American Art Therapy Association, Inc.

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American Art Therapy Association, Inc.
11160-C1 South Lakes Drive, Suite 813
Reston, VA 20191

PHONE: 1-888-290-0878

E-mail: info@arttherapy.org


President's Message

Peg Dunn-Snow, PhD, ATR-BC, AATA President, American Art Therapy Association

Peg Dunn-Snow, PhD, ATR-BC, AATA President
American Art Therapy Association

Hello AATA Members:

Your Board of Directors has been working hard and effectively for AATA, and on your behalf, since they were installed at the Annual Business Meeting in Albuquerque last November.

Board of Directors Winter Meeting and Retreat

On its conference call in December 2007, the Board agreed that a face-to-face meeting in February was important to give old and new Board members an opportunity to become a working team and to provide a setting in which decisions could be made to ensure the continuation of services to members as AATA continued its transition as an organization.

In January, following a search, the Board hired a facilitator for the meeting and a retreat planning team was formed. Together the facilitator and the team created the agenda for the day and half meeting. The team cross-referenced Board and member priorities and identified several goals for the meeting, a number of which were already in stages of being accomplished.

Preparations for the meeting included a survey of Board members and a confidential phone and email survey of a randomly selected list of 100 AATA members. The survey yielded a 25 percent response-return rate to the following questions:

1. What attracts you to be a member of AATA?
2. What does AATA do well in you opinion?
3. What do you think is most important for the membership and leadership to consider for the next two-to-five years of AATA's organizational life?
4. If you could improve one AATA membership benefit what would it be?
5. Is there anything else you would like to communicate to the Board?

The Board's Ad Hoc Committee on National Office Issues formed in late 2007 reported its findings during the Board meeting. It had been charged with making recommendations for 2008 on AATA's ongoing transition as a national membership organization. A motion was carried to accept the committee's recommendations at the meeting.

The Board also approved a revised contract for American Counseling Association (ACA) services to support AATA operations. The new agreement concluded ACA's role as a provider of AATA national office services, including day-to-day contact with AATA members and the public. To fill this need, the Board approved the hiring of a new national office administrator.

At the conclusion of the February meeting, the Board adopted the following goals as priorities for 2008 that will be linked to the AATA Strategic Plan during its spring board meeting in April:

1. Providing more communication with each other and the membership;
2. Continuing to put AATA on a sound financial track while negotiating the final phase of the major transition of the organization, that began in 2006.
3. Completing the edits for 2006 and 2007 in AATA Policy and Procedures Manual;
4. Building a vision of the AATA national office that encompasses shared philosophy and pragmatics;
5. Supporting and achieving title protection for art therapists in each state.

The meeting was an intensive, non-stop working session for AATA's 11 Board members, who participated in developing an historical AATA timeline to chart the major changes in our profession and association. The Board found that events on the timeline were linked to a particular AATA presidency and that conflict often was a catalyst for change in the organization. As a result, most changes in AATA were met with a reaction versus a well-planned response. The process enabled the Board to identify many current and future opportunities for AATA and art therapy, which were instrumental in helping the Board set its 2008 goals.

As improved communications was another underlying goal of the meeting, the Board practiced the art of collaboration on real-time Board decisions throughout the weekend. The Board is committed to strengthening the practice of collaboration in an atmosphere of collegial respect and integrity. The Board developed a Code of Conduct in the area of communication that included but was not limited to face-to-face board meetings, conference board calls and emails. They are determined to model a positive change in the AATA culture, its leadership, and in the organization to reverse a trend that one AATA member described in our phone survey as: "the contentious culture and disrespect we have for each other that is often seen and felt by those who attend and participate at the annual AATA business meetings every the year."

Working with an outside facilitator at the meeting helped to bring a sense of objectively to what the Board actually accomplished during the retreat. Below is some of the feedback the Board received from the facilitator at the end of the meeting:

"Yesterday [Saturday] I saw you go from a 'group' of old and new board members to a 'team'. The difference is in your awareness of operating with a shared goal and in an interdependent manner" Using Bruce Tuckman's model of Stages of Team Development (forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning) I saw you move from "forming" to "storming" and "norming", with evidence of "performing" during your Board meeting on Sunday morning. While you will be "performing" in the coming months, I think it would be natural to expect that you will continue to "storm" (work with diverse ideas and points of view) and "norm" (choose how to collaborate to reach a view of consensus).

