Maybe you have heard of art therapy, dance therapy, or drama therapy? These are considered single modality creative arts therapy approaches and each modality has it’s own professional credentialing process. This means that if you work with an art therapist he/she will use primarily visual art techniques therapeutically, and a dance therapist will use primarily dance and movement techniques to help clients. There are five main creative arts therapies specializing in: visual art, drama, dance, music, and poetry.
An expressive arts therapist is trained in all five creative arts therapies and also learns how to combine them. For example, a client may create a drawing of an issue and then choose a part of that drawing to explore through physical movement, discovering inner resources to apply to the original issue.
The creative arts therapy field, including expressive arts therapy, has been evolving since the 1970’s in the United States and creative arts organizations and practitioners can be found world-wide. Former Senator of New York and now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to advocate for the creative therapies. Below, I have posted then Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s letter to the president to initiate the first Creative Arts Therapies Week in 2003. This year Creative Arts Therapies Week is March 18 – 15th, 2009.
For more information regarding creative therapies, visit Arts in Therapy Network website’s What is section, www.artsintherapy.com. Also visit, National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations website’s Fact Sheet at www.nccata.org
For more information regarding Hillary Rodham Clinton’s support of the creative art therapies go to www.art-therapy.us/Hillary_Clinton.htm
June 3rd, 2003
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
Statement for the Congressional Record
in Recognition of
National Creative Arts Therapies Week
June 1-7th, 2003
Mr. President, the process of using the arts therapeutically to assist victims of illness, trauma, disability and other personal challenges, has historically been under recognized as a valuable treatment, yet the benefits of this treatment are far reaching. The Creative Arts Therapies, comprised of the fields of Art Therapy, Dance/Movement Therapy, Drama Therapy, Music Therapy, Poetry Therapy and Psychodrama, are disciplines that foster creative expression to promote health, communication, self-awareness, emotional, social and cognitive functioning. I rise today, to proclaim National Creative Arts Therapies Week, June 1st-7th, 2003 as a time to recognize this unique service.
Creative Arts Therapies have been practiced in the United States for over 50 years with people of all ages and problems. Such therapists work in medical hospitals, rehabilitation centers, mental health facilities, day treatment centers, nursing homes, schools, homeless shelters, correctional settings, and in private practice. Creative arts therapists have helped people who have undergone trauma, loss, acute physical and chronic illness, emotional disturbance, or struggle with depression, retardation, developmental disabilities and addictions. Their contributions during the aftermath of 9-11, assisting victims and the bereaved through trauma treatment and the alleviation of post-traumatic stress were invaluable.
I want to recognize and thank Creative Arts Therapists in America who are assisting the most vulnerable in our society with valuable therapeutic intervention. There are over 15,000 licensed clinicians who meet high quality standards of graduate education and practice. Various States, including New York have additional licensure requirements, which protect patients from fraudulent practitioners and maintain the quality of care to the highest standard. These credentialed clinicians constitute a vital force of mental health professionals in our country. However, many Americans are unable to access such services because awareness about their effectiveness and employment of such therapists is not sufficiently widespread.
The National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations is collectively celebrating the history and status of their profession. They will be showcasing workshops, presentations and exhibits throughout the United States to inform the public, healthcare practitioners, insurers and legislators about the therapeutic value and significance of this discipline.
I therefore proclaim National Creative Arts Therapies Week, June 1st – 7th, 2003 as a time to recognize the unique service provided by these clinicians. Further, I encourage my colleagues in Congress to support the Creative Arts Therapies fields and expand awareness about this form of treatment. Particularly at this time of heightened sensitivity to maintaining mental health, we should recognize the Creative Arts Therapies as a way to help those in distress through the power of the arts to heal.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
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Art therapy I feel is an important part of a recovery model. In my personal expperience art has given me more clarity and emotional channelling that nothing else has even come close.