Indiana First Lady Karen Pence says she wants to promote greater use of art therapy to help treat a wide variety of mental health issues in the state. Pence is drawing from lessons learned at a Canadian art therapy training program.
On the governor’s economic development trip to Canada, Mrs. Pence visited the Toronto Art Therapy Institute, Canada’s first art therapy training program. She says the Institute, in conjunction with a local art museum, was helping victims of domestic violence. Pence says an art therapist takes her clients to the museum once a week to work with clay:
“What they discover is that through the process of creating, they have a means of expressing themselves and then she can help them deal with the emotions that they’re feeling," says the First Lady.
Pence, who also visited an art therapy center in Germany on an economic development trip, says she wants to work as a liaison, sharing lessons between Indiana’s art therapy programs and those in other countries.
“People need to understand what art therapy is," says Pence. "They also need to know that there are art therapists that they can go to. So it was interesting to hear some of the art therapists in Toronto say, ‘You know what I finally did? I just hung up a shingle and I said, “Art Therapist.”’”
Pence says the shared lessons can go both ways – she notes that therapists in Toronto talked about needing to work more with veterans. Pence says Indiana has robust veteran art therapy programs.
