In the UK the requirement for the trainee art therapist to enter into personal therapy has been mandatory since 1994 and although a number of courses have attempted to provide support, guidance and clarity regarding access to and provision of a coherent service, there has to date been no formally agreed consensus across the profession.

As practitioners working in this area we are in a position to discuss some of the complexities experienced whilst maintaining the therapeutic boundaries in a world of conscious and unconscious overlaps in the transference and countertransference relationship which develop between student and therapist; we do so using an object relations theoretical framework. We envisage that this paper will raise discussion points for the Training Institutions in the UK, the Training and Education Sub-committee in BAAT as well as providing a refreshing theoretical viewpoint for practitioners.

Key Words:

Personal therapy; complexities; transference; countertransference; student; object relations theory.

© Arthpractice.com 2005: Authors: Dave Rogers and Gary Nash (Rogers, D & Nash, G).

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