Career Profile – Art Therapist

The work

As an art therapist, you would encourage clients to experiment with art techniques and materials like paint, paper and clay to help them:

• gain greater awareness of their feelings
• express themselves
• work through their emotions
• come to terms with difficult times in their lives
• move on in a positive way.

You would not teach art and your clients would not need any artistic skills.

You could hold group or one-to-one sessions with your clients. These could include children or adults who:

• have learning disabilities
• have emotional, behaviour or mental health problems
• have speech and language difficulties
• are recovering from addiction, injury or illness.

You would work closely with other healthcare professionals, such as psychologists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and psychiatrists.

Hours

Your normal working hours would be between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, although some jobs may involve evening or weekend sessions. Part-time and freelance (self-employed) work is common.

You could work in a variety of locations such as schools, hospitals, prisons and day centres. This would depend on the client group that you are working with. You may need to travel between different locations during your working day.

Income

Art therapists start on around £25,500 a year. With experience this can rise to between £30,500 and £40,000 a year. A principal art therapist in the NHS can earn up to £46,500.

_{Figures are intended as a guideline only.}

Entry requirements

To work as an art therapist you will need to complete a postgraduate qualification approved by the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT). Once you have qualified, you will need to register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Approved full-time postgraduate courses normally take two years to complete. Part-time courses take three years.

To do a postgraduate course, you will need to have a degree in art and design or be a qualified art teacher. You may also be considered if you have a degree in another subject relevant to this career, for instance psychology, nursing or social work.

See the BAAT and HCPC websites for details of approved courses and check with course providers for exact entry requirements.

• British Association of Arts Therapists (BAAT)
• Health and Care Professions Council

You will also need paid or voluntary experience gained from working in areas such as mental health, education, special needs, or social services. This might be from working in the community on arts projects, in youth work or with people with disabilities or mental health issues. For advice on voluntary opportunities, you could contact the voluntary services coordinator at your local NHS Trust, or Volunteering England. See their websites for more information.

• NHS Choices (for a list of local NHS Trusts)
• Volunteering England

To give you an idea of what this work involves, you could try an introductory or foundation course in art therapy or another creative therapy. There are a limited number of colleges offering these courses as well as the BAAT.

Training and development

Once you are on an approved course, you will cover subjects such as psychology, child development, family dynamics, psychiatry and the history and theory of art therapy. You will take part in practical training and clinical placements, and you will have personal therapy yourself.

Once qualified, you can register with the HCPC, the regulating body for psychologists. Registration is renewed at regular intervals. For information on statutory regulations and state registration see the HCPC website.

• HCPC

As a qualified art therapist, you will have regular supervision sessions with a registered art therapist supervisor. You will also need to keep your professional knowledge and skills up to date by taking short courses and workshops, like those offered by the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT). See the BAAT website for more information.

• British Association of Arts Therapists – short courses

Skills, interests and qualities

To become an art therapist, you will need to have:

• experience of working in the arts
• a non-judgemental attitude
• the ability to relate to people from all backgrounds
• a strong interest or background in psychology
• creativity, intuition and imagination
• the ability to handle sensitive and difficult issues
• empathy and the ability to gain clients’ trust
• strong communication and listening skills
• a flexible and adaptable approach
• the confidence to work with people on their own and in groups
• patience and commitment
• emotional strength.

More information

Health and Care Professions Council
Park House
184 Kennington Park Road
London
SE11 4BU
Tel: 020 7582 0866
www.hpc-uk.org

NHS Careers
PO Box 2311
Bristol
BS2 2ZX
Tel: 0345 60 60 655
www.nhscareers.nhs.uk

British Association of Arts Therapists (BAAT)
24-27 White Lion Street
London
N1 9PD
Tel: 020 7686 4216
www.baat.org

Health Learning and Skills Advice Line
Tel: 08000 150850

Opportunities

You will find most opportunities in the NHS. See the NHS Jobs website for vacancies. You could also find work with local authorities, voluntary organisations, the prison service, or in private practice.

• NHS Jobs

Many jobs are part-time or temporary, and often depend on whether organisations get funding for particular projects. This could mean that you will need to work for more than one employer, or combine work as an art therapist with another job.

With experience, you may go on to train as a therapy supervisor, lead a team of therapists or manage an arts therapy unit.