Healing and Self-Care Through Art

Wingspan, Spring 2025

According to a 2024 report from the Maryland Health Care Commission, Maryland will need more than 32,000 behavioral health professionals by 2028. You may picture a behavioral health professional as a psychologist seeing patients in an office, but a meaningful career that supports mental health doesn’t have to require a doctorate or years of additional (and expensive) education. Students at AACC are finding ways to support mental health across disciplines, sometimes in fields that may surprise you.

Art isn’t always about creating – it can be about healing. Art therapy offers students a creative outlet to express emotions, reduce stress and improve mental well-being. Through art, students learn to connect with themselves in ways that traditional methods can’t always achieve.

Casey Duley, an AACC alumna, is a great example of how the power of art can transform lives. After studying studio arts at AACC, Duley is pursuing art therapy at Notre Dame, combining her passion for art with a desire to help others heal.

AACC faculty members are taking innovative steps to integrate art into mental health support. Assistant Professor Amy Carattini and Visual Arts Program Navigator Laura Pasquini are leading a Mental Health Month project where students will create emotional color landscapes inspired by Shan Shui art. This project gives students a creative outlet to process complex emotions.

For students who need to practice self-care, AACC’s ceramics, drawing, painting and sculpture courses provide a chance to relax, channel creative energy and find calm in the process of making.

By offering these diverse opportunities, AACC gives space for students to connect with their own well-being and explore how art can support mental health.

This is one section of a larger feature story about how students at AACC are finding ways to support mental health. Read the full story.