Art therapy contractor questions
I work as a part-time therapeutic fitness instructor at an inpatient hospital. It’s a for-profit hospital and they’ve been focused on keeping groups up for as long as I’ve worked there which is about six months. I facilitate 5-6 groups a day doing pay I educational content and nervous system regulation.
My modality is therapeutic yoga and specifically somatic therapy. I teach a lot of progressive muscle relaxation, and a bunch of different types of meditation.
Recently when children have been coming into my groups overly activated, I’ve given up on movement altogether and we’ve been doing art projects definitely crossing the line into expressive therapy.
Yesterday my boss approached me and asked if I would replace half of my sessions each month from somatic work with expressive/art therapy. While I like art therapy but I feel that it’s not where my core training is. while I can come up with a plan and a list for supplies that I’m going to need I’m really thinking about the logistics and legally of this request.
I’m an artist. I’m finishing up my graduate degree in clinical mental health and I’m happy to do this work, but I am not trained as an expressive therapist and I feel out of my legal lane by management’s new request.
First concern: INSURANCE. I am a contractor. My fitness licenses and certifications allow me to work as a somatic therapist because it is movement therapy I carry appropriate insurance for that. Do I need to ask about being added to their insurance policy if I am doing something not covered by my insurance policy? That would make sense to me has anyone else in this group been in this situation?
Sencond Concern: LICENSE i’m going to be sitting for my exam when I graduate in 27. What, if any, legal requirements are there for me to work as an expressive therapist? I’m working under his masters degree but I don’t want to do anything that ethically disrupts my future work as an LMHC ethically.
I could be overthinking this. I keep feeling that there is something that should keep me from working as an art therapist legally. Is this just my special rules brain creating a boundary where there is none?
Note: I do NOT want to refer to myself as an art therapist. I am more concerned about the liability insurance. I tried asking this question over on the therapist forum and they booted me for not being a therapist which was a little frustrating considering the nature of my question.