How To Become A Day Treatment Clinician/Art Therapist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a day treatment clinician/art therapist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Ron Precht

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a day treatment clinician/art therapist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.18 an hour? That's $50,287 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a day treatment clinician/art therapist?

Ron Precht

Senior Manager, American Massage Therapy Association

Generally, metropolitan areas have had more openings for massage therapists. This is a report from the end of 2019 that has the most recent data we have available. Report

ScoreDay Treatment Clinician/Art TherapistUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $50,287

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.77%

Asian 3.27%

Black or African American 6.53%

Hispanic or Latino 10.21%

Unknown 4.49%

White 74.73%

Gender

female 78.95%

male 21.05%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.0

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a day treatment clinician/art therapist

Explore day treatment clinician/art therapist education requirements

Most common day treatment clinician/art therapist degrees

Master's

50.4 %

Bachelor's

43.4 %

Associate

3.2 %

Start to develop specific day treatment clinician/art therapist skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	23.12%
Substance Abuse	8.72%
Group Therapy Sessions	7.51%
Mental Illness	6.68%
Mental Health	5.03%

Complete relevant day treatment clinician/art therapist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New day treatment clinician/art therapists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a day treatment clinician/art therapist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real day treatment clinician/art therapist resumes.

Research day treatment clinician/art therapist duties and responsibilities

Create and manage print shop, darkroom and ceramic studio for rehabilitation purposes.
Provide individual, short-term treatment and individual DBT treatment.
Attend school meetings with supervisor, including IEP and behavior meetings to promote coordination between the program and the school.
Provide strategies and interventions to support rehabilitation in educational and home settings.

Prepare your day treatment clinician/art therapist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your day treatment clinician/art therapist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a day treatment clinician/art therapist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable day treatment clinician/art therapist resume templates

Build a professional day treatment clinician/art therapist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your day treatment clinician/art therapist resume.

Apply for day treatment clinician/art therapist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a day treatment clinician/art therapist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do day treatment clinician/art therapists rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Day treatment clinician/art therapist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Cons

The insane amount of paperwork, the insurance/agency politics, the high expectations, the low amount of support. Burnout is very concerning for a profession where people in the frontline are the ones trying to make a difference. Individuals who work in this field need to have an incentive to keep pushing. I’m sorry but a kind heart and good intentions are not enough to sustain this type of career.