Becoming an Art Therapist, What's it Really Like?

Transcription

(Music)

Dan: You walk into a room expecting to talk, but instead you're handed a blank canvas. What happens next could change everything. Today we're finding out that being an art therapist is the best career for you. Today on Time We Discuss, I wanna welcome Sarah Balascio and it's time we discuss what it's like working as an art therapist. Sarah, thank you for joining me today.

Sarah Balascio: Hi, nice to be here.

Dan: This is really cool. So I spoke with a music therapist maybe six months ago. So I, generally speaking, have an idea of what to expect, but a lot of these professions, I like to go in trying to know nothing. I think it's more entertaining for me. I hopefully it's more entertaining for my guests and visitors, but let's start typical day, art therapist, what's it like? Go.

Sarah: Okay, sure. Well, let me back up really quick because you mentioned a music therapist. I guess broadly I should just explain the field really quick. So often it's referred to as the creative arts therapies. So underneath that umbrella comes music therapists, dance movement therapists, drama therapists, and I am what's referred to as an art therapist, which refers to like visual art. So yeah. So art therapists can work in so many different settings. So saying a typical day, I'll have to give you a typical day from some of my different jobs I've had. And then I can tell you typically what I do right now. So most art therapists work either in a hospital setting, like in a psychiatric hospital, in treatment centers for things like addiction or eating disorders. I did that for a few years. They often will work also in private practice, like going to a therapist, any other therapist that you would see in private practice. Art therapists can also work in schools. And so a typical day for me right now, I have two jobs. So half of my job, I work as a professor teaching about art therapy. So I teach the graduate level at UMaine and at Maine College of Art. Previously I taught for 10 years, undergrad students at the College of William and Mary. So half of my job I'm teaching about art therapy. And then the other half of my job, facilitating art therapy. So teaching about it and then actually practicing it. So I have, like most art therapists, worked in hospital settings most of my career up until the last 10 years where I started, getting more involved in teaching about art therapy. So right now, like half of the week I'm home doing teaching related things. Like today, when I get off this, I have to do grading for a really long time, which is not that fun. But the really fun part of my job I mean, I love teaching and I love my students and I love reading their grading. But practical applications, like when I'm facilitating art therapy, right now I currently work at a nonprofit that serves under-resourced parts of Maine. So parts of Maine that are either rural or people have trouble accessing mental health services or are underfunded. So I go to various locations doing art therapy for this nonprofit. And so a typical session, I guess you'd like to know about too, most art therapists work in a group format. So just like any therapy, you can either be in a group setting, getting art therapy or individual setting. So when I'm working right now at this art therapy nonprofit, by the way, it's called Artvan. It's a mobile art therapy nonprofit. And it'll be in a group setting. So meaning participants would come to a particular location. We work in schools or libraries, senior centers, early learning centers. And the art therapist will come in with a certain theme or intervention or a goal for the session. Say that week we're gonna be focusing on self-esteem. So the art therapist would come armed with the materials and a theme or a goal for the session. And then the art making project and the materials chosen would all have to relate to that theme. So it's not just putting out materials and seeing what happens. You go with a particular intervention or goal for the session. And it's always based on why the participants are there. When I, for example, worked at the Eating Disorder Treatment Center, those sessions would have a much different theme than maybe when I'm working in a public school. So yeah, so that's kind of a typical day, long-winded and there's lots of options as art therapists. And I just happened to have work in two different jobs. So that kind of explains it, I hope, Dan.

Dan: Yeah, that's perfect. So you talked a lot about the emotional side or the mental health side of it. What about the physical side? Do you ever work with people that they have some kind of hand injury and it's more of like, I wonder if this would be more under like occupational therapy now that I'm thinking about it, but something like that where it's more to help on the physical side as opposed to the mental health side, or are they completely different?

Sarah: That does sound a little more like occupational therapy and our fields do overlap. However, there's been lots of research and studies out there about clay work with people with Parkinson's disease and things like that. But generally the field of art therapy has more to do with mental health. Of course, our mental health and physical wellbeing are closely tied together though.

Dan: Absolutely, okay. What about different age groups? You talked about obviously working in the school system. You talked about working in hospitals, inpatient, I think you said inpatient. So you talked about working in the schools, hospitals. What about different age groups? Do you, is different certification needed to work with different people of different age groups or is that not necessary once you are certified? You can work with anybody. How does that work?

Sarah: Yeah, that's a good question. I guess I'll back up and talk about how to become an art therapist. So, because you mentioned certification, exactly. So to become an art therapist, you'll need to have an undergraduate degree in psychology and art. So to get into these graduate programs that are accredited by our national credentialing board, you need to have a certain amount of, you know, prerequisite undergraduate classes in those two fields. And then you'll need a graduate degree in art therapy from a, you know, accredited school. And the graduate programs take about three years. You'll usually do, you know, a certain amount of coursework and then a certain amount of like practical internship time. So about two years of two different internships. And I bring up the age situation because that is encouraged during your internship to do broad age ranges and broad populations, right? Once you finish your degree, then you can become certified through a number of hours of supervision, through another registered art therapist and continuing education and things like that. But a common myth in art therapy is that art therapy is only for kids, which is not true or artists. To come to an art therapy session, you don't have to have any art making skills at all. And it's the full age range. In particular, there's a lot of research and a lot of work done at senior centers. There's a lot done with memory care and art making because really interesting research and studies out there about how while the brain is deteriorating from diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia, the portion of the brain that focuses on creativity can still function and in fact, like be regenerated and learn new skills. So it's very, very cool. Music therapy is also really well researched in this field. There's lots out there about that. So yeah, early learners really, really young. I work at a preschool all the way. So there are probably like threes, some of the youngest all the way up to people in their 90s. We work at senior centers, like I said. And then of course, teenagers. I worked at colleges forever, especially young adults when you're in that stage of finding out who you are. And yeah, so and anyone, you don't have to have art making skills either too.

Dan: That is really good to know. Okay, Sarah, let's talk a little bit about the art therapy exercises or the art therapy activities. What types of things are you doing? I know you wrote a book about that. I'm so we can touch on that a little bit. But what types of things are you doing with people? What does that typically look like?

Sarah: Yeah, so a typical session, a person, say it was one-on-one like you and me, Dan. And Dan comes in and says, I wanna work on career change, or it could be something more intense, grief. It could be about anxiety. It could be you're going through a divorce, whatever it is. So this person comes in and say they're working on grief. The art therapist would then design an art therapy directive. That's actually the title of my book or intervention, or just a theme is another way to say it, based on what Dan is here for. And those materials can vary. But the focus would be like, hey Dan, today what I want you to do is imagine what life would look like for you if you were, whatever, blah, blah, blah. Like something to do with maybe whatever change you're going through. And then you could try to create that image. Usually people will stick to an art therapy the abstract. So when I say what would Dan look like if he had XYZ in his life, instead of whatever, what does now say? It wouldn't be a realistic self-portrait of Dan. It could be abstract images, how it might feel through colors and shapes and lines. And a lot of times the material choice is completely up to the participant, whatever you're drawn to. However, as an art therapist, we have to have a basic knowledge of every art medium, because Dan could come in and say, great, today I want to work with printmaking. Okay, so we have to at least know the basics of printmaking. So art therapy isn't really about teaching art therapy techniques. However, you want the participant to feel able to focus on the goal of the session and not on, oh, I can't get this to work, or I'm not making this portrait look just right, I can't get the figure just right, or how do you work these materials? So you need to be able to guide them in whatever material choice they like in a way that doesn't interfere with their focus of the session, right? Because the goal isn't to really learn how to do printmaking, it's to explore through the artwork what it would be like for Dan if he was on the other side of this whatever situation.

