art therapy

The Creative Psychotherapist Podcast: Social Media Tips and Strategies for Therapists

Posted on August 6, 2021 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

This week, The Creative Clinician’s Corner published this podcast, a conversation with host and art therapist Reina Lombardi and The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media author Gretchen Miller about social media tips and considerations for therapists!

Some of the topics discussed:

Social media sharing strategies
Privacy awareness and content management
Ways to create and strengthen a professional digital presence online
Digital footprint and online legacy considerations

Attention to centering our online presence and activity to align with our professional passions, strengths, and values informs a lot of the conversation.

Thank you to The Creative Psychotherapist podcast for highlighting the power of social media to amplify our work as clinicians professionally, ethically, and creatively!

Listen here: https://www.creativeclinicianscorner.com/episode51

Building Online Creative Communities in the Time of COVID-19

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

Earlier in this month, a special report was published by Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association that provides protocols art therapists can enact during this time of COVID-19 to support public health psychosocial guidelines informed by the Ebola & SARS epidemic, caring for frontline health workers, & building creative communities online. You can download the report here.

Included in this report, the use of social media and online platforms can be valuable tools to support information exchanging, sustain interpersonal relationships, decrease isolation and provide creative opportunities to engage in community, meaningful connection, and relational experiences online.

What are your thoughts? How have you used social media differently during the last couple of months in response to COVID-19?

Art Therapy Round Up: Connecting & Creating During COVID-19

Posted on April 4, 2020March 30, 2022 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

A few years ago, the site brightdrops.com posted this about Albert Einstein’s very well known and inspiring quote “Creativity is Contagious” (a favorite!):

It’s funny to think of creativity being contagious, like a virus, but it really does spread from one person to another, just by the act of that second person watching the first be creative…Then find that others start acting the same way, and before long you’ve got a virtual creative epidemic on your hands. (brightdrops.com, 2016)

I think of creativity in this way a lot. So much, it inspired me to dedicate an entire chapter in The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media about my concept of 6 Degrees of Creativity and examples of how our art making and creative deeds can have a profound influence among and around us, on and offline. These times of COVID-19 create a unique lens (in many ways!) about our shared impact and aspirations related to the power of creativity and its contagion factor.

Art therapists and the art therapy community have been responding via social media and online in these times of COVID-19’s pandemic outbreak by spreading enhanced and new opportunities for virtual connection, community, and creativity. These efforts offer meaningful ways to support one another, exchange art in digital spaces, and manage this life altering experience together through creativity and acts of art. This is very refreshing to see each day as we continue to navigate this crisis.

This post offers a round up of some of the online places, spaces, and projects that have been mobilized and activated by members of the art therapy community to assist during this time with ways to connect & create:

The Potomac Art Therapy Association (PATA) on Facebook and Instagram has been regularly sharing and re-posting creative expressions that art therapists, graduate art therapy programs, and art therapy students have been making during these times of having to shelter in place, physical distancing, and spending more time at home. PATA is using the hashtag #stayinandcreate if you want to follow what they share or use it while you are making art at home during this time.

Art therapists have been using their blogs to reach out with art-based resources and creative self-care strategies — some great examples are here from art therapist Sherri Jacob’s blog and here on art therapist Dr. Lani Gerity’s blog.

Digital art sharing & making spaces have also been created by art therapists to respond to COVID-19, make art together virtually, and create creative connection such as the Facebook Groups Coronavirus Response Art by Art Therapists and #Coronart. Creative Contact, an artist trading card swap is bringing together art therapy practitioners, educators, and students to share miniature artworks and their creating process online during this time of staying home with the future goal to exchange our art with one another through the mail eventually. This project has included virtual meet-ups where art-making takes place together as a group online.

The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) has created this COVID-19 Resources for Art Therapists page to provide connection to information. Members are contributing their best practices, reflections, and help around topics such as art material management, digital art therapy, telehealth, and more.

Creative Wellbeing Workshops facilitated by art therapists Dr. Gioia Chilton and Rebecca Wilkinson created these resources about Creative Coping Strategies for COVID-19 and Affirmations for Coping during COVID-19.

Think about how you can start your own creative chain reaction of compassion, kindness, or connection during this challenging time through acts of art making and your social media activity. Consider participating in a random act of creative kindness with hopeful messages to leave for others to discover. Examples I have seen over the last few weeks include sidewalk chalk expressions, window art, or public and street art that others can take in from a safe physical distance or behind the screen of their device. The round up links above are also good examples to start with for inspiration!

