Day 17 - Mobilizing an Expressive Arts Therapy community, pt. 1

 Day 17 – For the past several days I’ve been working on an article about the “professionalization” of Expressive Arts Therapy.  What a squirrely project!!  But perhaps a project many years in the making!  I have been plagued by the question of how to mobilize an expressive arts therapy community, AND what it means to be a separate and unique “profession” for nearly 20 years now.

Last year I stepped down from the position of “coordinator” of the expressive arts therapy specialization track at Lesley.  It’s a position I have held since 2003 (with one interruption to be the interim music therapy specialization coordinator from 2010-2012).  During those 17 years I was a bit obsessed with the idea of building a community.  How could we encourage our students and alums to come together and support one another professionally?  How could we help our students and alums to maintain an identity as an expressive arts therapist?  What connection did our students and alums have to our professional organization – the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA)? 

 

In 2008, Mitchell Kossak and I served as co-chairs of the Conference Committee of IEATA and brought the biennial conference to Lesley University - Expressive Arts in Social Action: Peace-ing Our World Together. This was certainly an opportunity to bring our professional organization and the University together.  Both Mitchell and I served on committees for the organization for many years, and Mitchell even served as the Executive Co-Chair for IEATA several years during a time of difficult transitions to the board.

 

My service on the IEATA board was made up of involvement in several committees and spanned nearly 20 years:

Chair, Membership Committee                                                                           2010–2018

Co-Chair, Conference Committee                                                                       2007–2009   

Editor, IEATA Newsletter                                                                                     2004–2007                  

Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Spring 2007

Co-Chair, Publications Committee                                                                      2004–2007

Co-Chair, Educational Resources Committee                                                       2002–2004

Member, Publications Committee                                                                         1997–2004

 

During that time, I felt much closer to the mission of creating an expressive arts community.  Since stepping down I have felt as though I don’t really have a pulse on the organization or its workings.  I was honored to receive the Shining Star award this past January during the organization’s first fully on-line conference.

 

All of this is by way of saying I believe the organization plays an important in helping to “professionalize” the field of expressive arts therapy, and in helping to create a community of expressive arts therapists.  I hope to speak about some of the challenges to this in the next post.