Yesterday I also received a real glimpse of your calling as art therapists. I heard it arising from within each of you, and from your AATA members. I would like to describe to you what I heard and why it became even clearer to me why your work as a Board is so important right now.

  • As artists, you imagine, you choose a form of expression, you honor and make time for the creative process. You share what is expressed in whatever way you feel is meaningful, and those who experience your expression further reveal meaning.
  • As those involved in healing, you facilitate the telling of stories, the allowing of unheard voices, the naming and mending of past wounds, and you facilitate making room for a new story, for discovering new possibilities and making new choices.
  • At this point in time, I feel your calling as art therapists related to the shift you are being invited to make in how your Board will work. In fact, this may be one of those moments in the timeline that delivers to you the opportunity to heal whatever is unhealed from the ancestral lineage of AATA Boards, and truly open up new possibilities for AATA and for the field.
  • Even more I feel that the whole world needs you to make this shift and heal the past and create a new story. The world needs you to demonstrate how to" have power with" instead of "power over and under". The world needs your imagination, your commitment to unheard voices, your ability to facilitate new awareness and meaning.
  • My challenge to you is to make the work you do on this Board a work of art, a work of healing. Be the Board you want AATA to have."
    • - Dorie Blesoff (facilitator)

    The Board also evaluated their retreat experience by ranking the most valuable activities over the weekend. The majority of the Board responses said that while the Board meeting was the most important activity over the weekend, the success of the business session was directly related to the retreat activities the day before. As one board member wrote after the retreat, "We are a diverse board, but through the retreat, we developed respect for what each person brings to the table and a recognition that each member is committed to the same mission."

    The February meeting prepared the Board to facilitate the progress it now needed to move AATA and our profession forward, and we are looking forward to a productive and successful 2008. Specific areas of the Board's focus in 2008 will be:

  • Protecting the identify of art therapists through supporting changes in federal and state legislation;
  • Continuing to strengthen relationships with the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB) The National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations (NCCATA), and other affiliate associations and organizations such as the Society for the Arts in Healthcare (SAH), the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Alliance of Pupil Service Organizations (NAPSO);
  • Increasing the use of technology to provide better membership benefits through the AATA Website;
  • Establishing a full financial portfolio and AATA foundation; and
  • Continuing the support of research in the field of art therapy.

    • AATA Committee Activities

    There are also many AATA committee activities currently taking place that have individual Board liaisons who support the chairs and the members of these volunteer-run committees. The 2008 spring issue of the AATA Newsletter will feature updates on committee activities.

    New Board Member Appointment

    Gladys Agell and Savneet Talwar, as AATA Treasurer, were appointed to complete Board vacancies created by the resignations of Susan Spaniol and Don Cutcher. The Board appreciates the commitment of all AATA member volunteers, is grateful to Gladys and Savneet for stepping forward to serve, and acknowledges and thanks Susan and Don for their board service in 2007.

    Many Tributes to Bob Ault Past-President of AATA Are Being Planned

    The death of Bob Ault, AATA's beloved past-President, on February 5, 2008 was a significant loss to AATA and art therapy. In memory of Bob, a memorial candle stayed lit during the entire Board and retreat meeting that was held during the weekend following Bob's death. The candle was later given to Bob's widow Marilyn. In Bob's honor, the AATA archives at Emporia State University have been named the Robert Ault Archives of the American Art Therapy Association. A copy of the eulogy given at Bob's funeral by art therapist Libby Schmanke will be printed in the 2008 spring issue of the AATA Newsletter. A special tribute to Bob is being planned in a future issue of the AATA Journal and plans to remember Bob at the annual memorial service at the 2008 AATA Conference in November are already underway.

    The next President's letter will highlight AATA's participation in the NCCATA sponsored Hill Day on March 13, 2008 and the Board's activities at the 2008 spring Board meeting.



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