This book is a compilation of the author's essays concerning the integration of the creative arts therapy disciplines (art, dance, drama, music, and poetry) into one larger organization representing their clinical, scholarly, and public policy activities. This is a book about rites of passage, about naivete and maturity, about growing up. It is about poetics and politics, about the tremendous potential to contribute to the public welfare and the deep fears of collaboration and dialogue. Throughout this book, the author takes the position that joining together clinically, academically, and organizationally will be beneficial to the health of the field as well as that of its clients; that the various disciplines are divided only by the nature of the different artistic media, not by fundamental theoretical or political agendas. These various essays offer personal meditation, polemical argument, practical advice, serious theorizing, and some comic relief. Throughout, you will sense the author's struggle to express simultaneously his love for and impatience with this, his dear profession, being too quietly born.

Creative Arts Therapy Careers is a collection of essays written by and interviews with registered drama therapists, dance/movement therapists, music therapists, art therapists, poetry therapists, and expressive arts therapists. The book sheds light on the fascinating yet little-known field of the creative arts therapies – psychotherapy approaches which allow clients to use creativity and artistic expression to explore their lives, solve their problems, make meaning, and heal from their traumas. Featuring stories of educators in each of the six fields and at different stages of their career, it outlines the steps one needs to take in order to find training in one of the creative arts therapies and explores the healing aspects of the arts, where creative arts therapists work, who they work with, and how they use the arts in therapy. Contributors to this book provide a wealth of practical information, including ways to find opportunities to work with at-risk populations in order to gain experience with the arts as healing tools; choosing the right graduate school for further study; the difference between registration, certification, and licensure; and the differences between a career in a medical, mental health, educational, correctional, or service institution. This book illuminates creative arts therapy career possibilities for undergraduate and graduate students studying acting, directing, playwriting, creative writing, visual arts, theatre design, dance, and music. It is also an excellent resource for instructors offering a course to prepare arts students of all kinds for the professional world.

Case studies and perspectives from around the globe illustrate examples of effective collaborations between clinical creative arts therapists and arts in health practitioners. Reaching beyond silos, these professionals can collaborate to deliver inspirational practice in a variety of settings. Leading experts explain how they have pioneered arts-based practice, developed successful partnerships and overcome difficulties in fostering relationships to offer better support and increase access to their services by the public. Discussions surrounding policy, funding and international initiatives towards integration offer a timely call to action. By working together, we reach collective goals of positively impacting clients' mental health, wellbeing and quality of life through the arts.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1. A short story of art therapy practice in the United States / P. St. John. 2. The theory and practice of Jungian art therapy / H. Mazloomian. 3. The assessment attitude / A. Mills. 4. Individual art therapy with resistant adolescents / S. Boyes. 5. Art therapy within an interdisciplinary framework: working with aphasia and communication science disorders / E. G. Horovitz. 6. The history of play therapy / M. D. Barnes. 7. Theoretical perspectives of play therapy / J. A. Thomas-Acker and S. S. Sloan. 8. Combining play and cognitive interventions in the treatment of attachment disordered children / K. O'Connor. 9. Play therapy assessments / C. E. Myers. 10. Expressive therapies with grieving children / H. R. Glazer. 11. Moving with meaning: the historical progression of dance/movement therapy / L. D. Nemetz. 12. Theoretical perspectives in D/MT: visions for the future / S. C. Koch. 13. The Kestenberg movement profile / S. C. Hastie. 14. Assessment in dance/movement therapy / R. F. Cruz. 15. In-schol dance/movement therapy for traumatized children / R. Kornblum and R. L. Halsten. 16. Meditation and movement therapy for children with traumatic stress reactions / D. A. O'Donnell. 17. The history of music therapy / J. Bradt. 18. Music therapy theoretical approaches / A. M. LaVerdiere. 19. A mosaic of music therapy assessments / E. B. Miller. 20. Empowering women survivors of childhood sexual abuse: a collaborative music therapy - social work approach / S. L. Curtis and G. C. T. Harrison. 21. Music therapy with inner city, at-risk children: from the literal to the symbolic / V. A. Camilleri. 22. Ancient and modern roots of drama therapy / S. Bailey. 23. Drama therapy theoretical perspectives / Y. Silverman. 24. The use of role-play as an assessment instrument / T. Rubenstein. 25. Dramatherapy and refugee youth / Y. Rana. 26. Psychodrama still growing and evolving after all these years / K. Carnabucci. 27. Poetry, the healing pen / M. Alschuler. 28. The therapeutic value of poetry / N. Leedy. 29. Creative connections / M. P. Hand. 30. Ethical delivery of creative therapeutic approaches / K. Larson.

Creative Arts Therapy Careers is a collection of essays written by and interviews with registered drama therapists, dance/movement therapists, music therapists, art therapists, poetry therapists, and expressive arts therapists. The book sheds light on the fascinating yet little-known field of the creative arts therapies – psychotherapy approaches which allow clients to use creativity and artistic expression to explore their lives, solve their problems, make meaning, and heal from their traumas. Featuring stories of educators in each of the six fields and at different stages of their career, it outlines the steps one needs to take in order to find training in one of the creative arts therapies and explores the healing aspects of the arts, where creative arts therapists work, who they work with, and how they use the arts in therapy. Contributors to this book provide a wealth of practical information, including ways to find opportunities to work with at-risk populations in order to gain experience with the arts as healing tools; choosing the right graduate school for further study; the difference between registration, certification, and licensure; and the differences between a career in a medical, mental health, educational, correctional, or service institution. This book illuminates creative arts therapy career possibilities for undergraduate and graduate students studying acting, directing, playwriting, creative writing, visual arts, theatre design, dance, and music. It is also an excellent resource for instructors offering a course to prepare arts students of all kinds for the professional world.

The field of expressive arts is closely tied to the work of therapeutic change. As well as being beneficial for the individual or small group, expressive arts therapy has the potential for a much wider impact, to inspire social action and bring about social change. The book's contributors explore the transformative power of the arts therapies in areas stricken by conflict, political unrest, poverty or natural disaster and discuss how and why expressive arts works. They look at the ways it can be used to engage community consciousness and improve social conditions whilst taking into account the issues that arise within different contexts and populations. Leading expressive arts therapy practitioners give inspiring accounts of their work, from using poetry as a tool in trauma intervention with Iraqi survivors of war and torture, to setting up storytelling workshops to aid the integration of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants in Israel. Offering visionary perspectives on the role of the arts in inspiring change at the community or social level, this is essential reading for students and practitioners of creative and expressive arts therapies, as well as psychotherapists, counsellors, artists and others working to effect social change.