Creative arts therapy classes at the U. help those interested in the field

SALT LAKE CITY— University of Utah President Taylor Randall has called on his faculty and staff to create more opportunities for community engagement, provide the community with what it asks for, and meet the community where it is.

The U.’s College of Fine Arts has long answered this call, offering public performances across its disciplines and having students performing in schools across the Salt Lake Valley, working with children, painting murals, and leading orchestras. Now, the college is calling on area professionals and intrigued residents to enroll in a set of classes within the creative arts therapy field, beginning in January of 2025, in response to a growing need and request from current therapists.

“Utah is almost overwhelming in the amount of art that exists in the area,” said Emily Polichette, an expressive therapy program specialist for Huntsman Mental Health Institute and a music therapist at the institute. People like to engage in arts recreationally here, but we need people to engage in it clinically as well. These classes can help create an infrastructure for training and education that we have been lacking.”

Courses in the Creative Arts Therapy suite are intended for those who work or are interested in learning more about four of the five areas of the field — art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, and dance/movement therapy. (The fifth area is poetry therapy, but a class will not be offered). These are clinical classes, meaning that this is a hands-on opportunity to learn about the field; there will be no lectures.

Those who study creative arts therapies generally work in hospitals, schools, residential facilities, behavioral health locations, veterans centers, and more. The American Art Therapy Association as well as the National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Association both report that more creative art therapists are needed and the Bureau of Labor Statistics agrees. The bureau does not have information specifically about Utah, but with only 15,000 coalition members, and 6,120 general hospitals in the U.S., and 88,925 elementary schools available as employment locations, the need will only grow.

Without any graduate-level creative arts therapies program in Utah — that provides growth in each of the five modalities — those interested in pursuing this career field or research area have to leave the state to do so. As such, the state loses the potential of having students stay and work in an area many call home.

“We have some work to do here in Utah but I’m positive we can get there,” said Becky Zarate, the U.’s assistant dean for research in the college and the director of the Arts and Health Innovation Lab. “We’re offering this to the community to help build capacity … to fill jobs that are needed, engage in more research in higher education. This is evidence-based work so we want to educate people about that as well.”

The classes are open to students and also members of the public. Seats have been set aside for the community; the public can enroll through the community education program at the U. There are four classes — one for each area — but attendees need only to enroll in the class most connected to their area of interest. The classes will be given in a hybrid format with most classes on Zoom with class participants coming to the U. on three Saturdays throughout the spring semester.

When talking to creative arts therapists in the area, they have each said that, although they came to the field differently, they have grown passionate about it and encouraged others to pursue careers as therapists. They only wish people did not have to do what they did: travel out of their home state for this career.

U. officials have hopes of one day creating a master’s program in creative art therapies, but for now they will work with the community to determine what they need, what they want, and how to keep every action sustainable.

“So much can come from these classes,” Zarate said. “These classes are designed for the community. Whether you are a clinician — working therapist — or a guidance counselor in a high school wanting to learn more about creative arts therapies, this is for you.”

Those interested in enrolling in a Creative Arts Therapies suite at the University of Utah can visit https://continue.utah.edu/.