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Interviews

Rebecca Miller

Case study 1

How did you get in to art therapy (education, experience hours, placements)? I got a job working in a retirement home after my grandpa died and I saw how the elderly were with dementia. I heard how art therapy helped after we had done a session of art one day. I decided to look it up and get a masters in it. Originally I planned to go into palliative care but decided to pick special needs as I felt I could help a variety of people with different ages.

What do you feel is the attitude towards Art Therapy in the medical world in the UK? I feel that it is not taken sieirously enough as many people seem to not understand what the word means or entails. When people come for their first session they are curious as to what will happen which initially makes them more nervous. I feel if it was more talked about people would be happier attending and more people would get the help they needed as I believe that it is better than normal therapy. You are not pressured to fill in the pauses and can be happy in complete silence if that is what is needed, we let your hands do the talking

What kind of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) do you engage in? I attend courses that have been organised by my company to help build my skills. I also attend workshops and lectures that I want to build my skills up on and learn about. I am going to London June to do a Rapid Eye Movement therapy.

What area of Art therapy did you specialise in and what is it like (autism, head injury trauma, palliative care)? I specialised in special needs but mainly treat neurotypicals. Just because you specialise in an area does not mean that will be your main area of work. However, I am glad that I did choose that area as every now and then when someone comes through the door I understand why they may talk or act slightly different than everyone else and I can use my knowledge to pick this up without being told. This means I can make the session suit the person and talk in the best way to get them to open up.

Is there anything you would advise to someone who was thinking of going into the profession? I would advise them that it is a very hard job to do and be prepared for it to be 24/7. It is the kind of job you take home with you. You will know about a situation but cannot help the person only alert the people needed when the situation calls for it. All you can be is a listening ear, so I advise the person to remember not to be too emotional and make sure you know when to take a break. However, also remember the positives side of the job and how important being that listening ear is. You being a positive influence and believing this person could be the difference of them fighting or giving up on life.

After University

Once a person has past their degree into becoming an art therapist they must be then registered with the HCPC or Health and Care Professions Council. This is because the word “therapist” is a title protected by law. This means you legally have to be registered with HCPC as they so they can ensure the person has had the correct education and practises to ensure that clients are protected. This is because therapy has a big impact on your mind and if the wrong person does this, it can lead to devastating consequences and people being ripped off money wise.

You can also get a membership with The British Association of Art Therapists or BAAT, the memberships include getting people CPD courses discounted; Art Therapy events you can attend; access to their library and assess to the AHP Rewards scheme. The BAAT is the professional Art Therapy organisation in the UK. It also helps people who are not in Art Therapy but are thinking of joining the practise and can help a lot with questions and universities to attend.

What is Art Therapy?

Art Therapy is a psychotherapy that is a method of expression through art based mediums. It is a tool to help people address issues that are causing the person anguish and help the person come to terms with situations that may confuse them. The mediums can include music, painting, drawing, ceramics and many more mediums, this means anyone can do it no matter what their background is and do not need to know anything about art. It is also helpful for people with many disabilities as the art can be tailored to each person’s functions.

Art Therapy can work with any generation, ethnicity, trauma and disability. A person will be assigned to either have the therapy done in a group setting (meeting other people in the same situation) or have individual sessions, these are decided based on the person themselves and what treatment is most suitable. When training to be an art therapist, the courses will allow the individual to pick a specialised area, this can be Autism, learning difficulties, forensic medicine, palliative care and stroke/ head injuries. This means everyone can see someone that has been specifically trained to help them with their needs and have learnt the right approach to give them the correct therapy needed.

Art therapy is a treatment that has been made from working alongside many scientifically proved theories. These include: cognitive analytic therapies; psychoanalysis; socially engaged practises and many more. However, the main theory that is being looked in to is neuro-science and how art therapy can link in with it. Art therapy is an amazing therapy as it gets tailored based on the social and cultural aspects in society and can easily change to help each person.

https://www.baat.org/About-Art-Therapy

https://arttherapy.org/about-art-therapy/

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ906442.pdf

CPD

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development. It is where professionals who want to develop their skills and abilities in the work place. This can be done by a certain individual who wants to improve themselves or a whole company. CPD trains people using a wide variety of mediums to allow learning to be proactive. These mediums include holding conferences, events or training workshops. These workshops will include programs for e-learning and discussions where professionals can share ideas or techniques. These are aimed to individually help some with their developments.

