People are increasingly wanting to know where art therapy is used, whether they live in Texas or elsewhere. After all, gone are the days when art therapy was a poorly known treatment for anxiety, treatment for depression, and treatment for stress.

The public is savvy now and is asking for art therapy services. But where is art therapy used?

Therapists have been throwing around the term “burnout” like it’s so much a part of our identity that we don’t even need to understand what it really means, much less what to DO about it. I offer art therapy in Austin and have been monitoring this problem for years, so I’d love to share what I’ve learned with you—because when you’re informed, you are able to make choices and take action in the face of challenge.

That’s RESILIENCE! And resilient therapists stand a much better chance of helping clients develop resilience too.

The words “therapy” and “therapeutic” get thrown around so frequently anymore, it’s hard to tell when they’re used in a way that meets the threshold of something based on assessment and treatment! This brief article will help you tell the difference between art that’s tied to goal-oriented clinical services vs. art that’s tied to personal enjoyment in the moment.

Art therapy is definitely a thing in Austin. The State of Texas regulates who can use the title “art therapist” and yet doesn’t do much to help the public locate credible art therapy practitioners. But thanks to the magic of online therapy, wherever you are in the Austin area, you’re in the right—and most popular—place for art therapy!

What beautiful dreams do you have for your work as a therapist? What do you hope to give the world in a way that only you can? How many steps away are you from making these things come true?

What does it mean to live a life of self-sacrifice when you’re a therapist? It means the systems you’ve been exposed to throughout the decades of your existence might have rewarded you for tending to the needs of others and disregarding your own.

The result? Anxiety, overwhelm, depression, imposter syndrome, stress, and burnout. Sometimes you forget to come up for air.

Art therapy isn’t monolithic; art therapy is the name of a profession, and within that profession lie many different types. So let’s find out what type of art therapy is right for you! That way you can compare apples to apples—instead of comparing apples to oranges—when you’re shopping for an art therapist.

Most people have at least some idea of what a therapist does. They listen, they support, and they help others calm the seas of life so they can enjoy smooth sailing and journey ahead toward their dreams. Unfortunately, not nearly as many people understand what an art therapist does.

If you’re wondering what art therapy is and how it works, you’re in good company. The profession was organized in the United States in 1969, but it continues to be a minority in the larger sea of mental health professions. That doesn’t mean it lacks research and robustness–and it doesn’t mean art therapy lacks the ability to help you reach your goals!

What’s the link between burnout, imposter syndrome, and clients who seem stuck? Well, this is a trick question, because the link is actually a missing link—creativity! Not as in drawing and painting, but as in a kind of mental activity that allows the process of psychotherapy to flourish.

If creativity is the missing link between the life you have and the life you’d love, you might be looking for creative mental activity in all the wrong places. Are you prone to collecting continuing ed certificates to try to revive your professional self, prove that you’re a real Austin therapist, and jumpstart therapy efforts that seem to have stalled out? You’re not alone—therapists all over are collecting continuing ed certificates for these reasons and wondering if this is as good as it gets.

The answer is that it can get a lot better! But the process of getting from here to there is going to take a little game of connect the dots. And creative mental activity can help you make those connections.