A Lifeline for New Yorkers in Crisis

As a social worker on an acute psychiatric unit in the Bronx, I see every day how creative arts therapists make a profound difference in the lives of some of our city’s most vulnerable residents. It’s time for Gov. Kathy Hochul to make creative arts therapy accessible outside the hospital as well, by signing A3319 into law.

It’s easy to tell someone living with mental illness to “use their coping skills.” But for many of my patients — people who have cycled in and out of hospitals for years — those skills were never taught, or they simply don’t work in the face of overwhelming trauma, addiction or grief. 

That’s where creative arts therapy steps in.

Licensed creative arts therapists, or LCATs, use art, music and movement to help patients express what words often cannot capture. I’ve seen individuals who could barely participate in talk therapy find their voice through drumming, painting or role-play. For those weighed down by trauma too painful to articulate, or by addiction so consuming it silences everything else creative expression becomes not just therapeutic, but lifesaving.

And now, New York state can mandate commercial health insurance to cover this vital service.

Yet despite its proven effectiveness, creative arts therapy remains underutilized and undervalued in our health system. Too many New Yorkers are shut out of access because commercial insurers refuse to cover the services of licensed creative arts therapists. This makes little sense, especially when we know these interventions can reduce crisis episodes, prevent rehospitalizations and ultimately save lives and costs.

At a time when our state faces an unprecedented mental health crisis, we need every tool at our disposal. Creative arts therapy is not an “extra.” It is an evidence-based, transformative treatment that deserves recognition, reimbursement and expansion.

As someone working on the front lines, I urge lawmakers, insurers and fellow New Yorkers to recognize the power of this profession. Creative arts therapy meets people where they are and gives them a path forward. Everyone deserves access to that kind of healing.

Maria Patuhas, LMSW,
Social worker practicing in the Bronx