On
August 23, 2018 the Virginia Board of Health Professions (BHP) voted to
recommend licensure for art therapists in the state of Virginia.
Following years of advocacy work and a full year in the formal sunrise
review process, a group of art therapists gathered to witness history
unfold in the field of art therapy. After the BHP’s Regulatory Research
Committee made their final recommendations and “concluded that all
criteria [for state regulation] were met,” the Committee voted unanimously to “adopt a separate license for Art Therapists to practice in Virginia.” Read the draft meeting minutes here.
Gretchen
Graves; Carol Olson, LPC, ATR-BC, VATA President; and Leila Saadeh, MS,
ATR-BC, VATA Vice President after attending meetings of the BHP
Regulatory Research Committee and the Full Board on August 23, 2018.
The
process began in August 2017, when the Virginia Art Therapy Association
(VATA) submitted a 30-page application to the BHP Regulatory Research
Committee requesting a review into the need to regulate art therapists
in the state of Virginia, initiating what is known as a “sunrise
review”, in which BHP staff conduct a study using seven criteria to
determine whether lack of regulation of the profession in question poses
harm to the public and to investigate the economic impact of
regulation. The BHP Regulatory Research Committee created a thorough Study Workplan,
which involved several meetings, holding a public hearing and open
comment period, and creating two editions of their report, “Study into the Need to Regulate Art Therapists in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Immediately following the BHP Regulatory Research Committee meeting on August 23, the full Board met and voted
on the motion “to accept the recommendation of the Regulatory Research
Committee to license Art Therapists in Virginia.” Eight members voted in
favor and one in opposition to the motion.
Of the eight states in
which AATA chapters have engaged in sunrise review processes, favorable
results in two states were achieved without going through the full
sunrise review process – with Arizona adopting legislation providing for
state hiring and title protection for art therapists, and the Utah
Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing determining that art
therapy master’s training met the education requirement to qualify for
the Clinical Mental Health Counselor license. However, Virginia
is the first state were art therapists have undergone the full sunrise
review process and received a determination that a separate art therapy
license is necessary to protect the public!
The AATA is
optimistic that this recommendation will not only pave the way for art
therapy licensure in Virginia but also have a positive impact in other
states where art therapists are pursuing licensure, and at least 4 states where art therapists are currently engaged in sunrise review processes.
Thank
you to all the art therapists in Virginia for the sustained effort
required to achieve this accomplishment for the profession! We look
forward to continuing to collaborate with VATA as we push for licensure
in Virginia, now with the endorsement from the BHP.
