If you were unable to attend in real time, the education sessions were recorded—and will be available to watch at your own pace. You may still purchase the conference bundle of sessions (See the sessions worth 25 CE credits.)

● We celebrated the opening of the conference the night before and watched our Portland keynote speaker Tucker Bryant's remarks together. He talked about “thinking inside the box” and yet being creative and more empowered advocates.
● Dr. Lynn Kapitan led the Virtual Conference Opening Plenary, Meeting this Moment: Art Therapy’s Collective Response to Hate and Fear. With AATA President Nadia Paredes, AATA Board Secretary Michael Galarraga, and DeLora Putnam-Bryant, they discussed how art therapists can disrupt harm and respond effectively in the face of oppression, hate, and fear of the “other.”
● Attendees could view AATA Member Art Gallery and leave comments.
● And six amazing AATA Member Authors shared their books and their writing process: Elizabeth Gronke; Gail Costello; Charmaine Husum; Lynn Kapitan; Sarah Balascio; and Jennifer Albright Knash

Thank you for being with us! None of this would be possible without your inspiration, engagement, and connection!

After many years of work, the Undergraduate Education Committee's new guidelines for undergraduate art therapy programs have been approved by the AATA Board. The guidelines grew out of a need to ensure relevance and ethical practice in the development and delivery of undergraduate pre-art therapy education. They provide educators a resource to develop, deliver, and strengthen undergraduate pre-art therapy education. [Download the Guidelines here]

Please join Heather Denning, LPAT, LSW, ATR-BC, ATCS, ATCS, and Jennifer Schwartz, MAAT, LPAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, for a discussion about the newly created guidelines and next steps. November 7, 10:30 – 11:45am ET [Register here]

Voting in AATA's leadership elections has begun! AATA voting members should have received an email from announcement@associationvoting.com with access to your ballot. Please look for it and vote before Nov. 23! 

OUR 2025 CANDIDATE SLATE
→ Board Member Candidates: Kachina Mooney, Alicia Seymour, Bani Malhotra, Marybeth Orton, Jessie Woolhiser Stallings, and Kerry Kruk-Borisov
→ Board Secretary Candidate: Michael Galarraga
→ President-Elect Candidate: Traci Bitondo
→ Nominating Committee Candidates: Tamara Galinsky and Sumin Kim

AATA's community is truly inspiring! This year, we’ve had hundreds of presenters volunteering to share their expertise during the conferences, dozens of AATA Members leading Shared Interest Groups (in person and in MyAATA), numerous AATA Member Authors sharing their publications, and of course, amazing volunteers helping to manage the conferences and other events year-round.

If you're not yet a member, we hope you'll consider joining us! You'll get access to high-quality AATA member benefits, including:

● Access to every issue of Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, showcasing leading research and practice-based articles
● The MyAATA Community, an online forum where members can connect, support each other, and share resources
● MentorMatch program, which helps professionals find seasoned mentors
● Free, no-cost referrals through our public Art Therapist Locator tool designed to help grow your practice
● Registration discounts on Monthly Learning Sessions as well as Continuing Education courses through the AATA Online Learning Academy. (Some of our virtual sessions are completely FREE for members including the What Makes a Thriving Profession? CE session)
● Discounts on art supplies, including a 30% discount from Faber-Castell and 20% from Grabie.
● Liability Insurance discounts for AATA student and professional members.

Legendary musician Billy Joel has pledged his support for legislation that would require commercial health insurance companies to cover psychotherapy provided by Licensed Creative Arts Therapists. At an event with the Billy Joel Foundation, New York elected leaders urged New York Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the bill. The New York state legislature already passed the bill in June.

→ Visit Billy Joel’s post on Instagram or on Facebook and share.
→ Learn more from the LCAT Advocacy Coalition: https://www.lcatcoalition.org/

The AATA Journal congratulates Beatrice Wharldall, this year's recipient of the Journal's Best Paper Award, presented at the AATA2025 Conference in Portland, Oregon. Every year, Art Therapy convenes a jury from the editorial team and its peer reviewers to identify one published paper per volume that has made an exceptional contribution to peer-reviewed literature. Best Paper Award recipients demonstrate creativity and originality, scientific and professional quality, scholarship and significance. These articles advance the profession through innovative research, enhanced perspectives, and/or critical examinations.

Read Beatrice's award-winning, open access article, Toward Multispecies Mourning: Imagining an Art Therapy for Ecological Grief which was published in Volume 41, Issue 3. To view all the Best Paper recipients and publications since 2012 who have been awarded this honor, visit the Journal's Special Collection of Best Paper Awards.

Want to post or apply for art therapy jobs? Visit the AATA Career Center, the one-stop-shop to help art therapists at all levels find new opportunities. For questions about the career center, please email info@arttherapy.org.

 

Featuring AATA Member Brittany Johnson
Source: The Mesa Tribune