29/11/2024
A great reflection of the changing scope of arts therapies.
I imagine most of you know, some may not, that I am an Arts Psychotherapist, and run a busy practice. I am also a University lecturer in the field. Whilst you may not understand exactly what it is that we do as Arts Therapists, I do hope you understand that it is very different from Art for pleasure or wellbeing - which is also so very good for us - and that our primary focus in Arts Therapy is to use unique Arts based tools and strategies to address and work through psychological distress and improve mental health.
When I began in this career 30 years ago, well before the NDIS, around 2/3rds of my work was with people with disabilities and significant mental health issues. These are people who would now be receiving Arts Therapies through NDIS.
On Monday, Arts Therapy was effectively removed from the list of approved services funded through NDIS or made incredibly difficult for people to access. Bill Shorten stated Art Therapy is not an "evidence based practice" which is incorrect. A great deal of research has been conducted over the last 20 years and Arts Therapy efficacy has been clearly proven.
Many disadvantaged, vulnerable and silent people have now lost their primary means of expression and of processing what happens in their world. This is not going back to before the NDIS, this is going back to a dark time in our history, when people with disabilities and mental health issues were denied access to what they needed to live in a world often hostile to difference.
I also provide Clinical Supervision to 26 practitioners who work with people who have experienced torture and abuse, people in James Nash house, children who have witnessed atrocities in Gaza and many people accessing Palliative care services across the country, and the government's actions regarding Arts Therapies is spreading misinformation and mistrust of a highly professional and desperately needed field far wider than just the disability sector.
I know there are problems with the NDIS funding blow-out, but this action is like taking a sledgehammer to a thumbtack. And I suspect the bulk of the problem is largely in other forms of funding, not Arts Therapy.
My post is asking you to just to think about, talk about and recognise this valuable practice and where any opportunity presents, to also advocate for the many people, who very soon, will not have access to a life sustaining /life changing support.
**photo of my view from my consulting studio table as I ponder the immediate future for my clients**
