What to Call Yourself and Your Work When Working Non-clinically (I.E., Doing “Art as Therapy”)
What to call yourself and your work when working non-clinically (i.e., doing “art as therapy”)
Hey, my art therapists, facilitators, & friends.
Sometimes I get this question...I’m gonna do nonclinical work, what do I call myself? What do I call my services...? Because I can’t call myself an art therapist or call my work art therapy either.
(note: for those of you who don’t know... you can’t call your work art therapy if you are not licensed or certified in the state that does have art therapy regulations and title protection).
So here it is. You call yourself whatever feels right for you.
I’m just going to give you a list of possible things... but it’s just an idea. It’s really not the title, not the name you call your services. that’s NOT what is going to be important. That’s not the foundation of your business. That’s not the be all, end all of your IDENTITY a a person who helps other people through creative means.
If you want to listen to this episode rather than read it, you can tune into my podcast episode about this very blog post here:
(Also on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and more).
What to call yourself list:
art facilitator / therapeutic art facilitator
creative facilitator
creativity coach
art based coach
creative life coach (other applications: creative xyz coach)
creative healer
therapeutic art life coach
expressive art coach or facilitator ; expressive arts processing coach
creative insight coach
creative wellness coach
Or you can be more specific and say: mindful art coach, creative grief coach, expressive arts-based / creative mentor, expert, specialist, guide, consultant, practitioner, wellness pro.... you name it.
Now what about what you do? What can you call your services? Read below.
What to call what you do:
art facilitation
therapeutic art-making
creative sessions
creative coaching / mentoring
creative facilitation / expressive arts session or facilitation
healing art
expressive art (expressive painting, drawing, photography, collage, whatever medium)
mindful art
be creative.
The best thing you can do in terms of naming what you do, is to actually create a name for your signature program! Like “self-discovery through art” program/session.
Create a name, a phrase to actually brand yourself and your service and stand out amongst the crowd. Just don’t make it too complicated.
My experience in stepping into the nonclinical identity
In my own experience and journey of creating a nonclinical business, I felt unsure of what to call myself because I felt a lot of imposter syndrome and wasn’t sure whether I could actually do this thing without a license or anything else. However, I let go of that - let go of the doubts, uncertainties, the feeling of unworthiness, the shame, and started to OWN being me and OWN the unique power of using art in this beautiful way of helping people, deciding on the name of my service or what to call myself was like an instant decision. Because it didn’t matter!
Because what matters is: what you say after saying “I am x. I help....”
It’s how I explain my work, it’s how I feel about myself and my work, it’s the degree of belief in what I do. and who I am.
It all comes down to that. So if you are having trouble deciding what to call yourself. Just randomly pick a thing from the list I shared here. And see how it feels. If there is any discomfort or un-ease, notice if it’s likely coming from feeling any fear, shame, or insecurity about who YOU are as a nonclinical service provider.
If it is, know that NO ONE can officially determine what you do. No one can ordain you, officially confer you some position, and judge you. No one’s gonna “make” you legit. Stop looking for other people’s acceptance and reverence. Don’t look for other’s opinions and thoughts.
You just decide to take the spot. You just decide what you do, who you are. No one else is gonna do that for you.
YOU DO YOU.
The world is your oyster. You do whatever heck you wanna do.
It’s a different way from doing clinical work.
Hope that was helpful. Let me know which one of the names/titles in the list I shared here resonated with you the most? Let me know in the comments!
P.S. If you are curious about therapeutic art and want to learn how to facilitate it or incorporate it in your work, then I’ve got the ✨perfect✨ resource for you. My Therapeutic Art Facilitation School course is THE place where you can learn the foundation of nonclinical, therapeutic art work. I teach you my step by step signature method of using therapeutic art to help people, even if you’re just starting (no artist or therapist background needed). Want to learn how to do this? Check out my therapeutic art course here.
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