“Becoming a Shapeshifter”: Towards Developing Best Practice Guidelines for Arts Therapies Outside of Private Practice in South Africa

Abstract

The arts therapies are regulated professions in South Africa. Although the Health Professions Council does produce a scope of practice for the profession, there are no guidelines for best practice, particularly for practitioners working outside of private practice and in developing contexts where the scope is broad, the needs pervasive, and practice is extensive. Through six focus group discussions and two in-depth interviews with 20 arts therapists working outside of private practice, we explored how they are working (including the challenges and ethical dilemmas they encounter), how they respond to these challenges and dilemmas, what resources they use, and how they perceive their roles and responsibilities. Through gathering and analysing this data via thematic analysis, we sought to develop guidelines for best practice in these contexts. We propose and discuss eight best practice guidelines for responsive and responsible arts therapies practice-in-context, discussing their rationale and application. These guidelines may be useful for all practitioners seeking to work in ways that are sensitively responsive to context.