By doing CPD professionals will also gain qualifications and certificates. This means people can up-skill and re-skill themselves to help provide more opportunity for promotion; a stronger ability to help their clients and make sure past qualifications do not run out of date.

CPD is divided into three areas. Structured CPD = Active learning, this is a more interactive approach. This means individuals can apply for exams that are career based. It can also be attending conferences, workshops, seminars, lectures, training courses, CPD certified events and even taking an e-learning course.

The second type of CPD one can take is Reflective CPD=Passive Learning. These are no interaction events. These would be taking your own time by thoroughly reading through books/articles and taking case studies which can be decided at meetings.

Third and final type of CPD is Self-Directed CPD/ Unstructured Learning. This involves independently doing all activies. This is similar to passive learning but excluding meetings. This means it is entirely on one person to research relevant fields and industry specific articles/books.

https://cpduk.co.uk/explained

https://www.baat.org/Courses-Conferences/CPD-Courses

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Cambian - Children’s Residential Support Worker

Cambian helps children and young adults with ASD and other special needs by providing services in schools, colleges, residential homes and care homes. Their aim is to help children as they grow up and provide the right support in their community so they can eventually function with out any ongoing help in the future and becoming independent. They focus on a holistic approach as many of the children in their care have been through trauma. They believe that this will help them in the future with their progress.

I am interested in working with this company as an option for paid work in the UK that would gain me the experience hours needed for my masters.

Salary:- £8.00-£8.45 / £30.00 whilst asleep

Hours:- 40 hours a week minimum / 2x days of 16 hours and then 4x days off.

Requirements:- Driving license / NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) Level 3 in Children & Young People's Workforce (preferred but not essential).

Duties:

Transporting the children around

Making sure the young person in our care has taken all his medication that day

Helping him access education

Household duties

Paperwork

Days out (social events, shopping, cinema, swimming)

Contacts, visit, key work meeting and therapy sessions

Offering guidance, support and structure to their everyday lives

This would be a good job for me to be in an environment which is very into therapy and I would also be working with the group of people I want to specialise in. I would also get to work a job in which I would be able to work the hours of a full time job but have quite a few days off which would help with the health conditions I have.

16 x 3 = 48 (hours) 48 x £8.00 =£384 (working hours) £30.00 x 3 = £90.00 (sleeping pay) £384.00 + £90.00 = £474.00 (pay per week) £474.00 x 52 = £24,648 (pay per year) £24,648 ÷ 12 = 2,054 (pay per month)

Why Autism?

When I finish a masters in Art Therapy, why do I want to my specialised area to be autism?

1. I have decided I would like to focus on autism as I can see from my research there is not enough help in this general area and obviously this is one of the groups of people most at risk.

2. I am also autistic myself and have grown up dealing with this invisible disability and would like to be there for someone else struggling. If I had not had the right people in my life, I would not have got as far as I have. I was not supposed to make it through mainstream schooling or even gain a GCSE. I now have 10 x GCSE’s all A-C. I also have a level 3 Diploma in Photography and am now in my third year of University. This was due to my mum fighting to get the right teachers, doctors and courses. She learnt all about autism to enable me. This is not available for everyone, my mum can just be scary. However, I want to be one of those “right people” an autistic person finds and helps them reach their full capacity and more with whatever they are going through.

3. An autistic person is more likely to have mental health issues and is dealing with autism themselves which can be like a battle some days. However, many autistic people can also be more likely to be a victim, witness or an offender than a neurotypical person.

Victim/Witness:- Many autistic people can be unaware of social cues and sometimes be too trusting of others. This makes it easy for them to get scammed; end up in a domestic abuse relationship; make friends with the wrong group of friends and get wrapped up in trouble. They can also be targeted as a child due to being more vulnerable and can cover up the symptoms of abuse with signs of autism.

