The fair included mini-lectures and demonstrations not only on art therapy, but on areas such as chiropractic, acupuncture, spirituality and health, medicinal herbs and yoga. Horlein, who is in private practice at the Expressive Arts Studio in Lemont, said art therapy is beneficial because it provides patients with a different avenue for processing emotional conflicts. One of the advantages of art therapy is that it can help people relax enough to identify with feelings that can otherwise be threatening. Art therapists work in private practice, medical and psychiatric hospitals, halfway houses, schools, correctional facilities, elder-care facilities, universities and art studios. It can be beneficial to people in all stages of life, from children who do not yet have the verbal skills to communicate their feelings, to people who are dealing with aging or illness.
Arts therapists are concerned about their accessibility to the public because of cost burdens.
While they have been registered since 1970 and board certified since 1994, they have been lobbying for state licensing because without it, they are not always eligible for third-party reimbursement from managed health care organizations. Busch agrees that licensing will be particularly important in the effort to keep patient costs down and make available as many options as possible. To further their lobbying effort, Busch said the AATA is putting a lot of energy into producing studies that provide conclusive evidence of the benefits of arts therapies.