Letter from the President:

Welcome to the Louisiana Art Therapy Association Website.  We are very excited to have a site to promote awareness of art therapy in Louisiana.  On our site readers will be able to learn about art therapy in our state, find out about scheduled meetings of LATA, get contact information for those looking for an art therapist, and find related links for more information.

 

Thanks to the Website Committee which was comprised of LATA’s Board of Directors and one member:  Carole Lancon (Past president of LATA); Denise DeSelle (Treasurer/Membership); Christina Vasquez (Vice President/Program Chair) and Anne Bigger.  Special thanks to Baxter Garcia who help us design the site.  We couldn’t have done it without him.  Check the link to his organization, Communities Healing through Art (www.chartaid.org).   Also, we want to express a special thank you to the New England Art Therapy Association, for the generous gift they sent us after the hurricanes to support our organization-some of that money has gone toward the expenses of setting up this website.  Finally, thanks to all those who helped us during the AATA conference in New Orleans.

 

As President, I will be updating this letter regularly to keep everyone informed on art therapy in LA.  Several exciting grant supported programs are going on that include art therapy in Renaissance Village in Baton Rouge, a school based program through the New Orleans Museum of Art, and an art therapy program at the YWCA Family Violence program in Shreveport.  In the future we hope to provide links to these programs for more information.  Please let me know if there are other art therapy programs in LA we should recognize on this site.

 

LATA has also joined AATA in an effort to gain state licensure in Louisiana.  We are proposing an expansion of current state legislation to include art therapists as Licensed Professional Counselors. The standard we will be using will be the ATR-BC credential, so for those of you who have not become board certified, I encourage you to do so. Because of LATA’s small size and the need to gather support, I have decided to delay legislative action for one year.  In that year I suggest we actively gather letters of support.  I will be posting a sample letter to use as we ask agencies, individuals, and organizations to support our cause.   I am also embarking on opening a conversation with the Louisiana Counselors Association towards becoming an affiliate member. In my opinion, if our efforts towards state licensure are supported by the LCA, our chances for success will be greatly enhanced.

 

Feel free to contact me at any time with information or questions.  I am encouraged about our prospects for gaining licensure in LA and looking forward to the process.

 

Rebecca Thomas, Ph.D., ATR-BC

 

Mission Statement

The Mission of the Louisiana Art Therapy Association is to promote the awareness and use of art as a healing and life enhancing process, and to exchange information for the advancement of research and training in the field, while upholding the standards of professional competence.

 

Ethics Statement

The Louisiana Art Therapy Association’s ethics are consistent with those of the American Art Therapy Association.