“a survey of over 1,500 individuals on the autism spectrum and their caregivers by the autism society found that of the 35% who had been the victim of a crime, 17% reported physical abuse or assault, 13% reported being the victim of sexual abuse, 9% reported property crimes, 8% reported sexual assault, and 8% reported neglect; 3% reported being coerced to commit or participate in a crime (autism society, 2007). a study on child abuse and autism (mandell, et. al., 2005) found that caregivers reported that 18.5% of children with asd had been physically abused and 16.6% had been sexually abused.”

- https://www.autism-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Advocates_Attorneys_and_Judges.pdf

Offender:- Autistic people are more likely to get prosecuted as an offender due to people teaching them negative behaviours that will get them in trouble due to the person not knowing any better; autistic people also can struggle with eye contact and social cues with talking to people and get accused of making sexual advances; making friends with the wrong people and accidentally becoming unaware accomplices.

This means many people end up getting a negative view of police officers and the people around them, I want to be a person they can trust, that will help them.

http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1058/1228

https://www.autism.org.uk/professionals/others/criminal-justice.aspx

https://www.autism-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Advocates_Attorneys_and_Judges.pdf

Autistica

Autistica is a charity in the UK that funds research for autism and related special needs. It was founded in 2004 by Dame Stephanie Shirley as the UK version of Autism Speaks but became independent on the 1st of January 2010 following the "I Am Autism" video which Autistica did not want posted. They are now the UK’s leading charity in medical research to do with autism.

Autistica researches ways to help autistic people, such as reducing the age in which people get diagnosed meaning they can get help from an earlier age whilst the brain is still learning. They also are developing treatments for people with autism with reoccurring issues/problems such as severe maladaptive behaviours; epilepsy and ADHD. Finally they also research the ageing process with autism, this is so they can understand how it changes throughout someone’s lifespan.

This has caused them to look into the statistics of mental health and suicide related links with autism and the high numbers compared to neurotypical people. For example 70% of autistic people have problems with mental health and then on top of that have poorer physical heath meaning they have a lower life expectancy than neurotypical individuals. With the help of research they will be able to develop correct medication to treat depression if they understand the cause but unfortunately only £6.60 is spent per autistic head in research.

https://www.autistica.org.uk/our-research/our-research

https://web.archive.org/web/20110716150049/http://www.steveshirley.com/autismspeaks.asp

http://autisticbfh.blogspot.com/2010/01/autism-speaks-loses-uk-affiliate.html

http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1107350&SubsidiaryNumber=0

#autistica #autism

What is PTSD and PTG

What is Post-traumatic stress disorder? Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that can come about after someone has gone through or witnessed frightening experiences. However it is more common to develop PTSD when you witness the event than being involved yourself. PTSD is different for everybody, you can develop it straight away or can take weeks, month or years before it happens. It can take  months or years for you to get it if your brain blocks the memory. 

People sometimes can't deal with what’s happened to them so the brain blocks the memory or the emotional attachment to a memory until the person has calmed down/situation around them has changed for the person themselves to be able to cope. It can also take a while for it to develop if it gets triggered.  When I mean trigger I'm talking about something that will bring back a flashback of what’s happened or you experiencing something similar that makes you realise how upsetting the original event was. For example say you were mugged by a guy and you thought you were fine but six months later you walk past the place you were attacked or bumped into someone who looked similar to the person who attacked you, that could trigger the PTSD.

Causes of Post-traumatic stress disorder? 

serious road accidents

violent personal assaults, such as sexual assault, mugging or robbery

prolonged sexual abuse, violence or severe neglect

witnessing violent deaths

military combat

being held hostage

terrorist attacks

natural disasters, such as severe floods, earthquakes or tsunamis

Family/Friend Deaths

Being stalked/followed

( Copied causes from  http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Post-traumatic-stress-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx)

Symptoms of Post-traumatic stress disorder?

Flashbacks, re-experiencing the event.