Dan: Okay, before, again, you talked about working at school, you talked about working in a hospital setting and various other places. I'd like to explore the opportunities a little bit as far as full-time, part-time, private practice. How common are those broadly speaking? Is it easier to go and start your own practice? Is it easier to get started in a hospital? Are jobs abundant in a hospital? What does all that look like from your perspective?

Sarah: Yeah, that's a good question. So when you first graduate from school, part of a thing within the field of art therapy that can be challenging is that where our art therapy field is only licensed in a handful of states, maybe 15 or so. However, our national certification is for the whole country. And in order to work in private practice, depending on your state, you need to have a license. So it's a bit of a thing within our field because some people are like maybe just going to school to become a mental health clinician. Other people are and learn about art therapy and integrate it into their field. And other people are going to full-blown art therapy school and then depends on where you live in order to be able to work in private practice. So that question is a little tricky. However, becoming an art therapist out of graduate school and getting your national certification, you can work in many settings. So it's kind of like private practice it's like it's own separate thing that depends on kind of your regulations and where you live. And I can talk a little bit about that too. But so most people's jobs out of graduate school are in hospital settings because that's like the most available jobs. And when I say hospital settings, we're mostly talking about psychiatric hospital settings. However, there are also some jobs in kind of hospitals for people, regular physical hospitals like National Children's Hospital in DC, especially children's hospitals. So, but we're mostly talking about psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers for people with like, chronic conditions or things like, substance abuse recovery, eating disorder recovery where you would be in treatment for a longer time versus a hospital is more acute and you have a situation that resolves and then you can go back home. So my first job out of college was at a big hospital, psychiatric hospital, one of the oldest in the country in Vermont called the Brattleboro Retreat. And I worked there for about eight years on the adolescent unit. So for that job, I was in charge of programming, like how the whole day was filled and facilitating art therapy on the adolescent unit. My second job after that, I worked at New York Presbyterian which is one of the best hospitals, hospital systems in the country. And I absolutely loved working there. It was a really cool and different job. At that position, I was a float, which meant I went to all the different units and at New York Presbyterian's hospital, they have like 10 different units. So all these different units based on why the person might be there, maybe it's for, you know, a child or an adolescent or substance abuse or a psychotic disorder or personality disorder or mood disorder. They also had an eating disorder unit and the cool thing for me, I would recommend for anybody, the best thing about this job was as a float, I got to go to all those different units, meaning I didn't just stick to one, I got to learn like all the different things about each different unit and those particular specifics about those diagnoses or populations. So I loved that, I would go to all of them. And then after that, I then started working in a college setting. So, you know, there's definitely art therapists in college settings, like I said, mostly hospitals, some schools, a lot of art therapy jobs in retirement communities, memory centers, there's a lot with those. Like I said, private practice is kind of its own thing. So for example, I went to school at Pratt Institute in New York and they have a license for creative arts therapists in New York. So I see a small number of people privately, virtually in New York. So you have to, for private practice, you'd be licensed in that particular state. So it's a little trickier, but to work as an art therapist at those other settings, you just, you know, not just, you need a master's degree, you need to become certified in our field. So that's a little like subset. And I would say that more jobs are in cities, of course, just because there's more population, lots of hospitals, and opportunities like that.

Dan: Okay.

Sarah: It's actually, it's a good question because it's something for people to think about when they are going to graduate school, because like I said, my graduate school was in New York, so it focused on the license in New York, you know, and you wanna think like where, it's hard to think about when you're starting school, but like where you might end up or what you would like to do, but it is important to think about all that before starting.

Dan: That is very important. And I've told this story before on the show here, when I went to school, I originally wanted to be an audio engineer. And I that's what I went to school for and it wasn't until my final year, it dawned on me that if I wanted to be the engineer I wanted to be, I'd have to be in a major city like Philly, LA, Nashville, New York. And I did not wanna do that. I thought, all right, what's plan B now?

