Contributing factors to occurrences of workplace violence (WPV) vary based on the setting and clientele. While no workplace can be guaranteed free from potential violence, research shows that agencies and creative arts therapists (CATs) can use preventative measures to increase workplace safety. To illustrate the impact of WPV, three CATs share…

The recovery-oriented approach to psychiatric care encourages decision making between patients and providers. However, one barrier to patients' involvement in their own treatment planning is the lack of meaningful communication with providers. Healthy Mind Messages, a collaborative art installation created by patients and staff at the Oregon State…

This study examined how a sample of art therapists (N = 14) describe their experience of therapeutic presence in the art therapy triangular relationship formed among the therapist, the client, and the artwork. Qualitative data were collected in semistructured interviews and analyzed using a grounded theory method. Component themes of therapeutic…

This is the appropriate time in the evolution of the profession of art therapy to re-create its image and explore a new model of the profession responsive to the postmodern mental health climate. To that end, the author would like to take the reader on a fantasy trip and hypothesize what it would be like to move the birth of this profession…

Examines and compares assimilation and multiculturalism from an art therapy perspective. Clarifies some of the difficulties faced by art therapists, and seeks to understand the barriers which hinder the ability to accept variety and differences in the art room. Proposes that art therapists actively use their artistic nature to embrace diversity in…

Discusses the studio as a therapeutic community of images where the therapist functions as keeper of the space. It is not the physical suitability that determines the suitability of the space; rather, distractions and imperfections in the space may more accurately mirror the state of psyche and so induce the passionate engagement that calls forth…

The space in which art is made has long been considered a potent force that impacts the form and content of an artist's expression. The studio constitutes the initial and perhaps most impressionable experience of the art therapy process. The therapist must adapt the space to suit clients' needs taking a proactive stance to requisition resources…

Therapist's role and dilemmas faced in treating a gender dysphoric client are discussed. Examines ethical and moral issues relating to transsexualism and discusses the appropriateness of art therapy as a treatment for transsexual clients. (SNR)

Explores the role of art-making in art therapy education and proposes a studio-based model of education as one possible way to resolve the split between "art" and "therapy" in Master's level art therapy programs. Examines this model of education for reflective practice for its possible use as a strategy for integrating art,…

Introduces art therapists to transgender males with AIDS. Discusses three specific cases, and emphasizes the role that art played in subjects' relationship with their residential community and the ways art served their efforts to resolve issues. Considers common themes, special challenges, and benefits of working with this population. (SNR)

The hypothesis that improving the aesthetic quality of the environment of a functionally dependent person with traumatic brain injury would show a corresponding positive effect in the attitudes and behaviors of the resident's family system was tested. Effects of environmental manipulations on family and patient are assessed and discussed.…