\n<\/p>\n
As demand grows, practitioners say they are concerned about the absence of regulation in Singapore.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody can call themselves an art therapist,\u201d said Ms Loo Hwee Hwee, principal art therapist and deputy head of the paediatric psychological services division at Khoo Teck Puat-National University Children\u2019s Medical Institute at National University Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this profession is not regulated and protected, then anybody who may not have the experience, may not have the training \u2026 think that they can handle it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt best, no harm done. But at worst \u2026 you could really make the person feel worse, because you’re touching something very emotive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Loo added that professional art therapists are trained at the master\u2019s level, with expertise in both art and psychology.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people think that it’s about\u00a0art-making alone. Art therapy is not just about art making. It’s also about the psychotherapy portion of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Untrained practitioners may miss important emotional cues, particularly in children.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of artists think that they can do art therapy, but they don’t have the psychological framework to what we are looking out for, and what are the themes that could surface from the artwork or even from picking the medium,\u201d Ms Loo added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody who is untrained, this will be all lost in translation, and we’ll lose (the) opportunity to capture important things about what’s going on with the child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some healthcare clusters have introduced safeguards to tackle such issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n