What is a Healing Arts Practitioner?
So You’re an Art Teacher? Art Therapist? Healer?
What do you do?
Ever since I shifted from being a “maker” into curating creative workshops a few years ago, I’ve struggled to find accurate words to answer the question, “What do you do?” and describe the experiences that I curate. I typically say something along the lines of teaching creative tools that help with stress relief and processing life. However, then comes either the question of, “So you’re an art teacher?” or perhaps the other direction, “So you’re an art therapist?” The answer to both is no, not exactly.
It is true that I teach some art techniques, but I wouldn’t say I’m a fine arts teacher and am certainly not classically trained. Even though I have an educational background in Social Work and non-profit service, I am not an art therapist, clinical Social Worker, counselor, or therapist. Since I didn’t know a name for the creative instruction that focuses on the mental health benefits, I usually just fumbled around and hoped I didn’t totally confuse someone.
Healing Arts
I am wrapping up a program through California State University in which I’ve been learning about a field of study called “Healing Arts.” As I learned this field of study is complementary to, but takes a different approach than art therapy I was intrigued. Where an art therapist may define meaning to a piece of art their client makes, in healing arts, the participant assigns their own meaning to their creation. In healing arts, the practitioner is not a therapist, but instead curates creative experiences and tools to help participants engage with the creative process (Van Lith & Spooner, 2018).
This practice also believes that healing can be experienced in the creative process itself. Whether or not you end up happy with your final product of art is irrelevant to the healing inherent in the creative process. Healing arts, sometimes referred to as “expressive arts”, can include many types of artistic expression such as visual art, music, poetry, creative writing, drama, and dance (Huerta, n.d).
I am a Healing Arts Practitioner
I think I hollered a verbal “yes!” when reading the class material and I learned what I was doing has a name. Turns out I am a healing arts practitioner. The role of the practitioner is to be a witness to each participant's process and healing, that they lead and discover through the art creation (Darley & Heath, 2008). Rather than looking for something in what they created and interpreting it for them, I learn from the participant as they engage in their own discovery.
In healing arts, the point is not the art. I care little about the fine art aspects of what someone creates. What is important to me is that they express themselves. It's fun for me to give participants tools and techniques to help with their expression or share ideas that can spark their own innovation, but I am not teaching "art lessons". The art we engage in is a tool for self-discovery. A vehicle of expression and healing. No matter what the end result looks like, sounds, or tastes like.
Sarah King guiding a Beach Journaling workshop, 2022
Guides towards healing, Sarah King, 2022
So, you’re a healer?
To further clarify, despite the title of “Healing Arts Practitioner”, I am not a healer. Nor a savior. Instead, I get to help serve as a guide in using creativity as one path to healing. Creativity allows us to look inside and access parts and levels of ourselves we may not have known existed.
I do not have any superhuman powers to heal others (unfortunately!). The healing comes from accessing what’s inside of YOU using creativity as way to access it. My role is to guide and support you along the path towards healing, of which there are many. I help you discover which creative modalities resonate the most for you to find expression of what is inside of you.
I teach art techniques and craft projects as tools to equip you for your creative journey of self-expression. In many cases, this journey leads to healing in some capacity, even if it is stress relief for that moment.
If you want classical fine art training from an art teacher or professional counsel from a therapist, however, I’d be happy to refer you to some great ones!
Resources
Darley, S. & Heath, W. (2008). The Expressive Arts Activity Book. Jessica Kingley Publishers: London and Philadelphia
Van Lith, T. & Spooner, H. (2018). Art Therapy and Arts in Health: Identifying Shared Values but different goals using a framework analysis. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Assocation, 35(2) pp. 88-93.
Huerta, M. (n.d.). Healing through Art - Train the Trainer [online course content]. The California State University, Shirley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care. Retrieved from https://csupalliativecare.instructure.com/courses/1869/pages/history-and-background-of-healing-arts?module_item_id=97354