How can I create and sustain a meaningful career?” This question guided my choice to become an art therapist and later hone my practice in the field of career counselling. This presentation aims to describe and demonstrate the intersection between art therapy and career counselling, inviting participants to consider their own career journey and how art therapy may be a useful tool for guiding and shaping important career decisions.

There are many overlaps between the fields of art therapy and career counselling.

This presentation aims to shine a light upon career counselling as a field of practice suitable for art therapy. It will highlight the overlap in theory and goals for intervention, and introduce ideas and strategies drawn from Parker-Bell and Osborn (2023), and with reference to my own practice. The benefit for participants will be in considering applications in their own practice, both with clients and when reflecting on their own career development.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave many creative arts therapists no option but to work online. While recognizing that therapy on screen and with electronic devices would preclude the nuances of face-to-face work with clients, it was important not to allow my biases about arts therapy using a screen to prevent me from learning a new way to interact with clients.
As a drama therapist, it was discomforting to find that a regular client with whom I had worked in my studio since early in 2016 was not only unable to see me face-to-face anymore, but through financial inequality lacked the data on her i-phone to meet me once a fortnight on screen.

Background:
This presentation showcases a dual-focus model for group work co-facilitated by a creative arts therapist and a music therapist, which was developed in response to a recognised gap in services. The model is unique for its three step group structure: an opening with whole group music therapy, simultaneous sessions with the teens with complex needs undertaking music therapy while their mothers move to an adjacent room for creative arts therapy and a closing with the whole group singing together. An intentional disconnect in the intimate care relationship invites exploration of self-identity for both teens and caregivers with their respective peers. There is a scarcity of literature on this model of service provision (Green, 2011) that recognises the different therapeutic needs of the participant groups.

Aim:
The aim is to feel into the edges of creative arts therapy practice as it co-works with music therapy. The teens expressions and the mothers' stories are centred alongside therapist wonderings and a dive into the literature such as Frizell’s (2021) work problematising concepts of normalcy in post-humanist thinking.

Knowledge shared:
Knowledge is shared through song, group participant video recordings, metaphor and therapist reflections. This presentation is a companion to an upcoming article publication on the same group.
Key insights offered are:
• how this dual-focus group was conceptualised and has evolved over a two year period
• the meaning and value that the teens and their mothers’ attribute to this group
• post-humanism, post-ableism, and social model of disability theory underpinning therapy.
Contributions to the field:
This dual-model approach evolved from an observed need in the disability sector and offers an innovative contribution to creative arts therapy. The disruptive practice is grounded in caregivers’ needs for emotional support as well as in teens’ needs for embodied experience of developing self-identity, social relationships. These aspects of the inner worlds of teens with complex disability are often overlooked (Roginsky, 2021). Witnessing teens and caregivers expanding self-identity and creative expression as a creative arts therapist is significant and this has implications for arts therapy contributions to other caregiver/care-receiver relationships.

BACKGROUND. Over the past decade, art therapy programmes have risen in popularity as a tool to support social-emotional outcomes in children and youths in schools and community settings. However, most local schools are still hesitant in officially adopting such programmes. This pilot study evaluates the potential of "Thrive," an 8-week group art therapy program, in supporting social-emotional learning outcomes in students.

METHODS. Four focus groups (N=16) with key personnels (teachers, art therapist, support staff) and ten individual interviews with students who underwent the program were conducted. The focus groups explored program delivery and implementation, while interviews examined students' lived experiences and perceptions of the programme.

RESULTS. Students shared improvements in coping and regulation skills, general wellbeing and greater social awareness following the programme. The focus group discussions shed light on the successes and practical challenges in the implementation of such programmes within the local school setting.

DISCUSSION. This study identifies key considerations for students, practitioners, and stakeholders. Recommendations and future directions will be discussed, informing the adoption and implementation of art therapy programs in local schools.