This issue presents four articles in which authors examine what and how art therapists and their clients think: Dafna Regev, Hadass Kurt and Sharon Snir do so by examining what art therapists think about the silence that happens in therapy; Val Huet and Sue Holttum by exploring art therapists’ experience of mental distress; Neil Springham by considering the way we think and communicate about art therapy. The article by Sarah Parkinson and Claire Whiter include service user perspectives on work with young people who are experiencing first episode psychosis, thus giving us some idea of what service users think about the art therapy they receive.
The article by Dafna Regev, Hadass Kurt and Sharon Snir, ‘Silence during Art Therapy: The Art Therapist’s Perspective’, examines different aspects of silence in art therapy—an issue with which many of us will be familiar. It explores the opinions of 15 Israeli art therapists. Both potentially positive and non-beneficial aspects are addressed. I imagine that many art therapists will be familiar with the situation of silence in their clinical work, and this article may help us think about this complex phenomenon in different ways. It is also helpful and pertinent in showing some of the thinking processes of art therapists.
The article by Sarah Parkinson and Claire Whiter, ‘Exploring Art Therapy Group Practice in Early Intervention Psychosis’, describes art therapy with a group of young adults experiencing first episode psychosis. It considers this in the context of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines and the Initiative to Reduce the Impact of Schizophrenia (IRIS). It should therefore be relevant to many art therapists who work in this field and offers a contribution to the ongoing debate on the subject. It also includes service user perspectives which add depth to our understanding of the work.
Val Huet and Sue Holttum, in ‘Art Therapists with Experience of Mental Distress: Implications for Art Therapy Training and Practice’, examine the issue of art therapists who have themselves been in the position of mental health service users. Their article examines some of the thoughts and feelings participants had during art therapy training as well as considering some of the reported effects that being a mental health service user may have on the art therapists’ practice—both positive and negative. I believe the article therefore represents an important perspective on the work we do. Not only do art therapists empathise with the difficulties of clients of mental health services; sometimes we are clients.
Neil Springham’s article, ‘Description as Social Construction in UK Art Therapy Research’, is an epistemological examination of perspectives on research and art therapy theory. It poses questions about how we know what we know in the profession. I believe it is apposite that this article is published now, as there are many changes happening in the contexts in which we work. It can be difficult to negotiate the interface between art therapy and those institutions or structures, whether that be the NHS, private practice, academic training or indeed any of the situations in which art therapists find themselves. While I acknowledge that many people may not fully agree with the arguments put forward, I think it is important to keep examining how we know what we know. While the ideas presented may appear new in some ways, I also think that for some of us the ideas may chime with our experience at art colleges when postmodernism was on the agenda. For me this feels in some ways like a return to that which I find familiar.
Finally, due to the popularity of the journal and the increase in submissions, I am pleased to announce that IJAT: Inscape will be moving to four issues per year in 2017. The issues will be published online four times per year, with two hard copies being created (with two issues in each). I would like to thank all those involved in this process, including all the authors who have, and continue to, submit work. It is very exciting to see so much high-quality writing being produced on art therapy.