The Role of Art Therapy Substitutes in the Education System during Maternity Leave

Art therapists are sometimes forced to be absent from work for an extended period of time for reasons that are not known in advance, such as illness, or for planned reasons such as maternity leave. In many cases, it would be wrong to terminate therapy because of the clients’ mental state or because the goals of therapy have not yet been achieved. These clients are thus referred to a substitute therapist. The substitute therapist makes it possible to continue therapy, and often needs to contend with many complexities, such as adjusting the goals of therapy, temporarily entering a new system, resistance from clients as a result of separation from the outgoing therapist or her idealization. In addition to the inherent complexity of the process of changing therapists, art therapy has an additional layer when it comes to therapists working in schools, which stems from different worldviews between the therapeutic and educational approach, as well as the use of art during the exchange. The chapter presents a model drawing on research in this field (Raubach Kaspy, Snir, Regev & Harpazi, submitted).