Arts Therapy in the Education System at a Time of a National Disaster

Abstract

Roughly 4,000 arts therapists are employed by the Israeli education system, which enabled a rapid response in the school setting when Israel awoke on October 7, 2023 to the Hamas attacks and the national disaster that ensued. This participatory research presents the perspectives of 14 female arts therapist coordinators of therapeutic service teams working in educational settings with special needs children. In semi-structured interviews, the coordinators discussed their initial feelings, how they organized interventions over time since October 7, the challenges they faced, multicultural issues and recommendations for the future. The interviews were analyzed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Despite the collective trauma and the challenges, the findings show that the arts therapists found creative ways in the education system to provide a therapeutic response both online and through different modes of intervention. These interventions contributed to supporting the clients’ broader circles of classmates, school staff and parents.