An art educator trains to become a mental health counselor with the Vermont Mental Health Forgivable Loan
This story was originally published by VTDigger on April 2, 2025
In the 12 years Lydia Littwin worked as an educator at a South Burlington art studio, she taught hundreds of children in afterschool classes and summer camps. But the adult students intrigued her the most: the retired professional feeling adrift in retirement, the man recovering from a catastrophic injury.
“They weren’t there only to learn art. Yes, they wanted to paint, but on the foundation of an entire life already lived,” Lydia says. While children follow an intrinsic desire to create, she explains, that’s often overwritten as we age by the obligations of adulthood—unless we have a wound that we hope art can heal.
“Yes, I was teaching them art, but I was also, informally, a counselor,” Lydia noted. A short while later, she realized having a degree would allow her to do more of the work she loved.
Now halfway to earning her master’s in clinical mental health counseling from Vermont State University, Lydia received the Vermont Mental Health Forgivable Loan. The program, managed by VSAC and funded by the state of Vermont, forgives one year of student loan debt for every year the student works in Vermont’s mental health field post-graduation.
