August 20, 2024 | By Dr. Jessica Stallings, ATR-BC, LIMHP, LPC, LMHP
The Nebraska Art Therapy Licensure Coalition was created in 2017 after then recent social work graduate and soon-to-be George Washington post-Masters art therapy student, Jenelle Miller, asked AATA Executive Director Cynthia Young a simple question: How one might go about securing licensure for art therapists in Nebraska?
That conversation gave Jenelle the idea to approach Nebraskans from the Arts. Though Jenelle was still a student when the Nebraska Art Therapy Licensure Coalition (NATLC) started, she was a driving force behind our efforts.
Little did she know, she’d be long past graduation and a director of behavioral health for an Omaha, Nebraska agency by the time the licensure finally became law seven years later.
Jenelle and Doug Zybult, executive director of Nebraskans for the Arts, set out to find professional art therapists and other stakeholders to help take on the cause. It was through this process that Jennifer Jividen Jackson, Jessica Stallings, and Yasmin Henderson—all professional art therapists in Nebraska—joined the team over the next year. Jennifer, Jessica, and Doug all co-signed a letter seeking the initiation of the Sunrise Review process and our newly recruited bill sponsor, then Senator Sarah Howard, introduced a bill draft to the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature. In 2019, Jennifer, Jessica, Yasmin, and Jenelle testified before the Sunrise Review committee and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. They answered questions about our report and advocated for equal recognition to other mental health fields. By mid–2022, we had recommendations from both the Sunrise committee and DHHS that it was essential that Art Therapy be licensed and regulated as the other fields!
Meanwhile, we had been attending the mental health boards meetings (by phone or Zoom because of Covid lockdowns). They were a harder nut to crack and opposed the bill until 2023, resulting in failure of the bill to get a vote in 2022. However, they dropped their opposition by the 2023/2024 legislative session, thanks in large part to Yasmin, who forged a relationship with the board’s former president. In 2023, Jessica testified at the DHHS committee hearing along with the then director of Nebraskans for the Arts, Petra Wahlqvist, and our newer bill sponsor Senator Joni Albrecht.
Time ran out on the 2023 session and so we waited… In Nebraska, legislative sessions spread over two Springs, so our bill sponsor Senator Albrecht picked back up where we left off in 2024.
By then, the bill gained more traction, attaining another sponsor, Senator George Dungan. In March 2024, the licensure passed with 100% support from the Nebraska Unicameral legislature! There were many, many meetings, writing and networking sessions that are not mentioned here. We are all so grateful to our collaborators and supporting agencies, and are excited to be the first state in our immediate area with an art therapy specific license!