UK art therapy practice-based guidelines for children and adults with learning disabilities

ABSTRACT

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses art media as its primary mode of communication. Having skill and experience in art is not a pre-requirement for people to benefit from art therapy. Making art work can offer the opportunity for expression and communication within a psychological therapy for people who find it difficult to express their thoughts and feelings verbally, and it is an accessible approach for children and adults with learning disabilities. An estimated 20% of art therapists working in the UK have some involvement with children or adults who have learning disabilities. These clinical practice guidelines were devised within the UK by the British Association of Art Therapists. A guideline development group was formed by the Learning Disability Special Interest Group and a national consultation was carried out among its membership. Ten overarching guideline recommendations for clinical practice were identified, namely ‘working relationships’, ‘communication’, ‘support networks’, ‘managing risk and vulnerability’, ‘establishing therapy agreements’, ‘assessment, formulation, and therapeutic goals’, ‘working creatively and flexibly’, ‘working psychotherapeutically’, ‘monitoring progress’ and ‘professional responsibilities and self-care’. The published art therapy practice-based guidelines for children and adults with learning disabilities are an example of a clinical consensus on current best practice in the UK.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning disability
• art therapy
• guidelines
• adults
• children

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the members of the Art Therapy and Learning Disability Special Interest Group for their support in developing these guidelines. A special thank you goes to the people who submitted their art work and to Pierre Turton who designed the easy-read version of the consent form.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Simon Hackett is Professional Lead Arts Therapist for the Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and Associate Clinical Researcher at the Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University. He is co-lead of the Art Therapy and Learning Disability Special Interest Group for The British Association of Art Therapists.

Liz Ashby is Joint Lead Art Psychotherapist in the Coventry Community Learning Disabilities Team of Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, and has been researching the impact of working in learning disabilities services.

Karen Parker is Arts Therapies Lead for the Cambridgeshire Learning Disability Partnership and a member of the Art Therapy and Learning Disability Special Interest Group.

Sandra Goody is an Art Psychotherapist for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust and a member of the Art Therapy and Learning Disability Special Interest Group.

Nicki Power is Head of Arts Therapies for Bedfordshire and Luton Community Adult Mental Health and Learning Disability Services, provided by East London NHS Foundation Trust. She is the Vice-Chair of The British Association of Art Therapists and co-lead of the Art Therapy and Learning Disability Special Interest Group.