Art therapy is simply the professional therapeutic ability to use artwork that has been done by individuals who desire personal development. This development has not been able to be achieved, due to trauma, personal crisis, illness, and certain challenges that have affected their life.
People of all ages use art therapy, done by a professional art therapist who has been trained extensively about the human development, artistic traditions in a multitude of cultures, psychological theories, and the healing abilities regarding the use of art. Services are provided to these individuals through art therapy because they cannot articulate through words, emotions, and feelings about their true state of mind.
The professional settings that participate with art therapy methods are mental health services, rehabilitation, medical institutions, education services, nursing homes, corporations, forensic agencies, community outreach, and independent practices.
Strict standards for art therapy have been established by the American Art Therapy Association, Inc. (AATA) and The Art Therapy Credentials Board, Inc. (ATCB). Some individual states regulate their own practices of art therapy, while other states allow art therapists to become licensed counselors or mental health therapists. These art therapists utilize art-based assessment instruments to determine their client's level of functioning. From this they are able to formulate a certain level of treatment objectives, decide what strengths and weaknesses their client has, gaining a better understanding of who their client is and the problems they have, and be able to evaluate their client's progress.
The Master level of training and education for an art therapist is mandatory, as ensuring the appropriate usage and application of drawing tests, evaluation of the instrument validity, and its reliability is extremely important to better serve the client. According to Donna J. Betts, Ph.D., ATR-BC, in her 2005 Doctoral Dissertation, some of the top art therapy tests that can be used are:
• Favorite Kind of Day (AFKOD)
• Person Picking an Apple from a Tree (PPAT)
• Bird’s Nest Drawing (BND)
• Bridge Drawing
• Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS)
• Child Diagnostic Drawing Series (CDDS)
Rating instruments are also investigated, which can include:
• Descriptive Assessment of Psychiatric Art (DAPA)
• DDS Rating Guide and Drawing Analysis Form (DAF)
• Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS).
These are just a few of the art therapy assessment tools that can be used by art therapists, in clinical settings or in research. Each art therapy tool is a structured assessment that are collected under standardized conditions. Most are developed to provide a compatibility with psychological testing and psychiatric evaluations:
• Art Therapy-Projective Imagery Assessment (ATPIA)
• Draw-A-Story Screening for Depression (DAS)
• Used to identify children and adolescents at risk for harming others or themselves.
• Through the artwork, it can be seen that significant differences will emerge between aggressive and non-aggressive groups in its emotional content.
Clip art has quickly become an acceptable usage for sound concepts, high-quality illustrations, and the quality of its execution. It has to say what is wanted and how it needs to be represented--immediately. Massage therapy clip art represents a new field of healing and stress reduction, with the massage practitioners using it to promote their business. Business people are not usually professional artists, but they need to grab the attention of prospective clients into the massage area.
The massage therapist needs to inform the public they are knowledgeable about their profession, what type of skill level they have, and inform the general public of their accessibility. Using quality massage therapy clip art along with quality educational and advertising programs can do just that, if it is done properly. Well-conceived and carefully implemented marketing devices have the potential to help a business grow.
The average person who goes to a massage therapist for medical benefits or even relaxation purposes, do not realize that they can specialize in over 80 different types of massages. And that massage can last as long as two hours on down to five or 10 minutes, depending on the needs of the client. Massage therapy clip art needs to represent this in a simplest of ways, with the most quality and accuracy as possible without imitating similar products and services. And actually, the only difference in marketing methods is the method used to win over a new client.
In order to achieve a qualified response from a prospective massage client, using words with power and unique phrases are good, but used in combination with massage therapy clip art is better than good--it is excellent. People do not pick up an ad and say, "Hmmm…I wonder what this says?" But they do respond immediately to some form of artwork, whether it is an illustration, photograph, or graphic design. And this will depend on the targeted marketing field.
Those with limited imagination will use mediocre sales gimmicks, using bold and large brightly colored letters to "slam" the mind with force--making a person READ their ad. This type of ad is used through un-requested pop-up Internet ads, Spam mail, or whatever can forcibly be used to an unsuspecting audience in a mass scale. But a quality ad with massage therapy clip art pertaining only to the message, can also be an extremely forceful ad.
Unfortunately, not everyone in the newly developing massage field has competitive advantages. Instant profits can only be successfully achieve if they are marketed accurately and with style, with that style representing the general mass or a targeted audience. An ad for massage therapy would not be received well by someone who is campaigning against different natural health fields. But it can be received well by those already in the natural field, or by a high stress industry that is seeking ways to reduce stress in its business. Using massage therapy clip art and the power of quality words toward a particular target are an art field in itself, achieving success on many levels.
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