Digital Time Capsule: Favorite Art Therapy & Technology Related Activity, Resource

Posted on February 16, 2020June 21, 2020 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

Contributors to the Art Therapy & Technology Digital Time Capsule had these responses about their current favorite art therapy and technology related activity or resource:

Applications

Social Media & Sites Online

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Blogs
Google
Website of the American Art Therapy Association

Devices & Communication

Smartphone
Tablet
Teleconferences
Online meetings
Closed group chats online

Media Sharing & Content

Photos
Cloud storage
Podcasts
Videos

Creative Expression

Digital painting
Virtual reality painting

t the beginning of this new year & decade, the idea of creating an art therapy & technology digital time capsule seemed like it would be a fun and collaborative project to invite current art therapists and future art therapists to participate in! This digital time capsule is an opportunity to document our relationship and activities with technology in 2020 as art therapists and re-visit the responses 10 years from now in 2030. Feel free to contribute your own response in the comments below. You can also connect to previous posts in this series here.

Digital Time Capsule: What Do Art Therapists Dislike & Like About Technology in 2020?

Posted on January 25, 2020March 30, 2022 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

Inspired by contributions that are coming in for the Art Therapy & Technology Time Capsule, this week takes a look at what art therapists dislike & enjoy about technology in their 2020 lives:

Dislikes

Constant checking of email, social media and its impact on being truly present
Lacking mindful use with intention & purpose
Frustrating issues with connecting
Cyberbullying
Trolling
Cost
Concerns about the impact on mental health, especially for youth
Impact on anxiety, depression, suicide?
Feeling lost or immobilized without access to the Internet
Reliance on the quality of wifi
The time & energy it takes to learn, re-learn & navigate new technology or changes
Disclosure anxiety, digital permanence, its impact, safety concerns
Limited screen size/frames for interacting
Beliefs that teletherapy is less effective
Others that still do not understand how to use technology wisely
Lack of means to make envisioned tools & ideas come to life

Likes

Applications & Digital Media:

Available ways to create, especially via smartphones
Augmented reality (AR)
Virtual reality (VR)
Immersive environments
Taking photos of personal art & sharing this art on social media
Saves time

Accessibility to:

New ideas for self care, art therapy directives
See clients or supervisees not able to physically come to their office/studio
Support network
Collaboration
Professional training opportunities

Inspiration, Aspiration & Hopes:

Technology’s potential
Expanding possibilities
Growth opportunities
Innovation
Possibilities and interest from clients

Connection with:

Colleagues
Art therapy information & resources
Community
People worldwide, near & far
Hearing about other art therapists
Seeing other people’s art
Having conversations with other art therapists no matter where they live
Communication across physical distances

At the beginning of this new year & decade, the idea of creating an art therapy & technology digital time capsule seemed like it would be a fun and collaborative project to invite current art therapists and future art therapists to participate in! This digital time capsule is an opportunity to document our relationship and activities with technology in 2020 as art therapists and re-visit the responses 10 years from now in 2030. Feel free to contribute your own response in the comments below. You can also connect to previous posts in this series here.

Art Therapy & Technology Digital Time Capsule: How Do You Use Technology as an Art Therapist in 2020?

Posted on January 18, 2020March 30, 2022 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

At the beginning of this new year & decade, the idea of creating an art therapy & technology digital time capsule seemed like it would be a fun and collaborative project to invite current art therapists and future art therapists to participate in! This digital time capsule is an opportunity to document our relationship and activities with technology in 2020 as art therapists and re-visit the responses 10 years from now in 2030. As this time capsule project begins to take shape with contributions, sharing some of the questions & responses from the art therapy community also makes this process fun!

DigitalTimeCapsule

This first blog post features examples from art therapists about how they use current technology in 2020 as an art therapist. Responses are divided into seven areas and includes practices, tools, platforms, software, and activities related to therapeutic work, administrative tasks, learning & professional development, research, teaching & education, as well as professional connection and the art therapist’s own creative practice.

