Art Therapy For The Children of a Wounded World
Introduction
Since the Stone Age, Art has played an integral role in the way human beings express their emotions and share their stories. (Clottes, 2023) From cave paintings, art has evolved into sculptures, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, literature, poetry, drawings, photography, videography, and, perhaps most importantly, childrens art. Of all the activities children are known for, art is most certainly at the top of the list. Most, if not all, adults who live and work with children have been the honored recipients of a craft or art piece that has been hand made by a child especially for them. Art seems to be the main mode of gift giving and expressions of gratitude and affection for children. Yet, art is also a means by which children work out their bigger feelings and ideas larger than life. When children are faced with emotions and concepts that they yet have the language to express, they seem to quite literally “take to the drawing board” to express themselves.
Art Therapy As An Outlet For The Children of a Wounded World
In a world beset by an onslaught of violence, wars, political upheaval, racial tensions, ever changing trends and matters of opinion, children, despite how much we may try to shield them, are thrown head first into a disorienting and wounded world that has little to no space for their playful innocents. In 2021 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System found that, in the 10 years leading up to the pandemic, feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness, as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviors have increased by about 40% among our nation’s youth. (Abrams, 2023) In a 2020 survey conducted by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, using 1,000 parents from across the United States, found that 71% of parents observed that the pandemic had negatively impacted their child’s mental health, and 69% expressed that the pandemic was the most traumatic thing to happen to their child. (Abramson, A. 2022)
As for our post pandemic world, children have only been given more of a disadvantage. Educators the world over have noticed a “gap” in the development of their students, especially among the youngest. Almost 2-3 years of critical social development for toddlers, preschoolers, and school aged children were spent in lockdown and isolation. The effects of which will most certainly be studied for years to come. Now, coming out of the pandemic, methods for helping the children of a wounded world express themselves are needed perhaps more than ever. This is where art finds its crucial place in the story of the children of a wounded world.
The healing power of artistic expression has been known and felt by human beings since those early cave paintings of more than 40,000 years ago. (Clottes, 2023) As a formal practice, art therapy can trace its origins to mid-20th century Europe and the British artist Adrian Hill in 1942. Hill lived in a time not unlike our own. In the 1940’s thousands suffered from the spread of tuberculosis. Hill observed that art gave a creative outlet to patients which gifted them with a sense of freedom from the confines of their condition and renewed in them the creative powers of their “spiritual essence” as Hill puts it. After publishing his findings, the practice of art therapy soon spread to mental hospitals where Edward Adamson studied the connection between artistic expression and emotional release. At the same time, art therapy was being practiced in the United States by Margaret Naumburg and artist Edith Kramer. Kramer would go on to lay out the groundwork for art therapy in education. (Adelphi Psych Medicine Clinic, 2017)
In our own day, art therapy has become a staple practice among school social workers and psychologists for understanding and aiding children in mapping out their inner world, as well as a means of processing the troubles and challenges of the exterior world. Marygrace Berberian, LCAT, ATR-BC, LCSW explains:
“Art Therapy services in schools have effectively responded to the diverse and ever changing needs of students. Students have been aided by the capacity of art making to restore healthy functioning and provide mastery amidst feelings of helplessness. Art therapy presents an effective means to address these issues since students are offered an outlet to channel their anxiety and aggression into the art making process. The symbolic images that are generated allow students a capacity to express feelings and ideas regarding psychological conflicts and life experiences that are too emotionally loaded for verbal communication.” (Keane, 2017)
Art Therapy, now more than ever, has the potential to offer a healing balm to the children of a wounded world. As children are faced with the continual challenge of living in a world of information, that feels like it is moving faster than the speed of light, art therapy offers an opportunity to slow down and process. The following sections of this paper will explore the practical implications of art therapy from my personal experience working with youth and adolescents.
