Thank you for sharing your experience. It's been hard to find real and honest answers on what life is like for Art Therapists and the struggles of the career. Appreciate you!
thank you for sharing your experience, i am about to graduate from undergrad with an art therapy degree and your experience is helping me shift the way i want to contribute with art therapy to the world
Thank you for sharing your story. No matter what people may say, your journey is NOT their journey. I would rather hear about the struggles within the field from someone who is honest and straight forward, then from someone who wants to protect my feelings and paint a beautiful picture that is a lie. IMHO you did the world a justice. My best advice is to see how long it will take to upgrade your license to an LPC/MFT or respecialize so you can apply to get on the insurance panels. (Added) You may want to visit activities director at a nursing facility. It does not take long to qualify and you can upgrade the license from activity director to activity consultant which is the highest license you can get in that field. It pay s the bills until you get more clientele.
Luckily, the school prepared me for an lpc in CT but because the school wasn't CACREP certified, (but is now), I attended more school to get my lcmhc and lmhc in other states. I did work at a retirement home as a rec therapist in New London county while I was starting private practice and it was so toxic. They refused to let me come in late on Sundays so I could attend church and they found bizarre reasons to let me go like I didn't help the nurses find a piece of a wheel chair. It was not my department and I didn't think I could even find a place the nurses hadn't looked. One of my internship supervisors was a purist so even being a rehab therapy assistant in a psych hospital was bad for art therapists, according to her, because art therapists, rec therapists and rehab therapists were very different and didn't and shouldn't have each other's titles. She even gave me an article to support her beliefs. I learned from her about 12 years ago. I heard from her about maybe 5 years ago and she might have burnt out with hospital work and headed back to private practice. Private practice is where it's at for me, though. 😊 I'm good.
Thank you for sharing your experience. As clinicians and advocates, we should all be compassionate about each others experiences. I mean, that's what we do!
Highly appreciate your video, and your voice in giving us the information on the after graduation practice and work environment which sounds quite not fairly good to the efforts and education and courses requirements to become one interested in the major?!
Thanks so much. This was very helpful for me. I am currently doing my Masters in MFT and considering art therapy but not sure if it is worth the hassle. I might wind up doing Play Therapy.
So true. I am in Australia did my diploma in Art therapy and counselling the same time about 9 years ago. I do counseling privately and use art in my sessions but we were told it will never be like in class where we went deep. Also have to work for myself as no one hires us unless we have masters degree but even then it is hard. I do enjoy the processes and by now I makeup my own on the spot for the client takes us deep into the process.
Even though Connecticut law now would let me say the name, I don't feel comfortable saying the name. The people and the program have changed significantly so my experience is not even close to what the experience is now.
I graduated BA in psychology and art therapy is such a dream....but due to the hardships I just can't imagine finding myself with no job, I've been considering shifting to social work, altho similar salary wages, but it's more recognized and has more job opportunities. Can anyone here relate to that and did this shift?
That's a valid question. From my stance as someone in the field but not as an LCSW, I think there are more opportunities but you might want to check on some videos or ask around. I think occupational therapy also has more opportunities as well. And you can always add aspects of art to your practice.
do you want a job or career? you have to be independent in your learning and proactive in your choices to have a career. if you want a job, sure it is limited.
I don't know all state laws fully. You can ask the lmhc board in your state. Some states have license protection for art therapy so you can't call yourself an art therapist but that you use art or something to the effect. If your state has lmhc and art therapy credentials, yes, that would be easier to be on insurance panels if you want to accept insurance. Credentials are not always offered. Sometimes courses are offered as ceus. This, of course, only the opinion of one art therapist offering some guidance. You can always ask multiple people and then decide for yourself since this is about your career, finances, direction in life and no one else would really truly know what's best for you and your situation in your state.
The program I’m looking at now would allow me to become a licensed LPC and Art Therapist at the same time. Would this be a better alternative? Thank you
It's a great income in most of the country but not great in NYC where they want you to make $150,000 to move into some of the places. But if someone had to take out $60,000 in loans, the grad school percentage rate is set at 6.5% apr and one would have to pay back $120,000 or more by the end of the 20 year loan or more, if it's income based.
