Why Wet Paint Art Therapy Services?
As the name implies, Wet Paint Art Therapy Services is about works in progress and the innate potential to change ourselves and mix things up. You never stop learning and growing, but sometimes, you can get stuck. I offer a variety of services including individual telehealth art therapy in New York and New Jersey, ATR and professional supervision for art therapists, continuing education courses, and virtual and in-person workshops and lectures. I have developed these services because navigating the waters of a new career (or other transition) without guidance can be frustrating at best and frightening at worst. Finding support and cultivating your strengths are necessary steps to keep your head above water. It is my sincere hope that through meaningful engagement with art and mindfulness you too can move from struggling, stuck, checked out, and scraping by to tuned in, striving, and thriving.
About Dr. Bethany Altschwager
DAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAT, LPAT
While art has always been an important part of my life, I started my career in 2007 teaching photography, graphic design, and studio art. What I found most rewarding about teaching was facilitating the creative process and giving my students the tools they needed to give visual form to their emotional expression. After a few years I realized that my passions were more closely aligned with the values of art therapy which led me to pursue my master’s degree at the School of Visual Arts. While in graduate school, I concentrated my studies on chemical and process addictions as well as the use of technology in art therapy.
My own journey through change, grief, trauma, and loss informs both my clinical and artistic work. The digital gallery features samples of my photographic work which are assembled from images of graffiti and textures of the city. Collecting these photographs has become a form of journaling, documenting moments that capture my attention in the moment and remixing them to give them new context, meaning, and form at the end of the day. Preserving images of that which, by it's nature, will be washed away, painted over, reconstructed, repaired, or torn down highlights the tension between holding on and letting go; the images in these layers break apart so they can come back together in new configurations.
Today I am a licensed creative arts therapist (LCAT) and licensed professional art therapist (LPAT) offering services in both New York and New Jersey. My doctoral dissertation explored the therapeutic potential of fiber arts in the context of shared trauma. I have been in practice for eight years and my experience includes individual and group art therapy in both community based and clinical settings for children, adults, and families, as well as professional supervision for ATR candidates. Most of my work now is with adults who experience mental health challenges including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mood disorders, personality disorders, and psychotic spectrum disorders. I have presented on the topics of art therapy and technology, attachment theory, fiber art, feminism, craftivism, collective trauma, burnout, and groups at the American Art Therapy Association National Conference, Expressive Therapies Summit in New York, Water and Stone CAT Conference, the School of Visual Arts, New York University, Mount Mary University, Caldwell University, West Liberty University, and BronxCare Health System. I serve on the board of the New York Art Therapy Association at the Continuing Education Chair.
“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.”