to do it. It is really difficult to get back into the 'play' frame of mind
• When experimenting with play, children will discover PUSH, PULL and SWIPE movements, discovering how marks are made
• With children, a good way to teach them is to create visual games with consequences so that there is a kind of moral/learning aspect to their play
• It is a good idea to adapt your practice in accordance with the client
• It is important to emotionally engage with clients too, and manage our own emotions and open them up to the client

Case Studies:

Obviously I cannot disclose too much information here for confidentiality reasons, but I'll briefly outline the things that I learnt.

Child in therapy

Janet told us about her experience in working in a primary school. She had her own room where she lead sessions (it was a clean and safe room) where she had three golden rules:

• Don't hurt me (therapist)
• Don't hurt yourself (client)
• Don't damage the room

The sessions she ran were not strictly structured, allowing the client to fully express themselves in a relaxed and free environment. So basically a 'come in and do what you want' atmosphere. BUT it has to be CLEAR, DEFINED and HEALD.

Breaking the ice can sometimes be difficult. Janet might start by asking the client to 'draw something important to you that I don't know about', that way they can chat and start a relationship.

Therapy can sometimes make behaviour worse in the beginning, similar to counselling, but this improves with time.

There is a close link between narcissism and shame.

Shame-Who we are

Guilt-What we've done

Narcissism-Sense of self

Making a mess is so important! It teaches one to manage their own mess. Which reinforces how mandatory messy play is, physical mess is the best stage without letting it go chaotic.

Mess is important but it can sometimes distract from purpose. There is a limit with materials under the principle of 'once its gone, its gone', which encourages clients to push boundaries.

Most important thing to remember: "You don't have to be a perfect therapist. It denies both you and the client of things that aren't perfect"

Q: How do you relate to clients if  they don't want to open up?
A: Jenga and connect 4 are gems! Also, finding something to engage them for example semi precious stones etc. You could use them as metaphors and ask them, so why did you use that stone? 

~I won't talk about the adult case study because I am worried that I will disclose too much confidential information~

Reflection

Today was extremely interesting and informative and has really fuelled my interest into the topic of art in the healing environment. As I was the youngest in the group, I was advised by Janet to consider going into the profession a few years down the line, which I think is very wise too. Her exact words were, "go travelling, go fall in love and get your heart broken, quit a job you hate and tell the boss to FUCK OFF and just live a little before you start training". 

She was the coolest sixty year old I have ever met.

What I have gained from today:

• GOOD ADVICE
• Directions on where to go when I am ready to train, e.g. what kind of experience I need (the broader the better) 
• Things I can do now e.g. take a counselling course, or a foundation course on art therapy
• A POTENTIAL STARTING POINT FOR MY DISSERTATION?!?!
• A greater passion for communicating and healing through illustration

I also got a certificate-yay!