@@VanessaLoveCounselor This is something you think of when you're a mature adult in your 30's and 40's. This isn't something teenagers and young people in their 20's want to think about. I know because I work with youngsters at college, plus do private teaching to high schoolers. The reality is unless people really think rationally about their future job prospects, your comments from this video won't affect them in any meaningful way. I've tried repeatedly to talk about careers and jobs to my students, and most just want to ignore thinking about it until they graduate. Then when they graduate they either get some random job or immediately start a master's in the field just as a way to avoid getting a job or to avoid seriously thinking about a career. Then they end up in a career simply because they have the degrees and are upset at the salary vs expenses reality. It's not like there was no discussion about it, but it goes 2 ways usually with students from humanities and social sciences: 1. money is not important, I just want to do what I like bla bla OR 2. I'm too young to think about this right now, I'll see after I graduate my undergraduate program or my graduate program. I can bet you were told about the potential earnings of people working in your field, you just never checked what that meant in terms of actually living on that paycheck.
Oh, that's great that you talk to your students. In my situation, none of that was talked about. There was nothing in the loan about how much you'd have to make in order to pay it back. There was no talk about job market, only that of marketing yourself with hands on experience so not even giving us words to get in the door, there was no talk of how loans would get in the way of home ownership. They didn't prepare us. One of my professors has been, imo, using academics and going for her doctorate to avoid going back to private practice so that might have influenced how she taught us about our future careers. But no, there was no information about that. They didnt even teach how to be in private practice even though there are at least two group practices that came out of my small graduating class. Those students were able to consult sometimes with people at the school. I wasn't one of those fortunate students. I think with psychology and art therapy the FACT that our Ethics say that we CANNOT be paid for our internships, Even if we're expected to do that internship for 40 Hours a week HIGHLY contributes to No graduate KNOWING their true worth. We're almost encouraged to live with others, scrape by and expect less than, UNLESS we already have rich families.
@@VanessaLoveCounselor Yes, that really is the problem. Students go to college with barely any knowledge about real life finances and in your country they take these huge loans for degrees that will never help them make enough money to pay the loans back AND live a comfortable middle class lifestyle. In my country (Romania) education is free if you qualify for state payed places, that's at least one good aspect. There are also some private places where you pay the tax, but they are cheap compared to the Western countries where education is private- around 1-2 average salaries in the big cities. Psychology is the most in demand degree right now; it has been for the past 3-4 years and the market is oversaturated. If you want my opinion, I think many adults themselves are not very financially savy, hence incapable of teaching high schoolers and college students about this. After graduating, it takes a few years for students to realize how life works and the younger generation ignores older graduates' testimonities because many of those who do psychology see money as "bad", therefore they only see the discussion as black and white. They think people who talk about money want to get rich and don't get that graduates who are unhappy are actually pointing out that it's not about getting rich, but about not being able to live a middle class lifestyle. Also, your finances depend on your context. Each person needs to do their own research regarding what type of lifestyle they want and how much money they need to be able to afford it. They should do this around 18-19 years old. It depends on region often times as expenses such as rent, food, schooling for future kids, price of houses to buy etc. differ from one city to another. Unfortunately, the truth is no younger person wants to talk in detail about these issues or cares about researching them on their own because they are boring. They also don't actively think about them because their parents pay for their expenses and they take this for granted. Each person wants something else; while someone is ok with not owning their own house, doesn't want kids, doesn't need an expensive car or a car at all etc., others start wanting these as they become older, usually in their 30's. Another issue is that many of those doing humanities and social sciences can end up being freelancers and setting up what I see as their own small business because legally they usually have to create some type of business entitity such as a PLC to be able to legally take money from clients, be them individuals or other companies (they rarely hire you; you are mostly a collaborator)... But there is huge resistance to seeing a therapy office, for example, as a small business. The same with being a translator, for example... There is no class or discussion at college about the legal aspects of making money in these fields and people are shocked when they realize they need to handle their finances like a small business would.
Everything is still the same- expensive license, not accepted by many insurances, doing better with other license I was additionally able to get, education was in toxic environment.
I'm psychologist in Iran I have worked out in animation since 4 years I wanna immigrate to Canada but i have to getting degree of art psychology because i don't like psychology then I will continue animation why world is like this you have to say lie to other for one reason for having best life
Thank you for sharing your experience. It's been hard to find real and honest answers on what life is like for Art Therapists and the struggles of the career. Appreciate you!
Thank you so much for your honesty and courage in sharing your experience. Your feedback is very much appreciated 🙏
thank you for sharing your experience, i am about to graduate from undergrad with an art therapy degree and your experience is helping me shift the way i want to contribute with art therapy to the world
if you could go back and choose a new direction, what would you decide to be instead of an art therapist?
I really appreciate your honesty .
And it’s really helpful to have different perspectives to consider .
I just found this video! Thanks for sharing so much. I’m looking into this education and I really value your input.