Sarah: Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah. You know, it's one of those things that starts to develop as we get older. It's like, you know, you think about your meaning, your purpose, what you find meaningful, but you also have to think like practically like, do I have money for this graduate program? What kind of, you were mentioning prior to starting, like what kind of salary would I make? Because graduate school is expensive. And then what kind of ... So, you have to think about all that stuff. Yeah, location, all those factors.

Dan: Absolutely, absolutely. So you talked about the concept of the floater. How common is that? If someone, if that sounds awesome, I wanna make sure I do that. How common is that? Is that something they should be asking about during the interview process? Is that not necessary? What's that like?

Sarah: That is something that would be on the job application. It would be like, okay, we're hiring someone to work on the eating disorders unit. Or it would be like that, it's called a float. It's a common title in hospital settings. Yeah, meaning you're shared and you go to lots of other different units.

Dan: Okay, okay. Yeah. Sarah, I want you to think about a job as an art therapist. And I want you to think about it kind of broadly. I don't want you to think about co-workers or supervisor. Just on a broad level, what makes being an art therapist, what makes that job the best job?

Sarah: I love this question. Cause what I say all the time is that I love my job. I love being an art therapist every day and every different career I've had. And I'll give you a little history on actually my career trajectory to kind of piggyback off of what we were just talking about. So I always knew that I wanted to do something in the field of art, but it's a challenging field. I'm sure like it was for you with sound and audio. You know, there's not, it's not like I'm going to be a lawyer or I'm going to work in business. Like it's so specific, you know? And not all the positions in the art field are high paying or practical. So I broadly knew I wanted to do something in art, but I wasn't quite sure. And so I had various internships in college. I worked at an, I interned at Sotheby's auction house. I interned at the Met. And none of them, while they were amazing experiences, I was like, no, that's not quite right. You know, my first job out of college was working at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. And I was like, liked it, but it still is. So I then became an art teacher. I taught in the public schools in Vermont for about five years. And I loved that too. But what made me realize, I should say I liked that. What made me realize I wanted to become an art therapist was I realized as an art teacher that I didn't so much love the part of teaching a technique to people, but I loved what I noticed how it made people feel. So that's when I said to myself, there's something more to this. You know, often I would have students in my class where people would say, oh, you know, watch out for Dan. He's like, you know, there's this, there's this. And in art, he'd be fine. And I would say, you know, there's something to this. And then I started offering at recess in middle school, which is like such a trying time, an open studio, meaning if you didn't want to go out for recess, you could come to the art room and make whatever you want to make. And that's when my wheels got turning. And then I'm like, I think I'm really more interested in the therapeutic aspect of art than me teaching, you know, techniques about art. Then I went back to school and became an, you know, and started my degree. And I, for the first time in school felt like, I know the answer, I really know this. And I loved it. And I have loved, like I said, I've had so many different careers. I've done hospitals, I've done private practice. I've now I'm teaching in graduate school. I'm working at a nonprofit. I've worked, you know, in eating disorder at all. And I've loved every one of them. So that's what I love about art therapy too, is like it's so applicable to many different people, diagnoses, settings, it can be virtual. It can be in person. It can be in a group setting. It can be individual. It can be working with so many different, you know, populations. But what's important every time is that the art making is the healing process for people. Something about the art making and being in community with someone brings up things. And that's, I love it. I love even when people say I hate art. Why are you in art therapy? I don't like this. That's my favorite person to work with because it's very different than when people envision it. They're like, well, I can't draw, I can't do this. Well, art therapy is not about making an exact replica of something. You know, oftentimes you might make things in art therapy that you don't even keep, you throw it out. You know, it was just kind of like more of like a visceral, I'm making this and I need to get it outside of me and I wanna be done with it. Or we make things that are abstract, that don't look like anything. Another really common myth that people will say is, do you analyze art? And that's a common misconception about art therapy. It's not like, oh, Dan drew a clock. That must mean this, right? So I would, it's not at all like that because Dan is the artist. Dan's gonna tell me what the clock means, right? And so people often say to me, oh, you know, my son, he's always drawing trees. What does that mean? And I'll say, I don't know your son. I can't tell you. You should ask your son what the tree means. Because, you know, I've had people draw things that look horrible and I'll be like, not horrible, scary, you know, and graphic and I'll say, oh, wow, this feels kind of scary to me. Like, is that how it feels to you? And they say, oh no, I'm just really into like the Avengers right now. You know, and so it's not for us to say, you drew this, it means this. There are formal, you know, psychological tests that involve art, but as an art therapist, we're using the art to learn more and hear from the person what it means to them and the art to take shape in their mind and help them think and express things and reflect, not to analyze. And so I guess that's also what I love about it too. It's like, I'm learning from the person what's helpful for them too. I'm not saying this means this. So I just, I love it. I've loved being an art therapist and I will never stop. And then I wrote a book, like even writing about it, I mean, it's kind of torturous to write a book. It's very long and arduous, but even still, like I love that too. So I'm really lucky. I love my job and I've loved it ever since I started it. So yeah.

