Can an actual Art Therapist or someone in a related field answer?

I can tell you what a therapist does. I’m not very familiar with art therapy in particular.

1. What do you do in your job? I worked in school counseling. Here’s an answer to what is counseling I wrote up for a class. Counseling is a relationship between a counselor and a client. The counselor creates an environment that allows for the client to express, examine and explore their concerns and convey the changes they desire. Through counseling the client gains an insight into the parts of their lives they were not aware of and makes changes to achieve a sense of well-being. The therapist is an objective outsider who is there to help the person become aware of their strengths and inner resources; to explore the coping resources the clients have, and to provide alternative coping methods if they are needed.

2. What hours do you work? 7.30-2.30

3. What school subjects are important for this job? Psychology, English (communication tends to be important),

4. How and when did you decide to enter this job? In my undergraduate. I took a psychology course and became interested in human behavior. I’ve always wanted to help people, in particular work with adolescents, so this worked out.

5. What are the most rewarding aspects of the position? Seeing the kids get better. Knowing that you’ve helped. Being completely engaged with another person is exhausting but amazing at the same time.

What are the most challenging components of the position? Being able to detach from the clients emotions and lives. In the beginning I would think and worry about the kids I worked with 24/7. I’d even end up dreaming about them. It’s hard to remove yourself from the situation and not get overly involved. Also hearing the stories. You end up wanting to hug them and tell them it’s all ok, and take them home and make sure nothing bad ever happens to them again. But you cant do that. You have to teach them to survive. And it’s hard when you want to protect them.

7. Did you have a career plan that you followed? Still in the process, but got my bachelor’s in psychology, almost done with my masters in mental health counseling, and then I want my phd in psychology.

8. What major challenges have happened I your career area since you have been working? Just started… so none…

9. Would you change anything about your job? School counseling is not for me. I’d choose to work in a different environment. But for the counseling itself, nothing

10. Did school prepare you adequately for your work? No. It’s not the type of job that you can really be prepared for. You learn as you go. Things are never as simple as they are presented in school. And even though you’re warned about that, you’re never fully prepared for it.

11. How do you coordinate your family/home/job responsibilities? Pretty well. I dont have too many other responsibilities

12. What personal characteristics are important in your job? (Working with people, data, things, good speaking and writing skills, working under pressure, working inside or outside.) and because I’m horribly lazy, I’m going to again post a question we had to answer about what distinguishes a mediocre therapist from an outstanding one

An outstanding therapist is one who is empowering. One who believes in a person’s ability to grow, change and heal. One who has strong interpersonal skills and can connect with others. One who is collaborative; one who believes the client is capable of helping themselves, provides the environment for this to happen, and allows the person to make their own decisions. An outstanding therapist is able to be calm, confident, accepting, honest, genuine, patient, tolerant, connected, trustworthy, creative and curious. They are able to use a wide variety of approaches and are able to be flexible with different clients. They are introspective and self-aware; attuned to their own thoughts, feelings, emotions and reactions and are conscious of the therapeutic process. They are also aware of their own limitations and refer out when they are unable to be helpful. An outstanding therapist is ethical and moral. Finally, an outstanding therapist also knows the importance of self-care and how to take care of himself or herself. They engage in positive behaviors that they recommend to their clients, and they work on changing the negative areas in their lives.