Thank you for sharing your story. No matter what people may say, your journey is NOT their journey. I would rather hear about the struggles within the field from someone who is honest and straight forward, then from someone who wants to protect my feelings and paint a beautiful picture that is a lie. IMHO you did the world a justice. My best advice is to see how long it will take to upgrade your license to an LPC/MFT or respecialize so you can apply to get on the insurance panels. (Added) You may want to visit activities director at a nursing facility. It does not take long to qualify and you can upgrade the license from activity director to activity consultant which is the highest license you can get in that field. It pay s the bills until you get more clientele.
Luckily, the school prepared me for an lpc in CT but because the school wasn't CACREP certified, (but is now), I attended more school to get my lcmhc and lmhc in other states. I did work at a retirement home as a rec therapist in New London county while I was starting private practice and it was so toxic. They refused to let me come in late on Sundays so I could attend church and they found bizarre reasons to let me go like I didn't help the nurses find a piece of a wheel chair. It was not my department and I didn't think I could even find a place the nurses hadn't looked.
One of my internship supervisors was a purist so even being a rehab therapy assistant in a psych hospital was bad for art therapists, according to her, because art therapists, rec therapists and rehab therapists were very different and didn't and shouldn't have each other's titles. She even gave me an article to support her beliefs. I learned from her about 12 years ago. I heard from her about maybe 5 years ago and she might have burnt out with hospital work and headed back to private practice.
Private practice is where it's at for me, though. 😊 I'm good.
Thank you for sharing your experience. As clinicians and advocates, we should all be compassionate about each others experiences. I mean, that's what we do!
Highly appreciate your video, and your voice in giving us the information on the after graduation practice and work environment which sounds quite not fairly good to the efforts and education and courses requirements to become one interested in the major?!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE !
Thanks so much. This was very helpful for me. I am currently doing my Masters in MFT and considering art therapy but not sure if it is worth the hassle. I might wind up doing Play Therapy.
So true. I am in Australia did my diploma in Art therapy and counselling the same time about 9 years ago. I do counseling privately and use art in my sessions but we were told it will never be like in class where we went deep. Also have to work for myself as no one hires us unless we have masters degree but even then it is hard. I do enjoy the processes and by now I makeup my own on the spot for the client takes us deep into the process.
Can you please mention the name of the academic institution you had that experience with/at? Thanks!
Even though Connecticut law now would let me say the name, I don't feel comfortable saying the name. The people and the program have changed significantly so my experience is not even close to what the experience is now.
Great honesty! 😊 I appreciate it! 🙏 ❤️
I graduated BA in psychology and art therapy is such a dream....but due to the hardships I just can't imagine finding myself with no job, I've been considering shifting to social work, altho similar salary wages, but it's more recognized and has more job opportunities. Can anyone here relate to that and did this shift?
That's a valid question. From my stance as someone in the field but not as an LCSW, I think there are more opportunities but you might want to check on some videos or ask around.
I think occupational therapy also has more opportunities as well.
And you can always add aspects of art to your practice.
do you want a job or career? you have to be independent in your learning and proactive in your choices to have a career. if you want a job, sure it is limited.
Makes no sense
Thank you for sharing your experience. I never watched the video.
2018 was 6 years ago.. I feel old.
I’m just wondering are you still an art therapist to this day? Or have you changed fields
I'm a licensed counselor who has formal training in art therapy. I do art therapy ocassionally but it's not my main thing.
Would you say becoming a LMHC and then getting extra art therapy credentials would be a way to have private practice but be on multiple insurances?
I don't know all state laws fully. You can ask the lmhc board in your state. Some states have license protection for art therapy so you can't call yourself an art therapist but that you use art or something to the effect.
If your state has lmhc and art therapy credentials, yes, that would be easier to be on insurance panels if you want to accept insurance. Credentials are not always offered. Sometimes courses are offered as ceus.
This, of course, only the opinion of one art therapist offering some guidance. You can always ask multiple people and then decide for yourself since this is about your career, finances, direction in life and no one else would really truly know what's best for you and your situation in your state.
The program I’m looking at now would allow me to become a licensed LPC and Art Therapist at the same time. Would this be a better alternative? Thank you
It's what I did but everyone is different and I can't say for sure if it's the best option as I don't know the details of your particular situation.
I’m looking for this too which college offers this?
I’m a 40 yr old single mom at 10$ per hour. 40k would be wonderful.
