Although creative arts therapies have been around for decades, many people are not very familiar with them. This article provides an overview about each of the six creative arts therapies.
Creative arts therapies is an umbrella term
“Creative arts therapies” is the umbrella term for the six therapies identified by the National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations (NCCATA, founded in 1979). These therapies are art therapy, dance/movement therapy, drama therapy, music therapy, poetry therapy, and psychodrama. Each type mixes talk therapy with its particular art modality. They will be referred to as CATs for the remainder of this article.
NCCATA describes creative arts therapists as “human service professionals who use arts modalities and creative processes for the purpose of ameliorating disability and illness and optimizing health and wellness. Treatment outcomes include, for example, improving communication and expression, and increasing physical, emotional, cognitive, and/or social functioning.” (NCCATA website, 2018)
Art therapy
• National organization: American Art Therapy Association, established in 1969
• Definition: “Art therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship” (AATA website, 2018)
• Credentials: Registered Art Therapist (ATR), Registered Art Therapist – Board Certified (ATR-BC)
• Requirements: a minimum of a Master’s degree in art therapy, 700 hours of supervised practicum, 1000 hours of paid clinical hours, and 100 hours of supervision
Dance/movement therapy
• National organization: American Dance Therapy Association, established in 1966
• Definition: “The psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of the individual” (ADTA website, 2018)
• Credentials: Registered Dance/Movement Therapist (R-DMT), Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT)
• Requirements: a minimum of a Master’s degree in dance therapy or a related mental health field, 200 hours of supervised fieldwork, 700 hours of practicum, and 70 hours of supervision
Drama therapy
• National organization: North American Drama Therapy Association, established in 1979
• Definition: “Drama therapy is the intentional use of drama and/or theater processes to achieve therapeutic goals” (NADTA website, 2018)
• Credentials: Registered Drama Therapist (RDT), Registered Drama Therapist / Board Certified Trainer (RDT/BCT)
• Requirements: a minimum of a Master’s degree in drama therapy or a related mental health field, 800 hours of supervised practicum, and 1000 hours of paid clinical hours
Music therapy
• National organization: American Music Therapy Association, established in 1971
• Definition: “Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program” (AMTA website, 2018)
• Credentials: Music Therapist – Board Certified (MT-BC)
• Requirements: a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree, exam, and 1,050 supervised practicum hours
Poetry therapy (aka Bibliotherapy)
• National organization: National Association of Poetry Therapy, established in 1980
• Definition: “Promoting growth and healing through language, symbol, and story” (NAPT website, 2018)
• Credentials: Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator (CAPF), Certified Poetry Therapist (CPT), and Registered Poetry Therapist (RPT)
• Requirements: a minimum of 440 hours of training and supervision, and a minimum of a Master’s degree in mental health to be a CPT or RPT
Psychodrama
• National organization: American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, established in 1942
• Definition: “Psychodrama employs guided dramatic action to examine problems and issues” (ASGPP website, 2018)
• Credentials: Certified Psychodramatist (CP), Practitioner-Applicant-for-Trainer (PAT), and Trainer, Educator, and Practitioner (TEP)
• Requirements: a minimum of a Master’s degree in a relevant field, 780 hours of training from certified psychodrama professionals, 52 weeks of experience, 40 hours of supervision, and passing written and on-site exams
You may be wondering how drama therapy and psychodrama differ since both involve the therapeutic use of drama. They are more similar than different, but there are sometimes differences regarding structure and use of metaphor. For more information about this, you can listen to me talk about their differences in a podcast interview I did.
Some important things to note about creative arts therapies
• All six are used with people of all ages. Many people assume that the CATs are only for children, but the CATs benefit people in all stages of life.
• All six are used in the same settings as talk therapy. This includes schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, outpatient mental health clinics, and private practice.
• All six have a code of ethics, and all but psychodrama have required continuing education credits that are submitted every 2-5 years.
• All six are evidence-based approaches with research foundations.
• There is a lot of overlap in the techniques used. For example, I as a drama therapist often use visual arts to lead into role play and storytelling, and my art therapist colleagues have often told me that they use role play and storytelling with clients after using visual art in sessions. However, it is part of our training to know when it is appropriate to refer a client to another creative arts therapist.
• There are several closely related fields, such as play therapy, sandtray/sandplay therapy, and horticulture therapy. Professionals from these fields and creative arts therapists often train in each other’s fields and overlap theories and techniques, but for the sake of time only the NCCATA six are focused on here. Also, it is important to note that the NCCATA six are not only modalities used in sessions but are distinct professions with their own Master’s programs, assessments, ethic codes, scope of practice, etc. For example, any trained therapist can use art in sessions with clients but cannot claim to be doing art therapy unless extensively trained in it.
• The term “expressive arts therapies” is often mistakenly interchanged with that of “creative arts therapies”. Expressive arts therapists are professionals that are trained in all six modalities, incorporate all of the modalities together in their work, and receive the credential of Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT). Certification as an REAT involves similar requirements as the aforementioned CATs but is more well-rounded in all six modalities.
• Master’s programs in the CATs tend to have most of the same courses as counseling programs in addition to providing background information about the creative modality. Poetry therapy and psychodrama are the only ones that do not have Master’s programs.
• Credentials/certification in the CATs is not the same as state licensure. Credentials are given by a national board and stay with an individual across state lines whereas licenses are state specific. This is a complicated issue that is ever changing. Some states have licenses for creative arts therapists, some allow them to be licensed as other mental health professionals (e.g. as social workers or professional counselors), and some states do not license them but allow them to practice legally with credentials. Thus, if you are interested in working with a therapist who has credentials but does not have a state license, keep in mind the following: they have met the rigorous standards above, they abide by a similar code of ethics to those of state licensing boards, and they are overseen by a national organization in the same way that a licensed professional is overseen by a state board. If you have any questions or concerns, I encourage you to ask the professional you are interested in working with about it or to contact their board for clarification.
• This information is accurate at the time of publication (2018) but may change.
• This information is specific to the United States of America. Although CATs exist in other countries, there are different boards that oversee them and some differences in training and certification.
Contact me
Feel free to comment below if you learned something new about the creative arts therapies or if you would like to share how they have helped you or someone you know.
You are welcome to contact me if you are in the Baltimore area and would like to try a creative way of doing therapy!
* This article originally appeared on the Psychology Arts website, which is no longer active.