Art Therapy: About the Program

"Students create their own art in response to their personal journey through the program as well as their experiences within art therapy sessions. "

The Art Therapy program was founded in 1967 at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital. It was the first program in the world to offer graduate-level art therapy education. One of the distinctive features of this program is that it is housed within an academic health center environment while also maintaining an affiliation with a school of fine arts.  This marriage of health sciences and the arts provides both the learning atmosphere and the depth of resources highly conducive to quality art therapy education.

The curriculum integrates knowledge of art psychotherapy with  theoretical and practical approaches to clinical  art therapy assessment, and treatment in settings such as mental health, medicine, and education. Didactic, experiential,  clinical, research,  and supervisory elements of the program are balanced to provide a strong  foundation of theoretical knowledge as integrated with practical application. The program  faculty includes art therapists and mental health professionals with an interest in the arts who help students integrate the principles of art therapy with current mental health theory and practice.

The curriculum includes classroom and clinical field placements that occur simultaneously throughout the  education. Through experiences in the classroom  students in the Art Therapy program study the theory behind the complex interaction between  the therapist, the patient/client, and the art process. They then experience  phenomena discussed in the classroom in a clinical practicum and internship setting while under the supervision of a qualified art therapist. Individual and group clinical art therapy and mental health supervision  assist students  in the integration of the intellectual, emotional, artistic and inter-subjective components of art therapy practice.  Through this process the students learn the importance of the synthesis of these elements in the art therapy treatment milieu and therapeutic relationship.

In addition to general  theory in human development, psychodynamics,  and art therapy theory the importance of the unique therapeutic relationship between the art therapist, the patient/ client, and the dynamic art process is studied. The students develop a clear understanding of  the dynamic nature of the therapeutic relationship and the  significant role that empathy and imagination play in art therapy  as their  skills in eliciting and responding to the art-making process in the art therapy session emerge. The students also learn about themselves and the role that their cognitive and emotional reactions play in the relationship between themselves, as art therapists, and the patient/client.
 
The program stresses the importance of the art therapist’s functioning as part of a socio-cultural and organizational  system. This philosophy emphasizes cultivation of the student’s awareness of how art therapy services might be compatible within a particular facility or agency culture as well as considering the adaptation of art therapy approaches to culturally diverse populations.  Within this context, the art therapist can often   contribute  to the recovery of the patient/client by  presenting pertinent information gathered in the art therapy process to the  treatment team and in some cases family members, social service agencies, and healthcare providers.

The program has a full-time director, assistant director, clinical coordinator,  and numerous adjunct faculty members. With a class of approximately 20 students, the faculty-student ratio is just about one to one.

Program components include:

• Advanced education in the theoretical and clinical foundations of art psychotherapy in an academic health sciences university
• Supervised adult, adolescent, and child clinical placements in psychiatric and medical units of local hospitals and other specialized treatment centers
• Extensive exposure to current psychological, developmental, psychotherapy, and art therapy theory and practice, with an emphasis on integrating nonverbal and verbal expression
• Direct integration with other creative arts therapies while helping each student develop a strong identity as a competent art therapist
• Research opportunities guided by a chosen multidisciplinary committee
• Experiential art making processes integrated with theoretical, clinical and self-exploratory learning.
• Studio art facilities and opportunities are available through an affiliation with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.