GRADUATE SCHOOL AT CNR EXPANDS ART THERAPY PROGRAM
Counseling Will Prepare Graduates for NYS Licensure

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, August 8, 2006 – The Graduate School at The College of New Rochelle today announced the expansion of the College’s existing Art Therapy program to include a master’s degree in Art Therapy/Counseling. Prospective students may apply now for enrollment in the Fall 2006 semester. 

CNR’s new program is approved by the American Art Therapy Association and accredited by the State Education Department as a Licensure Qualifying program for qualified professionals to work as Creative Arts Therapists (LCAT) in New York State.  It is also designed to meet academic training requirements in states such as New Jersey that require graduate degrees to cover certain content areas and include the word "counseling" in the degree program title. 

“For more than 36 years, the objective of the Graduate School has been to provide men and women with the education they need to succeed in the service professions,” said Dr. Guy Lometti, Dean of CNR’s Graduate School.  “The expansion of the Art Therapy program will give our graduates the tools they need to develop their respective careers, whether they prefer to work with children, adolescents, or adults in a variety of settings.”

Students currently enrolled in the M.S. in Art Therapy program at CNR may fulfill the Counseling component with the addition of three courses focused on assessment, career counseling, interviewing and counseling, and counseling the culturally diverse.  Full-time students may complete the program in two years, part-time students in three years.

According to Dr. Patricia St. John, ATR-BC, LCAT, Program Coordinator & Associate Professor of Art Therapy & Art Education at CNR’s Graduate School, national trends in the art therapy over the past two decades include:

• Licensing Requirements (although tests do vary by state)

• Growing acceptance of art therapy as a viable treatment option

•  Increasing number of master’s degree programs in the field

• More art therapy jobs especially in non-traditional settings such as prisons and residential facilities for juvenile offenders

• Greater demand for outcome oriented research demonstrating the effectiveness of art therapy

The Graduate School was founded in 1969 as a regional professional school educating men and women in the service professions as teachers and administrators, counselors, school psychologists, gerontologists, and art therapists. Today, the GS offers 25 certificate and master’s degree programs in three divisions: Human Services, with programs in Career Development, Gerontology, Guidance and Counseling, Mental Health Counseling, and School Psychology; Art & Communication Studies, with programs in Art Education, Art Therapy, Art Therapy Counseling, Studio Art, and Communication; Education, with programs in Childhood Education, Creative Teaching and Learning, Early Childhood Education, Educational Leadership, Literacy Education, Multilingual/Multicultural Education, and Special Education.