Several years ago, I had a group art therapy session with two adolescent girls. We were talking about the concept of random acts of kindness. Right before the teens came in, I read their charts and saw that one of the girls had really big disappointments early in the week, and she was having a hard time handling her emotions. When she came in, I could sense that she wasn’t in a great space.
That day, she first regarded me with indifference and ignored my questions and didn’t participate in the verbal processing part of the group. Then we started art making. She was still really quiet and didn’t speak for most of the session, but I could see her body physically relaxing.
Her facial expressions became more pleasant and she smiled. She became engrossed in the art making. She opened up about seeing kindness in others and accepting that even though she was greatly disappointed the previous day, she knew that there were people who were there for her.
Her attitude completely changed from the time she arrived to the time she left.
Soon after, another staff member reported to me that this girl said how much better she felt after doing art. Working through art has the power to put people in a different space and get them thinking about things differently. These are the types of effects that I see in patients in my daily work with them.
What Is Art Therapy?
Here at Cincinnati Children’s, we value art therapy as part of mental health treatment. Self-expression comes in many forms, and what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another. That’s why our patients experience a wide range of therapy services, including music therapy, recreational therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy as well as art therapy.
In art therapy for kids and teens, I use art with my patients to get their feelings out — whatever those hard things are that might be difficult to talk about in words — because with kids, they often don’t have those words, but they’re able to put a picture or color or shape to it. And that gives us somewhere to start.
As an art therapist, I work with children and adolescents in individual or group sessions to make progress in a variety of ways. Art therapy can help patients to:
- Build self-esteem
- Help with emotional resilience
- Work on communication and social skills
- Reduce conflict, distress or anxiety
- Explore and express feelings
- Foster self-awareness
A Safe Space for Self-Expression
Art therapy engages me and my patient in an artistic process to improve the patient’s physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Art therapy sessions provide a safe space for patients to:
- Express challenging emotions such as worries, fears and sadness?
- Experience art as a vehicle to express what words cannot, or to contain emotions that the patient cannot?
- Process emotions that occur before, during and after making art?
- Receive encouragement and instill hope
In addition to having a background in visual art such as drawing, painting, sculpture and other art forms, as an art therapist I also have training in human development, and in psychological and counseling theories and techniques. When I work with children and teens, I think about their needs individually and aim to meet them where they are and help them get to where they would like to go. I listen and use the art to open those doors.
Using art in therapy sessions is not about the art itself. It’s about giving people a different way to express themselves and to learn from that expression. It’s a powerful tool in how we treat mental health, and just one of many forms of treatment we offer our patients.
Learn more about the types of creative arts therapy we use to help support patients and families at Cincinnati Children’s.