Clinical Art Therapy and Hebrew Calligraphy: An Integration of Practices

This paper explores the process of integrating two apparently disparate practices, clinical art therapy and the rendering of Hebrew calligraphy as religious ritual. A growing body of literature that supports this attempt at integration is briefly reviewed. Following this, an exploration of the potential integration is described, discussed and analyzed. The author’s own images are viewed as an example of an image making process that is developed from a faith tradition and informed by the understandings and values of clinical art therapy. The findings of the exploration suggest that art therapy understandings have the potential to illuminate and support many kinds of practices outside of traditional mental health systems.