It's a great income in most of the country but not great in NYC where they want you to make $150,000 to move into some of the places. But if someone had to take out $60,000 in loans, the grad school percentage rate is set at 6.5% apr and one would have to pay back $120,000 or more by the end of the 20 year loan or more, if it's income based.
@@VanessaLoveCounselor This is something you think of when you're a mature adult in your 30's and 40's. This isn't something teenagers and young people in their 20's want to think about. I know because I work with youngsters at college, plus do private teaching to high schoolers. The reality is unless people really think rationally about their future job prospects, your comments from this video won't affect them in any meaningful way.
I've tried repeatedly to talk about careers and jobs to my students, and most just want to ignore thinking about it until they graduate. Then when they graduate they either get some random job or immediately start a master's in the field just as a way to avoid getting a job or to avoid seriously thinking about a career. Then they end up in a career simply because they have the degrees and are upset at the salary vs expenses reality.
It's not like there was no discussion about it, but it goes 2 ways usually with students from humanities and social sciences: 1. money is not important, I just want to do what I like bla bla OR 2. I'm too young to think about this right now, I'll see after I graduate my undergraduate program or my graduate program. I can bet you were told about the potential earnings of people working in your field, you just never checked what that meant in terms of actually living on that paycheck.
Oh, that's great that you talk to your students.
In my situation, none of that was talked about. There was nothing in the loan about how much you'd have to make in order to pay it back. There was no talk about job market, only that of marketing yourself with hands on experience so not even giving us words to get in the door, there was no talk of how loans would get in the way of home ownership. They didn't prepare us. One of my professors has been, imo, using academics and going for her doctorate to avoid going back to private practice so that might have influenced how she taught us about our future careers. But no, there was no information about that. They didnt even teach how to be in private practice even though there are at least two group practices that came out of my small graduating class. Those students were able to consult sometimes with people at the school. I wasn't one of those fortunate students.
I think with psychology and art therapy the FACT that our Ethics say that we CANNOT be paid for our internships, Even if we're expected to do that internship for 40 Hours a week HIGHLY contributes to No graduate KNOWING their true worth. We're almost encouraged to live with others, scrape by and expect less than, UNLESS we already have rich families.
@@VanessaLoveCounselor Yes, that really is the problem. Students go to college with barely any knowledge about real life finances and in your country they take these huge loans for degrees that will never help them make enough money to pay the loans back AND live a comfortable middle class lifestyle.
In my country (Romania) education is free if you qualify for state payed places, that's at least one good aspect. There are also some private places where you pay the tax, but they are cheap compared to the Western countries where education is private- around 1-2 average salaries in the big cities. Psychology is the most in demand degree right now; it has been for the past 3-4 years and the market is oversaturated.
If you want my opinion, I think many adults themselves are not very financially savy, hence incapable of teaching high schoolers and college students about this. After graduating, it takes a few years for students to realize how life works and the younger generation ignores older graduates' testimonities because many of those who do psychology see money as "bad", therefore they only see the discussion as black and white. They think people who talk about money want to get rich and don't get that graduates who are unhappy are actually pointing out that it's not about getting rich, but about not being able to live a middle class lifestyle.
Also, your finances depend on your context. Each person needs to do their own research regarding what type of lifestyle they want and how much money they need to be able to afford it. They should do this around 18-19 years old. It depends on region often times as expenses such as rent, food, schooling for future kids, price of houses to buy etc. differ from one city to another.
Unfortunately, the truth is no younger person wants to talk in detail about these issues or cares about researching them on their own because they are boring. They also don't actively think about them because their parents pay for their expenses and they take this for granted.
Each person wants something else; while someone is ok with not owning their own house, doesn't want kids, doesn't need an expensive car or a car at all etc., others start wanting these as they become older, usually in their 30's.
Another issue is that many of those doing humanities and social sciences can end up being freelancers and setting up what I see as their own small business because legally they usually have to create some type of business entitity such as a PLC to be able to legally take money from clients, be them individuals or other companies (they rarely hire you; you are mostly a collaborator)... But there is huge resistance to seeing a therapy office, for example, as a small business. The same with being a translator, for example...
There is no class or discussion at college about the legal aspects of making money in these fields and people are shocked when they realize they need to handle their finances like a small business would.
Update?
Everything is still the same- expensive license, not accepted by many insurances, doing better with other license I was additionally able to get, education was in toxic environment.
I'm psychologist in Iran I have worked out in animation since 4 years I wanna immigrate to Canada but i have to getting degree of art psychology because i don't like psychology then I will continue animation why world is like this you have to say lie to other for one reason for having best life
Done
Your 'Things' FIRST