Nightmares/Night terrors/Sleep paralysis. (extreme nightmares that can cause you to wake up to quickly so your body doesn't realise your awake and causes sleep paralysis)

High anxiety levels leading to panic attacks.

Physical sensations for example pain, sickness, shaking and sweating (many of these are caused by the anxiety).

Blame, guilt or shame ( a victim tends to blame themselves at the start about how they could of done things differently to stop the event occurring).

Emotional numbing (where people can't deal with the feelings their experiencing so the try not to feel anything at all sometimes keeping constantly busy. This can lead to isolation and losing interest in hobbies).

Hyperarousal. This is where a person can become so anxious they can not feel relaxed, they will be on constant edge and notice danger everywhere. This usually leads to someone developing insomnia, angry outbursts, irritability and difficulty concentrating.

Mental health issues like depression and phobias which can lead to self-haring or self destructive behaviour.

How PTSD is treated?

There aren't many facilities to treat people for PTSD which is surprising since 1 in 3 people who experience traumatic events develop it. They can give people Antidepressants or give them Psycotherapy which includes trauma-focused  cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT ) or eye movement desensitisation; Art Therapy and reprocessing (EMDR).

I think it is important to learn the causes of PTSD as their is a likelihood I will deal with these kind of people with the job I want to do. I would like to focus on Autism as my specialised field. This is because I have autism but also because Autistic people are likely to experience more traumatic events due to a lack of understanding in social cues.

1. 7/10 Autistic people will develop a mental health issue.

2. 9 x more likely to die from suicide.

3. 28 x more likely to think and attempt suicide.

4. Only 16% of Autistic people are in full time jobs.

5. 77% of unemployed autistic people want a job.

6. £6.60 is spent in research per autistic person in the UK.

7. 9/10 Autistic people want to help in research.

8. 55% of parents with children of autism have used untested experiments/ tablets and information as there was not enough research to help their child.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/treatment/

https://www.autistica.org.uk

Melanie Stidolph

· Lives in St Ives x 4 years.

· Use to live in London.

· Moving image and photography.

· History and fine art course.

· Recommend working abroad.

· Medium format camera- film.

· She likes the way it slows things down.

· Jeff wall, Picture for Women, 1979.

· Process was going out walking to find subjects.

· She felt at one point she was just recreating stuff instead of giving back to the art community.

· She likes taking action in her photographs to create peculiarities

· Emma Hart, 2005 using light from camera screen to attract moths.

· Windfall, apples falling capturing their own photos.

· Started doing series.

· Conservation III – 2005 – daily motion – she talked over pictures and created a video.

· Short film – in and out of love

· She’s making a film that uses Cornwall’s landscape and camera triggers. – will be in 3 parts. 1. Studio being partly present whilst leaving a part of you in the room. 2. Rock falls and voices. Part 3. Presenting an idea/formulating.

· Night sounds (wip) 2019.

· Taught at university of Falmouth.

· Work in the Tate in London.

I learnt that it is very important to make friends and contacts in the area you want to focus in. It is also important to keep your CV filled and to repeatedly pester for something you want because eventually a lot of people give in. This has got me looking in to other areas in which I can do my work experience in the UK in which I can make contacts and get job again in the future.

Art Relief Programme

What is it? It is a programme which uses art as a therapeutic tool to help local communities and vulnerable children in foreign countries. This is due to wanting to help people with a variety of issues without the use of a common tongue.

Why did I choose it? I was recommend the Go Overseas company by my previous schools and colleges. I also had other peers use this company for their volunteer experiences. Therefore, I am choosing this company as it has been personally and educationally recommend me. The company Go Overseas owns Art Relief International.

Why do I want to go to Chiang Mai? I went to Chiang Mai in February and I fell in love with the place and the culture. I would want to live there one day and this would be the perfect opportunity to do my experience hours whilst also getting the experience of living in the country I love.

