Kathryn discovers art therapy!
They sit, in a grey office, looking at test papers. Outside are more offices, grey and boxlike.
"So, what would you like to be when you leave school?"asks the careers guidance counsellor, in her lilting Canadian accent.
"Well, I'd like to do something that helps people, changes the world and uses art"...replied the teenage Sydney school girl, thinking this must be an impossible ask. She looks glumly at the floor.
Her mother, sitting attentively nearby, rolls her eyes in exasperation.
The careers counsellor smiles, gazes out the window as if seeing some beautiful view in the distance, then looks at both mother and daughter, both waiting in suspense.
"Art therapy includes art, people and changing the world. I think you'd love it!"
This was how I heard about art therapy, way back in my teens.
Unfortunately art therapy only existed in Britain, Canada and the USA back in those days, so I studied Arts/Social Work, a combined degree, hoping to integrate art as therapy into my practise.
Later in life, after returning to Australia after many years living overseas, I did get to study and qualify as an art therapist in Australia.
Art therapy, like social work, is a very wide field. It can empower oppressed people to have a voice and no longer be invisible. It can help to build people's capacity to cope in everyday life. Art therapy is also useful for recovery from trauma. Some people see art therapy as enabling healing through creativity, however you don't need to be an artist to benefit from art therapy, as the art therapist is able to help you to express yourself using art media and empathic discussion.