Abstract

The deinstitutionalization movement has affected art therapy, along with the entire mental health care system in Canada. The shift from hospital-based care to community-based care for psychiatric patients has resulted in a subsequent expansion of community services to meet the needs of this population. The expansion of art therapy into the community is an inevitable outgrowth of deinstitutionalization. This research paper examines how art therapy has been integrated into community-based mental health facilities after deinstitutionalization. What role does art therapy play in the community and how has it been implemented? This primary question is explored through the assessment of three different community-based mental health facilities within the Montreal area. Through interviews with the art therapists from these three community-based mental health facilities, an illustration of how art therapy has been implemented is portrayed. This research paper explores the complex and challenging set of problems created for the mental health care system as formally institutionalized patients are dispersed into the community and the unique challenges that art therapists face within the deinstitutionalized setting.