Itinerant art therapy: An educational model for community outreach therapeutic service

Abstract

As a practical teaching model, community-based itinerant art therapy provides myriad opportunities for direct service delivery to clients and unique service learning for students. This paper will explore a low cost, creative treatment model affiliated with a graduate program that provides short-term mobile art therapy to various populations in and around a large city. This model of community outreach has three notable benefits: first, strengthening connections between the graduate art therapy program and the community; second, allowing students to have direct contact with a unique client population that contrasts their practicum experience; and third, providing valuable short-term art therapy, free of charge, to need-based community programs.