Why am I going for the amount of time I am? I need to go 3-6 months at a time for my volunteer hours and because I need to have money as I will be making no money out there, so I have to keep coming back to the UK for jobs to save cash.

https://www.gooverseas.com/volunteer-abroad/thailand/cultural-canvas-thailand/41486

Entry Requirements

University of Hertfordshire:-

1. Work experience forms. 2. 1000 hours of relevant work experience.

3. Portfolio of art work. ( 5x images of significant works/ 5x images of sketchbooks and 5x images of development progress)

4. Extended personal statement/essay - What is Art Therapy? Why do I want to study Art Therapy? How does my creative progress work with Art Therapy? Why is Art Therapy a good job for me?

5. Honours Degree

6. 2 x references, 1 x work related and 1 x academic related.

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University of Derby:-

1. A degree in either Creative Expressive Therapies; a Degree in Visual Arts; a undergraduate degree in psychology/occupational therapy/social work/nursing.

2. One full year full time relevant work experience.

3. Sufficient life experience and emotional maturity.

4. One CV.

5. One A4 sheet (maximum) outlining why you wish to complete the professional training and elaborating on what qualities and skills you feel you have to offer and the kind of ideas which presently inform your thinking about art therapy.

6. Your portfolio should demonstrate your current artwork created in the past year and offer 10 completed images and one sketchbook.

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University of Roehampton:-

1. Second class and above, usually in arts and design.

2. Personal statement.

3. Art portfolio. This should show the psychological and emotional exploration of self through the art making process. The portfolio should demonstrate a strong comment to their artistic practice along with a fluidity of self expression within a variety of mediums.

4. Demonstrate a maturity of personality and self-awareness compatible with training as a therapist.

5. Need an appropriate degree of psychological mindedness including the capacity to form and maintain appropriate empathic relationships with clients.

6. Demonstrate emotional literacy, robustness and an ability to be self-reflective.

7. Interview - health screen form, training and experiential work.

8. Have done relevant work experience in the past 5 years.

9. Two referees / 1x work/ 1x academic.

10. Must enter mandatory individual personal therapy. (Pay separate from course fees)

11. DBS check. (Pay separate from course fees)

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Goldsmiths, University of London:-

1. Undergraduate degree must be a second class standard at least.

2. Art graduates need to have a background in any area visual arts or applied crafts.

3. Other graduate may be excepted as long as they have done art/psychology or art/sociology.

4. One years full-time relevant experience or 1500 hours part time.

5. non-art graduates must show they have commitment and ability to study an visual art.

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Leeds Beckett University:-

1. Second class honors degree.

2. Provide relevant experience in working in a care environment.

3. Demonstrate commitment to artwork.

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University of South Wales:-

1. Undergraduate degree.

2. Two references with application.

3. DBS check.

4. experience (paid/voluntary)

5. demonstration of professionalism, life experience and maturity.

Work Experience Hours

For the majority of courses I have researched for my Masters:-

University of Hertfordshire/ :- 1000 hours of relevant experience in UK or abroad.

Goldsmiths, University of London/ MA Art Psychotherapy:- 1500 hours relevant work experience.

University of Derby/ Art Therapy MA:- One year full time work experience.

University of Roehampton/ Art Psychotherapy MA:- Experience needed, amount not mentioned.

University of Chester/ Art Therapy MA:- One year full time experience.

University of South Wales/ Art Psychotherapy MA:- Extensive experience.

Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh/ Art Psychotherapy (International) Msc:-1 year's experience of work in a caring capacity or equivalent and some experience of personal art psychotherapy or psychotherapy, or experiential workshops in art therapy, psychotherapy or the creative therapies, is desirable; in the absence of a degree experience of 8-10 years are considered for entry.

07/02/19 – Tim Mills – Babbage- 14:02

· Results not excuses.

· Ecstatic Material/ Beatrice Dillon

· Fig – futures

· Creative CV contest - £300

Let’s Make a Plan

· Devise a plan from summer 2019 summer 2020.

· Forms the beginning of your assessment the task (blog).

· The plan should be intricate and breakdown each and every component, step and move.

· Who, why, what, where and how much?

· Logistics!

· Transferable act; building on your skills and knowledge already acquired through your practice.

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