Hello and welcome to the first newsletter from TAT - The Art Therapy Co-op
For those who might be new to us:
We are a collective of art therapists building a movement for fairer therapeutic services and working against exploitative practices in the so called ‘caring’ sectors.
Fundamental to our mission is that the needs of workers and those seeking therapy are of equal, mutual and reciprocal value. Which ever side of the therapy room you sit on, we all face the compounding, disenfranchising and violent structural tools of oppression and subjugation used to prop up neoliberal capitalist systems. In order to work in resistance to these systems and structures we need to work in solidarity with each other, as equal partners with shared demands and desires.
The co-op seeks to model anti-oppressive approaches to therapeutic practice both within the therapy room and in the structures of how we operate. And outside the therapy room we hope to empower workers across our sector and beyond.
Save The Date!
09/11/24 - ANTI BAAT - LARC Whitechapel
62 Fieldgate Street, London. E1 1ES.
If like us you are; economically unable to attend your professions conference, struggle to access CPD, feel disenfranchised by sector bodies, and are interested in a new way of doing things then join us for Anti Baat.
Falling alongside the BAAT’s (British association of art therapists) 2024 conference (costing a whopping £220), we are holding our first Anti-conference, open to all creative arts therapists to explore a new and accessible approach to this type of collective event - and most importantly it’s free (but donation are great welcome to cover costs).
This first event will be held at LARC in Whitechapel, East london and will be a casual collaborative affair. We didn’t want to set up our own conference and dictate to you how it would run, we want to facilitate a space to explore, discuss, expand and action what we want to build for 2025. We will have art materials, space to make as well as discuss together. Please feel free to bring anything along including food and beverages to share.
We will then have some tables booked at a pub nearby for a social - you are welcome to join us for any or all of this event. So if you just want to join us for a drink you're more than welcome!
If you can please RSVP here:
Up Next:
NAW - Not A Workshop
There have been lots of changes in circumstances to the TAT community which means we might be a bit slower in getting our next events together, but we are planning on holding another Not A Workshop in early 2025. Following the sad closure of the Carers Common Room we will be looking for another space to hold this event, if you have any leads (especially places that can offer for free) please let us know.
If you have attended a previous event we would love to hear any feedback, thoughts comments, images or creative responses - thearttherapycoop@gmail.com or click bellow.
Looking forward….
We have an exciting, creative project piecing together that we want you to be a part off, we’ll share with you in our next sub-stack, so stay tuned for that.
Thank you for reading and joining the TAT community! We would really appreciate if you can share our substack to reach more workers and supporters.