June 18, 2020
During the final meeting of the Art Therapy Advisory Committee on June 16th the first set of licensure applications (approx. 15-20) were approved! However, after a four-year journey of implementing the art therapy license enacted in 2016, the way forward in the application process is once again uncertain as authority to process applications transitions from the current Advisory Committee of the State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners to a new State Board of Creative Arts Therapies, effective June 19, 2020.
Art therapists in New Jersey are encouraged to submit their applications for licensure (the Advisory Committee website will still be available even after the committee is abolished this week). Applications can be found on the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs website. Find direct links to each licensure application below:
- Application for Licensure Professional Art Therapist Associate Art Therapist
- Application to Become a Licensed Professional Art Therapist for Current Practitioners
In accordance with the recent Drama Therapists and Dance/Movement Therapists Licensing Act (P.L. 2019, c.273), the Art therapy Advisory Committee will be abolished and its duties and functions transferred to a new State Board of Creative Arts Therapies on June 19, 2020. However, there is no word of gubernatorial appointments to the new board. Stay tuned for a call to action by the New Jersey Art Therapy Association (NJATA) urging Governor Murphy to promptly appoint members to the board to continue the process of reviewing and approving art therapy licensure applications.
Many thanks to the New Jersey art therapists who participated in NJATA’s previous call to action urging the Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs to issue a Notice of Rule Waiver providing for a temporary waiver of certain regulatory deadlines or licensing requirements that present serious obstacles to licensing art therapists during the current public health emergency. During the June 16 meeting, it was noted that the Deputy Attorney General has a draft of the administrative orders for the recommended waivers to be sent upward. We will keep you posted!