Professional practice with clients:

Online group work, digital art therapy, telehealth & teletherapy, virtual reality
Populations: Young adults living w/ cancer, adolescents, older adults
Chatrooms, Skype Business, InTouch
Playing music via phone, using a customized, appropriate playlist created on Pandora
Setting timer(s) on phone for managing group time
Recommending, encouraging mental health apps for clients to use

Professional practice administrative tasks:

Photographing client art to insert digitally into their electronic medical record
Scheduling, Calendar use
Documentation: treatment plans, client notes, billing
Theranest, GoogleDocs
Social media (FB) for promoting practice, events
Professional website

Professional development, learning:

Accessing the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) journal online
Purchasing books online (i.e. Amazon)
Online CEUs
AATA Conference app

Research:

Conduct research, project collaboration
Search online for literature, directives, news/research about art therapy
Dropbox, GoogleDocs, Twitter

Teaching, Education, Supervision:

Online course teaching via Blackboard. Moodle
Teaching graduate art therapy students about digital art therapy
Online supervision via Skype, Zoom, WebEx

Professional Connection:

Finding, sharing information and resources about art therapy
Promoting art therapy to others
Network with other art therapists, colleagues
Communicate with colleagues, art therapy friends via email, text
Communicate with national and state art therapy associations, professional organizations
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Art Therapist Creative Expression:

Digital & virtual painting
Virtual reality
Finding inspiration
Sharing own art via social media (i.e. Instagram)
ArtRage, altering photos

Contribute to our digital time capsule! What are some examples of how you use technology as an art therapist in 2020? Leave your responses below in the comments section!

Fall Workshops Inspired by The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

Coming this fall….. Workshops inspired by the The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media:

As part of the 2018 Expressive Therapies Summit in New York City, Social Media, The Arts, and Community Engaged Projects (October 12, 7-9 pm) explores the power of the arts and how creative, interactive community based projects using social media can motivate positive change, hope, and well being. Public projects inspired by abandonment art, random acts of kindness, and other creative deeds not only motivate art making, enhance emotional development, and support compassionate acts, but also offer meaningful opportunities to connect and positively influence others that their art comes into contact with, both on and offline. As a result, this inspiration has the possibility to keep spreading its creative message from person to person. Participants will be introduced to art-based projects and experience how-to ideas for implementing this kind of creative chain reaction for use in treatment with clients and ways to facilitate this approach within a therapeutic context for individuals, groups, or communities. Registration is now open here.

Social Media and Art Therapists: Exploring Our Digital Footprint and Presence Online (November 3, 10:15-11:45 am) will be offered at the 2018 American Art Therapy Association Conference in Miami, Florida. This workshop invites art therapists to consider and reflect upon the impact of our digital footprint and its influence. Through didactic presentation, experiential art-making, and group discussion attendees will be encouraged to explore topics that foster an awareness about creating a digital presence online that aligns with ones goals, passions, values, and career interests. Pre-registration required and space availability is limited. Advanced registration is open online until 9/28 via http://www.arttherapyconference.com

Also being included this fall as part of Southwestern College’s Masters in Art Therapy/Counseling Professional Ethics Course and the college’s Masters in Art Therapy for Clinical Professionals, will be an online webinar/guest lecture for students about Social Media and E-Professionalism Considerations for Art Therapists. This 30 minute webinar presents how art therapists can create a strong professional digital presence through the use of social media. Topics explored include:

Digital ecosystems
E-professionalism
Online disinhibition effect
The art of creating a professional digital presence
Digital footprint considerations

If you are interested in learning more about how to incorporate this webinar or guest lecture into any of your art therapy coursework, please submit an information request here.

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Past 2018 Events

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Look Back… Media & Technology 1968

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

It was a pleasure and honor to celebrate the Toronto Art Therapy Institute (TATI)’s 50th Anniversary with an invitation to speak at the Institute’s special gala event held this week. The TATI, founded in 1968, was the first art therapy training program in Canada established by Dr. Martin Fischer, one of the early pioneers in the field.

The evening offered a look back at the TATI’s great history and legacy of art therapy in Canada, as well as an opportunity to give attention to its active presence of faculty, alumni, site supervisors, and students, as well as what the future of the art therapy field holds ahead. This also included looking at the impact of technology on the art therapist, especially in the last 20 years for connection, community, and creativity.

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So what was the media and technology like/starting to emerge in 1968 when TATI was founded? Here is a fun look back:

Color television was just starting to become more conventional in use and the first live, network transmission of video took place (a view inside an orbiting U.S. space capsule). Now television includes an endless amount of channels and programs for the viewer — through real time and recorded network broadcasting, live streaming, breaking news, DVR recording, Netflix watching, and on the Internet, our mobile devices, and without the use of the conventional television set .

Music in 1968 could be played on an 8 track, which was considered the portable format for this time. Video tapes, such as Beta or VHS would not be available until the 1970s. Now, music and video have become digitized and very portable in the form of MP3s, media sharing and online content communities, YouTube, Vimeo, Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud, and podcasts are easily accessible through our computers and mobile devices.