Methods of Art Therapy
While I am by no means a professional Art Therapist, I use practical methods and exercises of art therapy when working with children to engage their creativity and help them process the challenging emotions, concepts, and social constructs they face in our diverse and ever changing world. As 6th-12th grade art teacher Chelsea Solano writes “…art therapy is psychotherapy using ‘art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork as a therapeutic and healing process.’ Within this process, art therapists diagnose and treat impairments. Art therapy can only be done by a licensed art therapist. Art teachers cannot use art to diagnose students’ disorders. However, we can use therapeutic practices. Therapeutic practices are strategies to promote healing and social-emotional learning. As an art teacher, you can apply them in many different ways.” (Solano, 2023) Art therapy has vital tools for anyone to put into use when working with children be they a social worker, school psychologist, therapist, camp counselor, teacher, or full time Art Therapist. The primary methods I use in my work with children as a counselor at Neighborhood Music School’s summer arts program known as Audubon Arts are visual art, creative writing, and dance. (Audubon Arts at Neighborhood Music School, 2023)
Working with program participants on a group level with the assistance and participation of my fellow councilors and guided by the art therapy principle of creativity which focuses on cultivating imagination for furthering understanding of self, others and the world as well as supporting the creative processes, decision-making and problem solving, as well as, meaning-making and healing (Committee, 2013), we have be able to create some amazing and deeply meaningful art projects with participants.
Family Stories ~ Visual Art
Our 21st century world is incredibly diverse and family units are no different. Families come in all shapes and sizes with varying cultural norms, beliefs, and practices. One of the most important gifts we can give to the children in our lives is to help appreciate the uniqueness of their own family and teach them to accept, respect and include family units they may view as “different” from their own. (Horizons, 2023)
I and my colleague Anna Wooton decided to take on this challenge with our younger school aged participants in a three part “workshop” on family diversity. We broke the “workshop” up into three days to give participants time to digest the information given. The first day I read participants the book And Tango makes three (Richardson, Parnell, 2012) an exciting story of two male penguins who adopt an abandoned egg and raise it as their own. The reading was followed by a participant-led discussion of what they learned from the story. The next day my colleague read participants the book A mother for Choco (Kasza, 1996) which follows the story of a baby bird in search of his mother who, in the end, is adopted by a mother bear and her family of many different animals. A similar participant-led discussion followed. On the final day participants were asked to draw a picture of their own family. Following the drawing period, participants were invited to share who and what they drew and how their family is special and unique to them.
After the three part “workshop” participants expressed feeling included and represented by doing the activity. One participant who is in a family with two fathers expressed that they felt “safer” talking about their family with others and even “more proud” of the uniqueness of their family unit. Many of the participants were eager to take their family portraits home to give as a gift to their parents and guardians.
Telling Our Own Stories As Mythology ~ Creative Wringing
Legend and myth have been an essential means of human storytelling since antiquity. Our oldest and most important works of literature are mythological works. From Homer’s Odyssey to the Hebrew Bible, mythology shapes our culture and helps frame the way we think about the world and ourselves. A question most pertinent to ask ourselves in this age is “what kind of mythology am I believing? What kind of stories shape my world?” Is it the catastrophic stories of news outlets, social media and television? For many children, these are some of the only stories they have to work with. One of the most important lessons we can teach the children of a wounded world is that there are other stories than the doomsday narratives blaring from their mobile devices. And, perhaps even more importantly, we can show them that they have the power to create their own story.
I decided to take on this challenge in a creative exercise with my high school aged participants in which they created their own mythological stories. The exercise consisted of an opening discussion in which participants identified places where they had encountered mythology in their own lives. Participants listed things such as cultural and religious stories, television shows, books, etc. After which I read a few short stories from the book Tales of East Africa (Okubo, 2020). Participants then took to pen and paper and were tasked with writing their own legend or myth. After the writing period was finished participants were invited to share what they had written according to their comfortability.
The stories written were compelling and brilliant. One participant wrote a marvelous legend in which they told the story of how animals once ruled the earth as intelligent beings while humans lived as unintelligent animals. The animals guarded a secret fountain of wisdom from human beings which, if they were to drink of it, would become intelligent like the animals. Their legend ends with humans drinking the water and then poisoning the animals’ water supply with a potion which would take away their intelligence. Other such brilliant and well thought out stories were written by the participants, many of whom kept their stories in journals to expand upon them later.
Italian Folk Dance ~ Dance & Movement
Human beings have been dancing for as long as we could stand on two legs. Dancing to music with others in a rhythmic pattern has been known to alleviate feelings of isolation and stress as well as help to build a sense of unity among a group of people. This is why nearly every culture the world over has some form of communal dance ritual. From Greek dance festivals to the whirling dervishes of the Middle East, communal dancing has been part of the human experience from our earliest origins. Children, often full of energy and enthusiasm, are in desperate need of creative outlets for their energy. Dance is not only good for this purpose but also for relieving the feelings of isolation experienced by so many young people in this age.
