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.

part |32 pages

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 |57 pages

The role of individual artists and psychotherapists in the development of art therapy from the 1940s to the formation of BAAT

chapter |7 pages

Adrian Hill

chapter |8 pages

Edward Adamson and Rita Simon

Moving from commercial art to art therapy

chapter |13 pages

The Withymead Centre

The role of Gilbert and Irene Champernowne in promoting the theory and practice of art therapy

part |87 pages

Beginning of organised activity: the first working parties in art therapy

chapter |6 pages

Art therapy in the witness box

chapter |6 pages

A struggle for ownership

chapter |7 pages

Moves towards organised activity:

The idea of forming a professional association

chapter |6 pages

The inaugural meeting of BAAT

Aims and objects established

chapter |11 pages

First moves towards the Health Service

part |8 pages

Concluding thoughts