Personal Narrative: My Desire To Become An Art Therapist

The world is rough place full of suffering people and I want to help ease some of this suffering with art, and with MCAD's vision of transforming the world with creativity and purpose I believe this is something I can achieve. All of my art has been completed in my cramped room with only my mom to critique my works with MCAD's personal studio spaces and talented professors that put students first and encourage them to experimentation I believe I can really flourish and learn how to become a more skillful artist. Not only will MCAD help me grow as an artist but will help prepare me for the business side of having an art career with the MCAD DesignWorks program, having a very limited experience with the business side of art this is one part of MCAD that truly impresses me.

I never thought that I'd be writing to you out of all people. Everyone may question my sanity once they figure out I've been trying to write to you ever since you were convicted five years ago. It's just.... I couldn’t find the right words to explain how badly you hurt me. However, my therapist said that writing this letter will help me accept the fact that I made the dumbest mistake in the world seven years ago when we got married. Oh yeah, I'm going to a therapist. I find that quite ironic since one day I thought I could become a therapist, and specialize in women sciences, but instead, I'm going to one.

The art therapist’s objective is to integrate art with traditional therapy techniques in order to improve a client’s overall well-being. In order to do this, the therapist has to have a solid understanding of the creative process, counseling, and psychotherapy techniques and theories (Malchiodi, 2013). The Art Therapy Credentials Board offers four types of certifications but I will be focusing on the Registered Art Therapist (ATR) credential. The ATCB thoroughly examines your college curriculum to ensure that you have a background in art and psychology and meet all the criteria on the ATR application. Before you can apply to become an ATR, you must have completed a master’s program with coursework pertaining to human development, abnormal psychology, psychotherapy theories and assessment, or research.

As an aspiring occupational therapist, my essential goal is to provide services and opportunities to impaired individuals, specifically in under-developed communities, that may not have the proper resources and guidance. What made me want to dedicate my life to assisting individuals is from observing my grandmother take care of my great-grandmother until she passed away. While trying to maintain her own health, my grandmother helped her mother with tasks such as feeding, changing, and more all by herself. Watching her struggle with no support made me wish I could make life simpler for her. Also, I wished my great-grandmother had the utilities to help her interact with my family without dilemmas. Considering my great-grandmother and my future

It has been discovered that, “Nearly three decades ago, 61.1% of workers said they liked their jobs. That number has slid over time, reaching an all-time low in 2010 following the Great Recession, when only 42.6% of workers said they were satisfied in their jobs,” due to the findings of The Conference Board Job Satisfaction survey (Adams). As an achiever who strives to experience excitement and adventure in life, I find the lack of job satisfaction for most Americans to be disappointing. Having more than a job—having a career—in life is essential to maintaining happiness and allowing self-growth as an adult. It is necessary that every person does something they wish to accomplish during their life or feel the need to do to satisfy the means of their existence. After months of remaining undecided on my desired career that would necessarily fulfil my personal means, I have directed my studying toward the goal of being an art therapist. This uncommon occupation is described as, “An integrative mental health profession that combines knowledge and understanding of human development and psychological theories and techniques with visual arts and the creative process to provide a unique approach for helping clients improve psychological health, cognitive abilities, and sensory-motor functions” (“About us”).

While attending Bates Technical College for an Associates of Applied Science in Occupational Therapy Assistant, I have had the opportunity through my fieldwork to create therapeutic relationships where I serve as a teacher who encourages others and use my flexibility to problem solve. I was a student intern at Pearl Street Center, an inpatient psychiatric facility, where I incorporated task analysis to develop therapeutic activities for adolescents. I recall a craft in which I encouraged residents to decorate a paper plate with the theme of self-expression and had them cooperate to combine their unique art into a collaborative piece. During the craft, there was a new resident, a Vietnamese boy who angrily refused to participate. I addressed his behavior and learned he was scared and overwhelmed in this foreign environment, so I brought him to a quieter area and found magazine clippings he was interested in and related to culturally. By creating a workstation more conducive to his needs, he was able to relax and became more open to expressing himself through his art. I realized that my creativity and problem-solving skills allowed me to adapt my teaching style based on the consumers’ needs and successfully implemented meaningful activity

“I want to live.” She said. She lifted her feet off the small coffee table and set them gently on the floor as she continued to look through me, too interested on the inner workings of her own mind.

Occupational therapy is a form of therapy for people who are recuperating from physical or mental illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities that are required for daily life (World Federation of Occupational Therapists). Being an occupational therapist has many different kinds of duties. They review patients’ medical history, ask the patients’ questions, and observe them doing tasks, evaluate a patient’s condition and needs. After evaluating patients, develop treatment plans and help demonstrate exercises. In order to do all of these duties, a person must pass the national examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. Therapists must pass the board in order to have

I grew up alongside the wild Rocky Mountain Columbines, where the air is crisp and the winters are long. I spent my time engaging in the arts such as acting, writing, and creating. From a young age I was drawn to the world of imagination and found happiness through producing art. We all face and over come challenges within our lives and whenever I am faced with hardship I find comfort in visually expressing myself.

Ever had aching muscles? Ever wish you could just sit back and relax as someone rubs those atrocious twitchings out of this life? Well you are in luck, massage therapists are the leading men and women of the modern day that contribute to reinvigoration of virility. Discovering and selecting a school that satisfied all my expectations was a tough but exciting task. I chose Texas Center for Massage Therapy as my school of choice because of the in depth course work they have to offer through their 32-week program. Massage therapy stood out to me a few years ago when I met a friend who was studying massage. I’ve always had an interest in the medical field beginning when I was a young child. The daily routine of a student wanting to pursue massage therapy would thrive to their

Art as a therapeutic method was my primary focus throughout the psychology program at Ryerson University. I am familiar with much research regarding art therapy for mental disorders such as depression

I am Tori Kersey, a high school senior seeking to combine my passion of art with my heart for children to become an art therapist and social worker for children in Honduras. This dream started in September of 2006 when my family made the decision to start the process of adopting a young boy from Honduras. In that very same month 1,528 miles away, my highly energetic brother came into the world an orphan in the poverty stricken Central American country of Honduras. After seven years of being a test family for a closed to adoption country, we finally brought my brother Gustavo home. Not only were these years filled with paperwork, long meetings, and fundraisers, but also with six weeks of traveling for my parents to visit the young boy. Those

To become an art therapist, there are certain duties, special skills and talents, as well as a higher education requirement. As an art therapist, I will need to be able to talk with clients, while involving studio art, such as drawing, painting, sculpting, etc., to asses the disorders or needs of the patient. I will have to write a progress report after every session and, using that, design sessions that are specific to one’s goals in therapy. In most practices, I will have to supervise staff, volunteers, or interns and purchase needed equipment. Depending on the institution I am working for, I will be able to plan art showcases or field trips to museums. The talents an art therapist needs tend be very communicationally skilled. One has to be socially perceptive, an active and appropriate listener, reasonably deductive, orally comprehensive, and recognize speech. Also, one needs to be able to critically think, make decisions, and coordinate

CENTRAL IDEA: Art Therapy is not a common career choice when looking at popular jobs in the workforce; however, it is both a very interesting psychological and artistic career.

Art therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem. A goal in art therapy is to improve or restore a client’s functioning and his or her sense of personal well-being.