Monday, 11 January 2010

A growing awareness of art therapy and an increase in the number of art therapists in Singapore and Asia led to LASALLE College of the Arts organising the first international art therapy conference in Singapore. The conference was called “The Internationalisation of the Creative Arts in Therapy”, and ran from 7 to 9 January 2010. The College runs a Masters in Art Therapy programme since 2006.

It attracted over 100 medical and health professionals from 15 countries.  There were seminars, presentations, experientials and workshops on the use of creative arts in therapy. Presentations by the experts covered a wide range of topics such as rehabilitating detainees, ethics, violence inherent in the workplace, trauma, gender differences, community mental health, education, children with special needs, medicine, immigration & displacement, research & forensics.

Participants at “The Internationalisation of the Creative Arts in Therapy” conference.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr Ikuko Acosta, Director of the Graduate Art Therapy Department of New York University and a pioneer in art therapy. Dr Acosta has been practising and teaching art therapy for 20 years and instrumental in spreading the use of art therapy worldwide.

She told the audience that there are now more international students pursuing the course in the US. “These students are helping to spread the use of art therapy when they return to their home country. I encourage them to broaden the field outside the US and develop a model best suited to their culture and through this conference, we hope to share our experiences and accumulate a set of international standards that will further enrich the work we do.”

Dr Ikuko Acosta delivering her keynote address.

Dr Acosta who last visited Singapore and LASALLE in 2005 could not help notice the “the remarkable development of LASALLE’s Art Therapy programme.”  Indeed when the programme was first introduced the College faced more detractors than supporters to the endeavour. With a fourth cohort in the making, Mr Venka Purushothaman, LASALLE Vice-President (Academic) and Provost, told the audience that “we are not in a hurry but seeking to slowly evolve our pedagogy over time but through experiential processes rooted in the region.”

Despite being young and new, the Masters in Art Therapy programme has gained much support from key local health institutions that provide clinical placements for its students. Last year, the programme gained accreditation with the Australia/New Zealand Art Therapy Association (ANZATA). Membership in ANZATA enables graduates to access a much wider international network of art therapists and practices across the globe.

Singaporean occupational therapist Ms Ho Soo Fung was greatly inspired by the passion of fellow therapists at the conference. She commented, “the knowledge shared by the other therapists showed the breadth and depth of work done by therapists and the high level of commitment, belief and professionalism in using creative arts to help people.”

Ms Ho who is currently enrolled in the Art Therapy programme said that the curriculum provided her “with in-depth understanding of the psychodynamic theories and the use of art and different materials for artistic expressions and therapeutic purposes.” She found the large component of experiential learning in the course particularly helpful to a therapist. “It allows me to personally experience the inherent potency of using art for therapeutic purposes and to develop empathy for those I am helping,” she added.

Ms Elizabeth Coss, conference organiser and Programme Leader for Art Therapy programme said that “through the conference, the students are able to experience a variety of viewpoints and ways of working from the speakers who are accomplished academics who have continued to work in the field for years. I think they will realise what a great opportunity this has been for them.”

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