Studio Art Therapy: Cultivating the Artist Identity in the Art Therapist

Arguing that the profession of arts therapy has its roots in the studio environment, the author proposes that it is time to reclaim these rots, and make art once again central to art therapy. She suggests that there has been a tendency for art therapy not merely to interact and be enriched by other perspectives but to be subsumed by them. for this reason she makes a clear distinction between using art in one’s practice of therapy, and working from an art-based model. This book presents a model of art therapy where the products and processes of art constitute the core of the model rather than serving as the impetutus for adaptions of other theories of counselling or therapy. It addresses how an arts-based approach can inform the therapist in all aspects of practice, form the conception of the work and the attempt to understand client needs to inteacting with clients and communicating with others about others about the profession of art therapy.