Guest Post: Ten Ways Art Therapy Can Work for You

A guest post from a place I used to do art therapy at in California:  Corona Regional Medical Center  I’m glad to know they still have art therapy going on at their center.  Miss all of you!!!  Read post sent by Philip Reed

Ten ways art therapy can work for you.

Art therapy is an interesting topic because there is such a huge misconception of both what it is and who it can help. You don’t need to be an artist, or even close to it, and nor do you have to be a child who has suffered a major trauma as shown so often on TV.

Art therapy is for everyone, and offers a wide variety of positive benefits that are focused to each person’s individual needs or issues. Below are the top ten reasons that you shouldn’t discount art therapy as a tool in maintaining your mental, physical and behavioral health.

1. Art therapy allows people to give a visual representation of their feelings which can help you face or work past these feelings.
2. In a supportive environment, art therapy can help to ground people to their reality, putting the present moment front and center.
3. It can help alleviate the stress that some people feel when trying to talk about their feelings while still allowing them to express what they are going through or dealing with.
4. Art therapy can be tailored for any person, using a vast array of mediums including clay, paint, sketching, stenciling, stamping, coloring, etc. making it extremely versatile.
5. Creative expression, even for someone who is not experiencing a personal difficulty, can be very rewarding, inspiring, and cleansing.
6. There is no “right or wrong” with art therapy. You draw, paint, sculpt, or design whatever it is that you feel.
7. Widely recognized for its positive benefits, art therapy is currently used in many fields including; mental health, rehabilitation, medical or education situations and as a means of communication in everyday life.
8. When used in a rehabilitative setting, art therapy can greatly improve hand-eye coordination, body awareness, balance, and body control.
9. When used in children with behavioral health issues, art therapy can be a gentle, non-invasive and drug free method of treatment.
10. Art therapy can easily be integrated into every day life, and in fact, is practiced without conscious intent by people every single day.

Given its flexibility, versatility, and accessibility, art therapy is an amazing tool that can be utilized by people in all walks of life and can truly be the starting point to get an individual where they want to be within their mental, physical or emotional health.

Incorporating Art Therapy Into a Rape Crisis Center Presentation

I finally finished developing my presentation and online course on Incorporating Art Therapy into a Rape Crisis Center.   I’ll be presenting at the American Art Therapy Association National Conference in July in DC.  This will be a fun presentation as it is what I have been doing for the last 4 years at the Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault.

The conference itself will be rushed for me as I also am offering a master supervision group on working with sexual and domestic violence victims.   But I will get to see some of the presentations.  I get to attend an event for mentors and mentees as well.  It has been fun mentoring a young art therapist coming into the field.  Something I wish had been offered to me more formally when I was just starting; but found informally through local networking.

 

Another Art in Response to Violence presentation

This week I did two presentations, one on art in response to violence.  It did a similar presentation to the one I presented in Chicago at the Art in Response to Violence International Conference.  Again, I presented on the use of art as a tool within an anti-violence agency.  I added the use of creative writing by one of my staff with clients who had completed trauma treatment.  This presentation was at the Annual Retreat hosted by the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, held at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.  I had a great time and was happy to bring Traci with me for her writing group experience. 

I repost my thoughts about what I am doing with this presentation from a previous blog post below…..

In my work at  the Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault (RCASA), I have incorporated  artistic creation into our work in rape crisis response at three levels.  Art Therapy in incorporated into the counseling program to work with survivors of violence in the immediate aftermath of violence as well as for survivors seeking counseling many years after the event.  Art Therapy is well-recognized as an exemplary treatment modality for survivors of violence.

RCASA has also worked with survivors to create and utilize the creative voice recaptured within therapy sessions to become advocates, using art to raise awareness and reduce stigma of sexually violent crimes.  This awareness campaign was developed under the “premise that survivors can be scholars of their own experience and to explore how the humanities can contribute to our understanding of sexual violence and expression” (Art of Surviving).   This awareness campaign as well as RCASA’s use of creative writing and art groups for graduates of our counseling program is designed to work with survivors to access the power of visual media to diffuse violence and increase awareness of the impact of violence on our society as a constructive social action.  Art as an advocacy tool “at once addresses the horrors of sexual assault along with gently giving a sense of hope in survival.” (Art of Surviving and RCASA exhibit 2008).  This ties in so well with the statement made by Junge, et all (1993) “as art therapists are we too often helping people adjust to a destructive society? “

Internally to the agency, another type of trauma can be a factor in response to survivors and that is the providers themselves.  Vicarious trauma within the violence response industry results a high turnover rate of crisis responders, advocates and counselors.  Rape crisis centers focus solely on one event, sexually violent crimes.  Rape crisis responders, counselors, advocates, and educators all experience the trauma of crime vicariously in their interactions with crime, a society that still incorporates victim-blaming and disruptions in community response to such stigma-infused crimes.   Here, the staff participates in creative art making sessions with the goal of metaphoric intervention within the staff group experience.   These sessions allows rape crisis providers of all types in the agency to maintain their bond in serving victims of violence, process their own experiences in dealing with victims, families, perpetrators, the legal system, and the community in general in a creative manner that combines working through metaphor, sharing space in a healing manner and sharing words of support and empowerment.

My goal in not only incorporating art therapy as a strong and recognized treatment for victims of violence but also to work toward the goal as an art therapist working in a community center to bring that voice toward and inclusive of my community.  And as an effect, bring the voice of the survivor to the community.

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Returning to Clinical Art Therapy

For the last three years, I have taken a break from direct clinical work.  When I took the Executive Director job at the Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault, I was really the Executive and Clinical Director and held a small caseload.  The management of a non-profit;  with it’s need to raise funds;  write for and then manage grants; collect, record and report data; develop, implement, and manage programs; recruit and train volunteers; and keep up with the demands of the community to solve the particular social problem you are trying to eradicate is extensive.  I could not do both with a small and untrained staff.  I hired counselors and art therapists and moved back to just supervision of the counselors.

This year, with an improved system in place and better trained staff, I am returning to clinical work, to providing art therapy in my center.  I am looking forward to it, despite the extra work.  It is especially exciting to see the benefits of art therapy with trauma survivors.  Here at RCASA, we have the ability to see victims become survivors.  We are able to offer them a systems approach to their recovery:  crisis, medical/forensic accompaniment, legal advocacy and case management, and support group and therapy. 

I have held my identity as an art therapist for almost 20 years and I don’t think I realized what an identity it is until I stepped away from clinical work for awhile.  And how timely for me as I see the dialogues going on in the field about identity for art therapists and how are we different than counselors.  I hold both and ATR-BC and an LPC, yet I see myself as an Art Psychotherapist.  And I welcome myself back to the uniqeness of our field and the amazing things that can happen in art therapy for the healing of another.

Highlighting Resources on Art Therapy with DV victims: “Breaking the Silence: Art Therapy with Children from Violent Homes”

In 1997, Cathy Malchiodi published a book:  ”Breaking the Silence: Art Therapy with Children from Violence Homes”

Published by Brunner/Mazel

This is a seminal resource for art therapists working with children from violent homes.  Cathy writes specifically on issues inherent on working with children in shelters and issues specific to therapists trying to work in shelters.  Her book is comprehensive in it focus on all aspects of working with children of violence: assessment, clinical work, developing programs, qualifications of art therapists, and policy.

This is one of the books I use as a resource for students learning in  my rape crisis center.