Art Therapy Personal Statement

I used to think finding art therapy meant I had found my calling, but this calling requires a deeper exploration. A career in art therapy looks very different depending upon the population, setting, and my role. To understand why I want to become an art therapist I need to fully understand my ideal art therapy career as well as any assumptions I am making about my career. I fantasized about how perfectly art therapy integrated my career goals with my ideal self. Through the art, I could finally capture and see my art therapy dream. My interest in trauma work has matured monumentally throughout this program both in classes and through my internships. It may seem redundant to then say I want to work in a mental health setting, but there are plenty of non-psychiatric settings for art therapists. I also greatly enjoy the supportive environment of an outpatient clinic and the holistic framework of working with facilitators who each provide a different therapeutic modality in individual sessions. While I do not dislike working with adults with mental illness, I feel

Creating my dream filled me with a feeling of precious sacredness. I embraced the wounded healer as a piece of my professional identity before I knew of the phenomenon. I created the Shaman's hand to capture my integral need for my wounding experiences to strengthen my therapeutic skills. The hands coming together depict the power of the therapeutic relationship and human connection. I added strength beads on both mine and the client's wrist to represent my ideal art therapy theoretical framework of client-centered and strength-based therapy. With the mandala, I invite the client to explore and express herself through the creative process. I believe humanity strives toward self-actualization and thriving. The background promotes both the unknown and known aspects that come into our work together and the interplay of those