Minding Our P's Through Q's: Addressing Possibilities and Precautions of Community Work Through New Questions

Art therapists increasingly work outside traditional mental health treatment programs and facilitate art-making experiences within community-based settings. Although traditional mental health facilities provide frameworks for meeting ethical principles such as privacy, roles, consent to treatment, and setting therapeutic goals, community-based art therapists may require a different process for ensuring that ethical principles are met. A series of self-reflective questions posed by community-based practitioners at a 2008 gathering sponsored by the Maryland Institute College of Art offers valuable guidance to art therapists working outside traditional therapeutic settings.