Therapists were added to the educational staff after the special education law was passed in 1988. The law determined that schools should provide children with both education and emotional support. Since then, there are children who have received help in school from art therapists together with counseling or psychological support.
Art therapy is a therapy where you can talk to the therapist and use art materials in order to express feelings that one experiences. With the help of art therapy one is able to examine his actions and learn how to deal with different experiences. Even when we dream, we talk to ourselves in shapes and colors. It is the natural form in which we can communicate with ourselves and solve problems that occur in our lives. Art therapy can bring out the strength to cope with stress, distress and confusing things that happen to us daily.
Art therapy in a hospital has special characteristics. Sometimes the therapy takes place in the art therapist's room and the meeting is only with one child at a time. Sometimes therapy takes place in places where there are other patients. For example, when a child cannot get out of bed, the art therapy session takes place in the ward, next to the sick child's bed. Sometimes, when it is difficult for children to receive medical treatment, the meeting between the therapist and the child will take place in the nurse's or doctor's room. There are times when a child is worried and anxious before an examination so the therapist will come to meet with the child outside the examination room. The work of an art therapist in the hospital requires flexibility and creativity.
The art therapist walks around with a special cart that contains art materials. Wherever the art therapist is in the hospital, she is able to create a therapeutic environment. The therapist works together with the medical staff, focusing on issues related to coping with illness and reducing trauma, stress and anxieties related to the medical treatment or to the hospitalization of the child.