Creative arts therapies and educational psychology: Let's get together

Abstract

This paper is based upon a keynote address given at the Conference ‘Crafting the Future’ on 8 October 2004, entitled ‘The Economics of Inclusion: How the policy of inclusion and the changing nature of funding schools offers unique opportunities for creative therapists’. The conference was held in London and organised by SESAME UK & International, The British Association of Drama Therapists and The British Association of Art Therapists. This paper also includes the findings from a research study carried out by Goncalves (2004), which investigated the views of children about art therapy, and the attitudes of educational psychologists about working with creative arts therapists. It is argued that the changing educational scene offers unparalleled opportunities for creative arts therapists, but there is a major need to explain and market services in the interests of the children who need them. Indeed, children surveyed spoke positively about the impact of art therapy on their lives. Educational psychologists had limited knowledge of the work of creative arts therapies but would like to know more.

Keywords:

• Educational psychology
• creative arts therapists
• art therapy
• special educational needs
• inclusion
• professional collaboration

The authors would like to acknowledge the help of the children, school staff and Educational Psychologists who took part in this study. We are indebted to the course organisers of the ‘Crafting the Future’ conference on Creative Therapies, held in Deptford, London (8 September 2004), for stimulating our thinking in this area, and to all those who both presented and attended the conference, and shared such valuable ideas. The views expressed in this article remain those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers.