Art Therapy: More Than Crafts, More Than “Just” Therapy

I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be an art therapist — and here’s what I know with clarity: what we do is enough.

Art therapy is sometimes misunderstood. People may think it’s “less than” counselling or psychology, or confuse it with guided arts-and-crafts sessions. And yet, art therapy is neither casual art-making nor a diluted form of psychotherapy. It is a profession with a unique depth and focus — one that stands alongside counselling, psychology, and other clinical disciplines as a powerful form of mental health support.

Research shows that art therapy can help improve mental health — with many studies reporting reductions in depression, anxiety, and distress, and improvements in coping and quality of life (Uttley et al., 2015). This means the work we do has measurable, clinical impact.

The hand that paints is not just making an image — it is reaching inward, touching memory, emotion, and meaning, inviting others to do the same.

Art Therapy Is a Profession

Art therapy is a clinically grounded mental health profession. We study psychology, psychotherapy, human development, and assessment, and we complete supervised clinical internships where we learn to hold safe, therapeutic space for people across the lifespan.

Art therapists are trained to work with trauma, grief, anxiety, and life transitions — integrating both image-making and dialogue to help people process, integrate, and grow. Our goal is to empower individuals along their healing journey, supporting emotional resilience and personal meaning-making.

And yes, art therapy is more than simply creating art alongside clients — we also conduct both quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate outcomes and demonstrate the effectiveness of our work. For example, a comprehensive review of randomised controlled trials showed that many art therapy groups produced statistically significant improvements in mental health symptoms compared to control conditions (Uttley et al., 2015).

Meta-analyses also report that creative arts therapies can produce large reductions in post-traumatic stress symptoms, highlighting the therapeutic power of non-verbal, symbolic processes in trauma treatment (Wang et al., 2025).

These findings reinforce that art therapy is not just a complementary activity — it is a profession that contributes to measurable clinical change.

An art therapist's room may resemble a studio, but the work is clinical – grounded in assessment, human development, psychotherapy and trauma-informed practice.

The Centrality of Art

The unique power of art therapy lies in its use of the creative process as the primary language of healing.

Our clients don’t just talk about their struggles — they make them visible. They move them, transform them, and relate to them differently through the act of creating. This is not incidental to the work. The art-making process is the work.

We don’t just hand someone paint — we use frameworks like the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC) to match interventions to where they are. The process is intentional. The ETC helps us assess whether a client needs a sensory experience, an emotional outlet, symbolic expression, or cognitive problem-solving, so we can select media and approaches that best support their needs (Hinz, 2009).

Our own art practice is not optional — it is essential. The more comfortable we are with creative exploration, the more confident we can be in trusting the process with our clients.

Art therapy is a clinical practice – where the creative process itself is the primary tool for psychological insight, emotional growth, and healing. The art therapist serves as a trained guide and witness, holding a safe space for this transformation to unfold.

On Further Study

Like many professionals, I’ve explored additional training in counselling and psychology. These programs have expanded my knowledge and opened new perspectives. But I’ve noticed this: the more I add, the easier it is to drift away from the heart of my profession.

Art therapy is not just psychotherapy with pictures. It is its own way of knowing, its own method of transformation. For me, the commitment is clear: if I pursue further education, it must strengthen — not dilute — my ability to center art in the work.

To center art in my work, I keep returning to the materials — feeling them with my own hands, exploring different media — so I can stay present and open as I guide others in their creative process.

A Call to Fellow Art Therapists

If you are dual-trained — as a counsellor, psychologist, educator, or social worker — this is a reminder that art therapy has its own integrity.

• Keep art at the center.

• Let images lead when words fall short.

• Trust the slow, symbolic, and often surprising process that art invites.

And here’s a question for you — when was the last time you made art just for yourself, to reconnect with your own inner world?

We are not facilitators of entertainment or leisure activities — we are clinicians who harness creativity as a tool for insight, regulation, and repair.

As art therapists, our own creative practice is not optional – it is part of our clinical integrity and growth. Professional development includes staying rooted in our own art-making – it keeps our work authentic and alive.

Choosing to Stay the Course

I am committed to strengthening my skills as an art therapist, deepening my own creative practice, and continuing to advocate for this profession.

Art therapy may not always have the loudest voice in mental health conversations — but it speaks a language that reaches beyond words. And when someone’s story, grief, or hope takes shape on paper in front of them, when they see it, touch it, and begin to transform it — that is profoundly therapeutic.

“Art therapy is conceived primarily as a means of supporting the ego … the art-making process is a powerful aid in sorting out and mastering experience.” — Edith Kramer

Edith Kramer (1916 - 2014). Neighborhood Landscape with Horse. . [Oil on Board]. Henning Fine Art. http://www.henningfineart.com/inventory-page-7/edith-kramer-1916-2014

References

Hinz, L. D. (2009). Expressive therapies continuum: A framework for using art in therapy. Routledge.

Uttley, L., Scope, A., Stevenson, M., Rawdin, A., Taylor Buck, E., Sutton, A., & Wood, C. (2015). Systematic review and economic modelling of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of art therapy among people with non-psychotic mental health disorders. Health Technology Assessment, 19(18). NIHR Journals Library. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279641/

Wang, J., Zhang, B., Yahaya, R., Abdullah, A. B., et al. (2025). Colors of the mind: A meta-analysis of creative arts therapy as an approach for post-traumatic stress disorder intervention. BMC Psychology, 13, Article 32. https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-025-02361-4