January 12, 2018

What are creative arts therapies? As a part of introducing the clinical creative arts therapies practice at Parkway Health and Wellness (PHW), it is important to start with what we are not: We are not scarf throwing, paint splashing, let-it-all-out drum-circling free spirits. We also do not provide coloring book activities or dance or music classes. We are educated professional masters and doctoral level psychotherapists and counselors who are also artists, musicians and dancers. The National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations, Inc. identifies that “Creative Arts Therapists are human service professionals who use arts modalities and creative processes for the purpose of ameliorating disability and illness and optimizing health and wellness.

Creative arts therapists work from a variety of theoretical frameworks to support clients’ kinesthetic, sensory, affective, perceptual, cognitive and symbolic growth. These components are necessary to help individuals gain personal insight, problem solve, shift perspective, develop and maintain healthy interpersonal relationships, effectively manage change and experience an overall sense of well-being, just to name a few. Our clinical team is currently represented by two art therapists, a dance movement therapist, two music therapists and creative art therapies PhD students. As credentialed creative arts therapists, our mission is to provide treatment utilizing the healing power of the arts within the safety of a therapeutic relationship. We honor the diversity of our clients’ cultures, abilities and values. We strive to be a creative arts therapies resource for our clients and local community through therapy, outreach, education and advocacy.

We are currently serving individuals who experience:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Eating disorders
• Poor body image 
• Dissociation
• Trauma
• Foster care transition
• ADD/ADHD
• Self-injury
• Brain injury
• Schizophrenia
• And those on ASD spectrum

Personal accounts from clients attending either art, music or dance movement therapy at PHW include the appreciation of finding an alternative way to express thoughts and feelings that are often difficult to put into words. Just as a dreamer once said to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, “I can draw it, but I don’t know how to say it.”

From 2016-17 over 570 visits were made to the Creative Arts Therapies program at Parkway Health and Wellness (PHW). Our reach into the community has been growing thanks to the work of our dedicated clinical team.

For more information about our creative arts therapies services at PHW, please contact CATappts@drexel.edu or Michele Rattigan, creative arts therapies clinical coordinator at mdr33@drexel.edu.

Written by Michele Rattigan, MA, ATR-BC, NCC, LPC
Assistat Clinical Professor
Creative Arts Therapies Clinical Coordinator