Dan: That is really, really awesome. Sarah, I feel like we could keep talking about this. It is obvious you're so passionate about it. I love that. But unfortunately I am running out of time. One of the things I'd like to do whenever I'm speaking to someone, I like to give them the opportunity to talk about a project they're working on, a cause they believe in, more about their business, nonprofit, book. You have so many things to choose from, but regardless, the floor is yours.

Sarah: Okay, great. Thank you. So yeah, I guess I think what's important right now is this book that I wrote, my family was on a year sabbatical and I was able to work on this book then. And I'm really proud of it. If you are an art therapist or interested in the field or a mental health clinician who integrates art therapy into their work, or even just anyone interested, I wrote this book. It's called Art Therapy Directives, an Intervention Toolbox published by Rutledge. And basically what it is is I'll just show you the first page. Like I mentioned, a typical art therapy session would have a certain theme. So basically that's what this is. I wrote this book so that people can just simply refer in the table of contents, like these are all the different topic areas. And then you go to that one and there are like four different designed interventions and images for whatever that topic is. So it's available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, through the publisher, Rutledge. So yeah, I'm excited about sharing that.

Dan: That is awesome. I'll make sure to get all those links from you. I'll put them in the show notes, they'll be in the description. They'll be all over the place so when people are trying to find that book and information about you, they can easily find all of that.

Sarah: Thanks Dan.

Dan: Absolutely. Sarah, it's been absolutely awesome having you on Time We Discuss and we learned all about art therapy.

Sarah: Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it.

Dan: All right. So let's do a quick summary of what we learned today. For starters, being an art therapist has a lot of flexibility when it comes to location. You can work remotely, you can work onsite, you can work in private practice in certain states or you can work in different hospitals. You can work at senior centers, retirement facilities, all kinds of different places. So it seems like there are definitely a lot of options when it comes to where you wanna work. Education requirements, you do need a master's degree for this position. So you need to do that extra schooling if this is something that you really wanna do. One of the really cool things is that Sarah reports really high job satisfaction. And you could tell she is super amped about what she does. It is so fulfilling and you can just tell by talking to her. So there's definitely something to be said about a job that you're gonna get some personal satisfaction out of. Looking at the national data for art therapists, it is a growing industry. It's growing at about 3% right now, which is about a little quicker than average slash average, but it's growing. So that's a good thing. Also, the national average salary is around 66,000 with the 90% being around six figures. So average around 66. Now remember, Sarah said that it's more likely to find jobs closer to cities. So remember that if you really wanna pursue this, you should probably be somewhere close to a city where the demand is gonna be there or plan to work remotely. Look into that, cause I don't know how that's gonna work if you're working for an agency or an organization, but you're working remotely. So you definitely wanna consider that. But if you're in one of those 15 states where you can practice, you can have a private practice, you can certainly do that remote as well. So those are some things to consider if you wanna be an art therapist. All right, that'll do it. See you next time on Time We Discuss.