AATA Blog
Featured Member: Makiko Harada (Young)
May 19, 2022
As a Tokyo-born art therapist, I am inspired and motivated by the hate [against Asians] to offer lectures and educate the art therapy community on what we can do about it.
The Cyclical Nature of Mental Health in AANHPI Communities
Amplifying silenced voices in the AANHPI communities through discovery, exploration, and engagement with art therapy is a stride in itself. We can take the taboo of mental health and reconstruct our community into one that is inclusive, open, welcoming, and, above all, filled with understanding.
Featured Member: Jie Shen
May 5, 2022
In my own response to art, I have written many Chinese poems about myself, my family, and my responses during or after art therapy sessions. My personal art has shifted through many phases, from using bamboo strolls, wires, paint, and magazines. As a collage artist right now, my biggest challenge for honoring my heritage is finding magazines, or collage materials that have AAPI faces.
Why Licensing Matters to the Future of Art Therapy as a Profession
For a long while, even before art therapists first became licensed anywhere in the US, art therapists have been debating the value of professional licensure. Many of us who have been professionals in the field for more than 10 years most likely had to pursue an alternative license such as licensed professional counselor (LPC) or licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) to work providing mental health counseling in most states. If you already hold a license as an art therapist, LPC, or LMFT, you may not realize or be personally affected by the changes—particularly in the counseling profession—that will very soon lock art therapists out of gaining an LPC. Similar changes are coming regarding the LMFT license as well. Whether you are personally affected or not, your attention must be on these changes for the long-term sustainability of the profession. We need to think about those in education programs now and future art therapists.
Featured Member: Nomita Advani
April 21, 2022
I find great meaning in my role in supporting the well-being and quality of life of my clients, while also learning so much from them. I am grateful for that. The bonus is to be able to engage with artmaking and expressive, visual language every day.
Featured Member: Virginia Bobro
April 7, 2022
Birth stories contain the full range of human experiences: resilience, trauma, persistence, triumph, creativity, confusion, grief, connection, and more. I’m becoming an art therapist to more deeply understand and utilize art as a way to work through and transform trauma, disconnection, and distress during the childbearing years.
Featured Member: Emily Allbery, MA, ATR-BC, LPC
March 24, 2022
Working with medically fragile children has definitely shaped who I am as a therapist and a person. I have learned so much from the resiliency of my patients, all of whom understand the meaning of life more than I can at two to three times their age.
Featured Member: Mercedes Ballbé ter Maat, Ph.D., LPC, ATR-BC, HLM
March 10, 2022
I graduated as an art therapist from George Washington University in 1986. Almost 36 years later, I am grateful for the colleagues and friends with whom I have walked this journey. This journey is like a gift that keeps on giving, bringing memorable experiences and opportunities to grow alongside those we hope to heal.
ACATE Council Positions Open July 1st for Two Educators and One Practitioner
February 17, 2022 | Ron Hunt, DDS, MS, Chair, Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education (ACATE)
The Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education (ACATE) is currently seeking applications and nominations for two (2) Educator and one (1) Practitioner positions that will become open on July 1, 2022. Please consider applying or nominating someone whom you believe will work tirelessly to promote best practices for art therapy educational programs and help ACATE lead the upcoming standards revisions process for the art therapy accreditation standards.
Featured Member: Leonard Gerald Lambert
February 24, 2022
Known as the “King of Process” by his friends, Leonard Lambert’s career in art therapy has been quite the journey. Leonard was among the first black male art therapy students to graduate from Pratt Institute. In 1979, he completed his thesis, Stonecarving: A Projective and Creative Modality for the Drug User, working with groups at a Substance Abuse facility. After working as an art therapist for behavioral health at Harlem Hospital and receiving his ATR board certificate, Leonard decided to switch career paths to practice social work. Ten years later, he was called back to art therapy. Now conducting art therapy through Zoom interactions, he is excited to connect with other male art therapists and explore the “percolating” ideas within him.