Computers. Back in 1968, the “Nova” computer which only had 32 kilobytes of memory (!) sold for $8,000. The computer that navigated the lunar module to the moon was introduced in 1968. Hewlett-Packard (HP) started promoting the first desktop computer this year too. The Internet as we now know it was very much undefined, but the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was starting to be developed in the early 1960s, which became the technical beginnings of the World Wide Web and Internet. ARPANET published its first program plan and made its first network transmission the following year. 50 years later computers are less expensive, hold lots and lots of memory in miniature form, and is widely used by the masses (not just researchers, scientists, and academics) everyday, everywhere, anytime. The Internet (and now Wi-Fi too) instantly connects us to endless sites, networks, people, places, news, apps, experiences, and more all around the world.

Art therapists now live in a world of glocality (where the local and global co-exist!) where we can easily connect to and virtually engage with our colleagues, beyond our local, regional, and national surroundings. Platforms and programs like Skype, Zoom Facebook Live, What’s App, and more allow us to communicate and interact with one another. The benefits of this connection are many- such as but not limited to:

Decreases isolation
Provides relational support
Obtain and exchange resources
Collegial engagement
Professional belonging
Creates opportunities for advocacy and awareness

The Internet has also held the concept of community as an important value to its early activity. Online resources and virtual spaces for art therapists were already surfacing in the mid 1990s, 15 years before social media really became widely embraced and used. For example, Toronto art therapist, TATI alumna and faculty member Petrea Hansen-Adamidis created Art Therapy in Canada in 1996, the very first online web resource and forum in Canada. Learn more about Petrea’s experience and pioneering efforts with technology in this Art Therapists on the Grid interview here.

Online virtual communities can help art therapists:

Share and exchange information
Learn from one another
Create a sense of belonging
Strengthen professional identity

In addition, we can also keep strengthening our global digital citizenship as art therapists. We can enhance our understanding about the societal impact of living in a world without geographical boundaries due to technology and our use of social media.

This awareness first includes an individual understanding about how our personal and professional conduct online can impact the profession’s global digital footprint and art therapy’s international integrity. Having respect for the self, others, and what we access or engage with online deserves attention. Choosing to engage in online environments with empathy, compassion, generosity, and benevolence acknowledges the powerful influence our connections and interactions have on overall well-being, relationships, and creating community. It also recognizes how we as art therapists have a valuable role in helping create a better digital world through our online presence and example.

Thank you to TATI for the opportunity to celebrate their historic milestone and include a little bit about technology and how it connects us all together, not just now but will continue to in the future. The media, programs, methods, and ways art therapists use technology will keep changing, developing, and offer new possibilities beyond our imagination for the future of the field… Also exciting to keep watching is how art therapists and future art therapists keep contributing to this digital landscape!

Congrats to TATI on their 50th year and here’s to 50+ more! 🙂

Social Media Day 2018

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC

Today officially marks Social Media Day- a day of recognition founded by Mashable in 2010 as an opportunity to celebrate the worldwide power and influence social media has had on our lives.

Throughout this year art therapists and art therapy students have engaged in social media workshops inspired by The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media. One of the fun areas explored through discussion and art making includes exploring digital ecosystems with social networking, including thinking back on the first social media sites used, in what ways, and where we were in life at this time. Also explored are the challenges, anxieties, enthusiasm, and possibilities experienced- personally, professionally, and creatively. What do you remember about your social media engagement back in the “early days” or when you created your first social media account?

The impact of social media over the last decade on the field of art therapy has certainly been tremendous— and with today’s celebration of social media, below is a round up reflection of posts and resources inspired by the love of social media for an art therapist’s connection, community, and creativity! This list includes art therapy online groups, blogs, videos, links, and information for art therapists about social media, professional practice, and ways to learn more about navigating or strengthening our connection within this digital landscape:

Art Therapy and Social Media’s Top 3 (2009)
Art Therapy Alliance on LinkedIn (2009)
Art Therapy Blog Index (2013)
Art Therapists on the Grid Takeaways! (2017)
The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media Pinterest Board
An Art Therapist’s New Year Checklist for Social Media (2018)

Also in celebration of Social Media Day, you are invited to share below any social media memories you have as an art therapist or how social media has impacted your connection, community, or creativity in the art therapy community- 🙂 Up to five responses will be randomly chosen at the end of this week-end (Sunday, July 1, 5 pm EST/US) to receive a free Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media sticker sheet! Happy Social Media Day!

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