What Next? • 267to find full-time employment, and many art therapists work at several part-time positions.
Although art therapy is much better known than in the past, not all communities have a
choice of positions. In areas that have had training programs for many years, however, and
where students have interned in various settings, there is a much greater awareness of art
therapy and its benefits, and therefore more jobs.
Credentialing in Other Areas
You might also want to consider the practical advantages of obtaining training—and per-
haps certification or licensure—in a related field that is better established, and can therefore
open more doors. If you plan to work with individuals who have disabilities, for example,
you might want to become credentialed in special education or rehabilitation. Or, if you
want to do psychotherapy in a clinical setting, you might consider a master’s degree in
social work or marriage & family counseling. And, if you desire further study, a doctor-
ate in clinical psychology—either a PhD or the more clinically oriented PsyD—might be a
practical choice.
Some training programs offer combined degrees, such as those in California, where mar-
riage and family counseling is taught along with art therapy. And, as noted earlier, AATA’s
new education standards now require that programs include enough counseling courses
for graduates to be eligible for that credential. Indeed, if art therapists continue to become
eligible for licensure in more and more states through an avenue like counseling, it will not
be necessary to obtain other credentials. The movement for “umbrella” licensing bills for
master’s level disciplines is growing, and art therapists are benefiting because of the much
larger numbers of “counselors” who are promoting such legislation. It is equally important
to be recognized by insurance companies, HMOs, PPOs, and managed care organizations,
which currently hold many of the purse strings in health care in this country.
New Employment and Funding Sources
As noted in Chapter 10, employment for art therapists is rapidly becoming available in a
wider range of settings, in some of which there is less need for the kind of credential required
in the past. Prisons (Figure 12.2) and shelters, for example, do not necessarily require the
same kind of license or certification as schools (Figure 12.3) or clinics (Figure 12.4). Job
openings in such places may even enhance earning power. It is also possible to obtain
funding from other sources for programs in art therapy. Funding for the arts has become
increasingly less available through the government, and may have to be sought and secured
privately even more often in the future than in the past.
In the rapidly growing area of arts medicine, state arts councils and private foundations
often support art programs in places like hospitals (Figure 12.5) and hospices. In the last
decade artists in residence have increased in number; a phenomenon recognized by art
therapists and which has caused considerable concern among many.
However, the current situation is quite different from the days before the existence of a
professional association, when anyone offering art to a person in pain could call themselves
an “art therapist.” Now that there are mechanisms for certifying quality and competence in
both the training and practice of art therapy, the challenge is to educate professionals and
the public about the differences between the many possible providers of art to those who
can benefit.
In my opinion, there will never be enough art therapists to serve all for whom the thera-
peutic potential of art would be helpful. Organizations like the International Expressive
Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) and the Society for the Arts in Healthcare (SAH) have