Introduction: Nature-based art therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses natural elements and settings to promote well-being and health through creative expression, facilitated by a professional art therapist. Interest in nature-based mental health approaches surged, particularly following the COVID-19 lockdowns, as research highlights nature’s role in health restoration and sustainability. Despite growth in the field, a comprehensive overview of nature-based art therapy remains absent. This scoping review aimed to map the research landscape and identify the thematic scope within this emerging field.Methods: A systematic search following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines across the ProQuest, SAGE, Scopus, Taylor & Francis, and ScienceDirect databases identified 11 publications that address art therapy involving nature and are published in English.Results: The review identified four key themes: areas of focus, nature engagement, core elements, and challenges in nature-based art therapy. The areas of focus encompassed overall mental health and well-being, emotion regulation and stress management, cognitive development, social bond and support, self-discovery and personal growth, trauma and grief management, creative self-expression, and environmental sustainability. The core elements, such as artwork, materials, and therapy settings, were identified. Although nature-based therapy, involving both direct and indirect nature engagement, described promising benefits, specific challenges, including complexities in client assistance, constraints in nature access, psychosocial and cultural barriers, and risk management, were also highlighted.Discussion: This scoping review provides a comprehensive framework for understanding nature-based art therapy and underscores the need for further theoretical and practical evidence-based development in this field.

Digital competency is becoming increasingly vital in psychological practice, yet consensus is lacking on the specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for effective technology integration in psychological care and therapeutic settings. Existing frameworks primarily focus on telepsychology and telehealth, neglecting broader psychological practice. This scoping review addresses this gap by synthesizing relevant literature, identifying key digital competencies, evaluating existing frameworks, and highlighting gaps to inform the development of an integrated competency framework for psychologists. A PRISMA-ScR guided research was conducted in August 2024 across seven major databases: Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest One Academic, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Taylor & Francis Online, and EBSCOhost. Two independent reviewers screened 577 articles, of which 19 met the inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis identified eleven digital competencies, hierarchically grouped into five key domains: technical, ethical and legal, digital practice, training and research, and infrastructure and equity. By mapping these competencies and highlighting gaps in existing frameworks, this study provides a structured basis for developing standardized competency models. This ensures that future frameworks incorporate the necessary skills and knowledge for psychologists to navigate evolving technologies, AI integration, and cross-cultural digital practice effectively.

Art therapy assessment benefits from analytical clarity while preserving non-directive, process-sensitive practice. Although the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC) is widely used to conceptualize sensory, affective, cognitive, and symbolic processes in art-making, ETC-informed assessment often relies on implicit clinical reasoning, limiting transparency and interdisciplinary communication. This article presents the developmental stage of a protocol-based Expressive Therapies Continuum Assessment Profile (ETC-AP) developed at Rīga Stradiņš University. The ETC-AP differentiates activation and inhibition patterns around integration midpoints and organizes observation in a defined five-step interpretive sequence without positioning the method as a psychometrically validated test. It combines (i) a uniform three-task, non-directive administration with a brief post-task inquiry; (ii) criteria-guided coding of observable features across three artworks and process notes; and (iii) 0–100 descriptive profile indicators to support within-case pattern description and professional dialogue. An illustrative case vignette shows how the ETC-AP can generate trauma-informed, regulation-oriented hypotheses about channel accessibility and cautious regulation-oriented sequencing, while remaining subordinate to clinical judgment and context. Key boundaries include incomplete operational coverage in some inhibition ranges, limits of static documentation for process-dependent markers, and the need for structured training materials and programmatic studies of reliability, feasibility, and sensitivity to change.

Arts therapies are increasingly recognized for their effectiveness in mental health care, as digital technologies rapidly transform service delivery and accessibility. However, competencies required for arts therapists to implement digital mental healthcare remain under-researched. This study aims to identify and map these competencies and align them with relevant digital domains and clusters. A scoping review following PRISMA-ScR and Arksey and O'Malley's five-step framework used systematic searches in PubMed, Scopus, and ProQuest to comprehensively map relevant studies. This scoping review identified 49 unique digital competencies for arts therapists in adult mental health care, systematically organized into 12 domains across three clusters: Digital Foundations, Digital Clinical Practice, and Digital Engagement & Management. The most frequently represented domains were Patient-centred applications and education, Remote care, and Clinical care, with competencies such as digital patient engagement, remote patient monitoring, and digital therapeutic systems most often cited. This scoping review establishes a foundational competency framework for arts therapists in digital mental healthcare, guiding practice standardization, education, and future research.

This study explored how the professional identity of psychologists was shaped during the crisis period characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerated digitalisation, and the war in Ukraine. Drawing on an existential-dialectical framework, the research examined how psychologists navigated practical contradictions and existential tensions involving meaning, purpose, and professional significance during widespread disruption. The qualitative study included 45 experienced Latvian psychologists (M = 47.13 years, 87% women) who began practising before the pandemic. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted in October-November 2022. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to identify patterns of professional identity transformation, with particular attention to dialectical tensions and existential challenges. Five themes emerged: (1) reconciling traditional practices with crisis-driven changes, where remote work created boundary challenges while proving effective; (2) balancing emotional vulnerability and professional responsibility, as rising demand intensified both strain and professional value; (3) navigating isolation and collaboration through enhanced supervision and peer support; (4) evolving professional practices through creativity and functional adaptations; and (5) experiencing professional growth through strengthened commitment despite initial uncertainty. The findings demonstrate that professional identity transformation during the crisis period involves navigating universal dialectical tensions while addressing existential challenges of meaning and purpose. Psychologists adaptively integrated reflective practices, digital competencies, and self-care strategies. The study contributes to professional identity literature by demonstrating that the crisis period serve as catalysts for comprehensive identity transformation, fostering more adaptive, reflective, and resilient professional identities through resolving both practical contradictions and existential uncertainties.