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Caldwell, N.J., March 4, 2016 – Art therapy faculty Dr. Marie Wilson and Professor Diane Quiroga are guests on Life and Living with Joanna Gagis. They explain how art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental, and emotional well-being for people of all ages. Prof. Quiroga talks about how she has been able to use art therapy in helping children heal through trauma.

They discuss the Art Therapist Licensing Act that was recently signed by Governor Christie. Prof. Quiroga, who is secretary for the NJ Art Therapy Association board, says the act will help the art therapy profession get services to those in need, work towards title protection, and most of all, make sure the public is even more protected with trained and experienced professionals. In the near future they hope consumers of art therapy will have the option to utilize their healthcare insurance.

Professor Quiroga talks about her work in providing services to children at the East Orange Child Development Corporation for East Orange Early Head Start and Head Start Programs.
Dr. Wilson is coordinator of Caldwell’s Art Therapy programs. She describes the university’s graduate program in Mental Health Counseling with Art therapy specialization which prepares students to effectively function as clinical mental health counselors and art therapists in a variety of human service settings. She explains how graduates of this program receive a master’s degree that fully satisfies the coursework requirements for licensure in New Jersey as a professional counselor and a registered art therapist through the American Art Therapy Association. Dr. Wilson says Caldwell’s program is the first and only program of this type in the nation to receive accreditation from CACREP, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, which is a prestigious accreditation in the field.

The broadcast schedule is:
Saturday, March 5 at 2 p.m. on NJTV
Sunday, March 6th at 11 a.m. on NJTV.