Developing arts and health – Within creative-arts therapy or separately?

In support of the mission of the Journal of Applied Arts & Health, which ‘defines “health” broadly to include physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, occupational, social and community health’, this article expands upon a keynote talk for the 2013 The Arch of Arts in Health International Conference in Haifa, addressing the degree to which the established creative-arts therapy professions have focused more on mental health rather than embrace this more holistic vision of arts healing. There is an essential conflict between the creative-arts therapy position that therapeutic practice is conducted exclusively within a professional relationship by trained therapists and how arts and health engages artists, volunteers and professionals from various medical fields.