It’s a New Year, and as we enter 2026, AATA is here to help you at every stage of your career journey! Here are some suggestions:

⇒ Join the Conversation in the MyAATA Member Community or a virtual Shared Interest Group. (We hope that you'll actively ask and answer questions to support the community.)
⇒ Become a Mentor for an art therapy student or professional — or find a mentor — through our new Mentor Match cohort starting in February! [Learn more]
⇒ Grow Your Practice. AATA offers free listings for professional members to promote their practice through the online Art Therapist Locator. Add your practice, or update your current listing.
⇒ Attend our first All-Member Meeting of 2026 on January 28, which will also serve as our 2025 Annual Meeting of the Membership.
⇒ Learn through our Virtual Monthly Learning sessions. Our next session on Feb 19, Separating Expressive Therapies Continuum Truth from Myth: Guidance for Art Therapy Practitioners, Educators, and Researchers, will be led by Megan VanMeter and Lisa Hinz. The session is discounted for AATA Members ($52) and FREE for AATA Student Members to attend. [Register]
⇒ Learn through AATA’s Online Learning Academy with recorded Continuing Education sessions to watch at your own pace. Earn 2 CEs for What Makes a Thriving Profession? or Healing the Healer: Artful Strategies for Sustainable Practice — both FREE for AATA Members. And AATA Student Members can watch any sessions at no cost!

Join us February 19 for a virtual Continuing Education session about the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC) framework. The session will be led by Megan VanMeter, MA, LPC, LMHC, LPC-AT/S, ATR-BC, and Lisa Hinz, PhD, ATR-BC, both former students of the ETC’s co-creators and art therapy pioneers, Vija Lusebrink and Sandra (Kagin) Graves-Alcorn. Without a formal training program for ETC, myths about the framework have flourished. This session will help attendees re-conceptualize the ETC, offering opportunities to expand beyond the oversimplified beliefs about the model.

The session will guide participants to:
• Describe core aspects of the nature and purpose of the ETC framework.
• Identify characteristics that define how treatment occurs when using the ETC framework as a guide.
• Explore the relationship between art materials and the ETC framework.

Join us February 19 to attend “live” or register to watch the recording at your own pace. Participants may earn 2 CE credits. The session is discounted for AATA Members ($52) and FREE for AATA Student Members to attend.

AATA’s Mentor Match program is a simple, structured way to build real connections in our field. Mentors support the next generation and strengthen their own leadership skills by serving as a resource for information, guidance, and perspective as Mentees define and work towards professional goals. No matter where you are in your career, mentorship can help you stay grounded, keep growing, and feel more connected to the AATA community.

The second cohort for Mentor Match is starting in early February. Sign up to become a mentor or mentee today! Seats are limited and only available to AATA Members.

Check out these articles supporting connection and wellbeing in older adults in the latest issue of the Art Therapy Journal. 

• Article: Strengthening the Sense of Connectedness: Art Therapy for Older Adults With Severe Mental Illness
By Anna Seo & Jose Alcatara 

• Article: Art Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy, Wellbeing and Meaning in Life of Retired Community-Dwelling Older Adults
By Samta P. Pandya

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.