Art Therapy with Christine Petrick

Graduate student of Caldwell University, Christine Petrick sits in their studio along with their emotional support animal, an energetic black dog by the name of Flora, as they explain the concept of art therapy and how they got into it. An artist by trade, the concept of using artwork in order to help others has been one of their passions for years now.

They explain that art therapy is “a therapeutic process of healing” that uses the creative processes in order to help patients express themselves honestly. Art therapy as a field, (not arts therapy, which covers a wide range of creative therapies) is still rather new within the history of mental health treatment. It’s a burgeoning and growing field in which new ideas and theories are constantly coming into play. 

It arose in the mid-20th century, mostly within European and other English-speaking countries. Even though it is a young field, compared to the other disciplines, it has its roots in the moral treatment used in the 18th century for psychiatric patients. Art therapy itself was named by the British artist Adrian Hill. The method of discovery was when he realized that there were therapeutic benefits of creating artwork whilst he was recovering from tuberculosis in 1942. 

“Creating artwork,” Christine Petrick adds, is a way for people “to understand their emotions and how they’re feeling and what they’re understanding at the time of creation of the work.” 

The field has continued to grow and evolve, and as it’s considered to still be a new field, the emerging therapists and students have the possibility of changing the discipline itself. Christine Petrick, as one of these new students and emerging minds, has decided to focus on the idea of play in order to use it to treat future patients. Their focus on play stems from their desire to work as an art therapist with children.