ABSTRACT
Britain was the first country to recognise art therapy as a profession in the state health service. How did this come about? Can the British experience serve as a model for other countries?
Originally published in 1991 Becoming a Profession is the first comprehensive history of art therapists in Britain and of their struggle for professional recognition. Diane Waller discusses the work of the founding art therapists of the 1940s and 1950s and assesses their contribution in detail. She also puts art therapy in a political context, showing how the British Association for Art Therapists worked closely with the trade union movement in its campaigns to get professional recognition.
Fascinating reading for all practising art therapists, art therapy teachers and students, Becoming a Profession will also be relevant to anyone interested in the formation and development of professions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |2 pages
Part I Background to art therapy
chapter |13 pages
Some views of art therapy
chapter |9 pages
Art therapy’s roots in art education
chapter |8 pages
Psychiatry and art
part |2 pages
Part II The role of individual artists and psychotherapists in the development of art therapy from the 1940s to the formation of BAAT
chapter |3 pages
Introduction
chapter |7 pages
Adrian Hill
chapter |11 pages
Reflections on being a pioneer art therapist
part |2 pages
Part III Beginning of organised activity: the first working parties in art therapy
chapter |1 pages
Introduction
chapter |6 pages
Art therapy in the witness box
chapter |6 pages
A struggle for ownership
chapter |6 pages
The inaugural meeting of BAAT: aims and objects established
chapter |11 pages
First moves towards the Health Service
part |2 pages
Part IV The campaign to establish art therapy in the NHS
part |2 pages
Part V Training in art therapy
chapter |2 pages
Introduction
chapter |8 pages
Some contextual background and early views on training
chapter |13 pages
Art therapy training within an educational framework
chapter |6 pages
Attempts at training which failed to materialise
part |2 pages
Part VI Concluding thoughts