Great news! Last week, the New York State legislature once again sent  NY State Assembly Bill A1171A to the Governor’s desk for her signature. 

The bill, which was passed by the legislature in May, would require private insurance companies to cover mental health services. It would make it possible for services by LCATs to be reimbursed by insurance—a huge step forward in achieving parity between art therapists and other mental health professions in the state.

New York art therapists have been ardent advocates of this legislation. Watch this great testimonial video and learn how you can get involved! (Don’t live in New York? Share this with your friends and networks who do!)

Have you ever wondered how the Annual Conference comes together? It starts with all of you! The 2023 AATA Conference Call for Proposals will be opening soon and each of you are encouraged to consider submitting a proposal. 

We will also need volunteers to serve as Program Reviewers. Are you an AATA Member with an ATR-BC? Once the call ends, proposals will be sent out for blind review. Three ATR-BCs review and rate each submission. The accepted submissions determine the sessions offered at our annual conference. We need voices that represent our membership and profession. The time commitment, on average, will be less than 5 hours. I have volunteered for the last 12 years and learn so much each year through this process.  

If you are interested in volunteering to serve as a reviewer, please email Terri Cochran in the AATA National Office at tcochran@arttherapy.org. 

Take a look at the most read articles and blog posts of 2022. While some were posted in past years, they still remain important to our readers. Special thanks to our AATA members who volunteered their time to write blog posts about their work!

3 Days of Access Remaining! If you registered for one of the AATA Virtual Conferences in 2021, you can access sessions that you did not attend during the live stream via the on-demand library by Dec. 31, 2022. Click here for access to the 2021 conference sessions. If you need assistance, please email Jake Berry at jberry@arttherapy.org.

On Dec. 14, AATA members joined the art therapy community and friends and family for a Virtual Memorial. Together, we looked back in loving memory to the AATA members who passed away this year. They contributed so much to the field of art therapy and to the lives of the clients and communities they served. Please take a moment to read about them and their contributions to our profession. You can watch the Virtual Memorial here.

With the help of the Honors Working Group (and Erin Partridge, Chair); Research Committee (Jill McNutt, Chair); Scholarships Working Group (Denise Wolf, Chair); Multicultural Committee (Craig Siegel, Chair) and Journal Editor-in-Chief Jordan Potash, we celebrated this year’s scholarships, awards, and honors winners in a virtual ceremony on Dec. 14.

We are excited to share the most read articles published in the past 12 months in Art Therapy, the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. The purpose of the journal is to provide a scholarly forum to advance the understanding of how art therapy and visual art contribute to the treatment, education, development, and enrichment of people. A recognized academic publication for more than thirty years, Art Therapy uses a double-blind peer review process, including initial editor screening for appropriateness of content and quality as well as incorporation of recommendations from a review panel of at least two anonymous referees. 

1. The Effect of Mandala Coloring on State Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Siri Jakobsson Støre and Niklas Jakobsson 

2. Connecting in New Ways: Art Therapy Trainees’ Experiences of Telehealth During COVID-19
Jessica Bianchi, Brittany Benjamin Amante, Chao Zhao, Amanda D. Martin, Alejandra Hernandez and Emily Lin