I decided to take on this challenge in an exercise with my younger school aged participants in which we explored the art of Italian folk dance. The exercise began with a brief explanation of Italian folk dance, in particular the dance of the fishing nets that we would be performing together. Using a medium size decorative fishing net laden with sea shells, participants grabbed a hold of the fishing net and spread out in a circle. Then, as Italian music played, participants shook the net up and down and danced while moving in a clockwise motion until the leader shouted “Hey!” at which point they would begin moving in a counterclockwise direction, switching directions each time the leader shouted the appropriate call.
This exercise was a hit! Participants requested multiple rounds of dancing and were enthusiastic to learn other dances they could perform together as a group. Participants expressed feelings of joy and playfulness that followed the exercise.
Skills Acquired
Overall, these exercises fostered in many of the participants a sense of creativity and community. In the visual art exercise, participants acquired a renewed sense of empathy for families different from their own. The exercise also worked to improve participants' verbal communication and active listening skills during the sharing portion of the exercise.
In the creative writing exercise, participants acquired a renewed sense of wonder as they took on the challenge of seeing the world through the lens of myth. The exercise also worked to improve participants' critical thinking and creative writing skills as well as verbal communication skills during the sharing portion of the exercise.
Finally, in the dance exercise, participants acquired a renewed sense of interconnectedness as they danced in harmony with one another. The exercise also worked to improve participants' verbal and non communication, active listening and patience skills as they learned to dance and move in unison with one another. It is also important to note that I, as the facilitator of these exercises, also benefited from the opportunity to practice the above listed skills as well as other skills such as leadership, advocacy, and cultural competence skills by participating in and leading these exercises.
Conclusion
Following the art therapy principle of creativity these exercises created safe “healing spaces” for participants to cultivate their imagination, understand themselves, others and the world more deeply, as well as giving participants an opportunity to engage in a meaningful creative process. (Committee, 2013) It is also important to note that art therapy in this context, used by those who are not an official art therapist, is not about reaching a conclusion, a point of diagnosis, or even solving any particular problem. But rather art therapy in this context is about providing children with therapeutic tools for self expression and individual wellness. It is more about facilitating a safe space for creativity to flourish and be expressed than about any particular method or science. As Hill observed in the 1940’s, art's healing power lies in the sense of freedom it gives to the individual, reconnecting them with their spiritual essence. (Adelphi Psych Medicine Clinic, 2017)
References
Clottes, J. (2023, December 22). Cave art | Definition, Characteristics, Images, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/cave-art
Abrams, Z. (2023, January 1). Kids’ mental health is in crisis. Here’s what psychologists are doing to help. American Pschological Assosiation https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/01/trends-improving-youth-mental-health#:~:text=In%20the%2010%20years%20leading,Youth%20Risk%20Behavior%20Surveillance%20System.
Abramson, A. (2022, January 1). Children’s mental health is in crisis. American Pschological Assosiation https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/01/special-childrens-mental-health
Adelphi Psych Medicine Clinic. (2017, July 5). The History of Art Therapy | Adelphi Psych Med. https://adelphipsych.sg/the-history-of-art-therapy/
Keane, C. (2017, May 11). An Expert on School-Based Art Therapy Explains how Art Therapy Helps Children Make Sense of the Insensible - American Art Therapy Association. American Art Therapy Association. https://arttherapy.org/art-therapy-helps-children-make-sense-of-the-insensible/
Solano, C. (2023, April 5). 3 therapeutic practices in the art room and 3 ways they engage the imagination. The Art of Education University. https://theartofeducation.edu/2023/03/mar-3-therapeutic-practices-in-the-art-room-and-3-ways-they-engage-the-imagination/#:~:text=Art%20therapy%20can%20only%20be,healing%20and%20social%2Demotional%20learning
Audubon Arts at Neighborhood Music School. (2023). https://nmsnewhaven.org/audubon-arts
Committee, E. (2013, December). Ethical principles for art therapists. American Art Therapy Association https://arttherapy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Ethical-Principles-for-Art-Therapists.pdf
Horizons, B. (2023, May 23) How to help children understand diverse families. Bright Horizons. https://www.brighthorizons.com/resources/article/how-to-help-children-understand-diverse-families
Richardson, J., & Parnell, P. (2012). And Tango makes three. Simon and Schuster.
Kasza, K. (1996). A mother for Choco. Penguin.
Okubo, J. (2020). Tales of East Africa: (African Folklore Book for Teens and Adults, Illustrated Stories and Literature from Africa). Chronicle Books.
