{"id":167,"date":"2018-03-29T19:05:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T23:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trestlewoodcounseling.com\/?p=167"},"modified":"2018-03-29T19:06:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T23:06:35","slug":"the-power-of-art-activities-in-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trestlewoodcounseling.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/29\/the-power-of-art-activities-in-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Art Activities in Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Art has played a central role in my life. In a world where it\u2019s hard to show up and be brave, I need daily reminders of what\u2019s important to me. Whether it\u2019s my kids\u2019 finger-painting, pictures from my phone, or a piece of pottery, you can\u2019t spell WHOLEHEARTED without A-R-T.<\/p>\n<p>Brene Brown<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kAk4cwjvJ0A?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;start=664&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I was burnt out, fried to a crisp.\u00a0 In the summer of 2006, I was working full-time as a case manager for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and dual diagnoses, I was in Grad school pursuing my MSW and I needed to find a 20 hour a week internship on top of everything else.\u00a0 There simply were not enough hours in the day.\u00a0 I had a\u00a0 \u201cspiritual awakening\/emotional breakdown\u201d as my home girl Brene likes to call them.\u00a0 I had a lot of vacation days and a very supportive boyfriend (who eventually became my husband) and so I embarked on a 6-week journey of soul-searching.\u00a0 I honestly don\u2019t remember specifically how I spent those days other than a lot of sleep and binge watching The Wire seasons on DVD before Netflix and HBOgo were around.\u00a0 Somewhere along the way, I came to the realization that I had to make some changes in how I took care of myself if I was going to survive doing this tough work.\u00a0\u00a0 And that is how I found myself interning at Alchemy Open Art Studio running a therapeutic arts group for clients with mental health and addiction issues.<\/p>\n<p>I have never considered myself an artist in the traditional sense; despite the fact my internship supervisor Renee Bures always attests that \u201ceveryone is an artist.\u201d\u00a0 Yet my 20-hour a week internship changed the course of my career in a way I never could have predicted: by making art.\u00a0\u00a0 Renee is both an MSW and a professional trained art therapist and she helped me to discover the power of therapeutic arts both my personal and professional life.\u00a0 During my internship, I attended and co-facilitated several different types of expressive arts group.\u00a0\u00a0 But more importantly I witnessed and participated in therapeutic art making, which helped me to recover from spiritual awakening\/emotional breakdown.\u00a0 I realized the power of art and how beneficial it can be to the therapeutic process.\u00a0\u00a0 Art taps into a visceral part of the brain and provides individuals with a creative outlet to make connections, meaning, and heal emotion wounds.<\/p>\n<p>In my current practice, I try to incorporate many forms of creative expression into my sessions.\u00a0 From painting to rocking out to various Spotify playlists, I aim to provide individuals with a variety of platforms to express themselves in a safe space.\u00a0 Both the process of making art and the tangible end product allow clients to discover their inner artist and have a concrete reminder of the bravery and insights gained from their experience.\u00a0 I often ask clients when we are processing their artwork where they are going to put the finished product.\u00a0 I echo Brene\u2019s sentiments that we need reminders of what\u2019s important to us.\u00a0 We need to keep those things in our frame of reference and reflect on them frequently.\u00a0 For my own self-care, I continue to make art on my own as a way to tap into those outlets and remind myself of the power of making art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Art has played a central role in my life. In a world where it\u2019s hard to show up and be brave, I need daily reminders of what\u2019s important to me. Whether it\u2019s my kids\u2019 finger-painting, pictures from my phone, or a piece of pottery, you can\u2019t spell WHOLEHEARTED without A-R-T. Brene Brown &nbsp; I was &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/trestlewoodcounseling.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/29\/the-power-of-art-activities-in-therapy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Power of Art Activities in Therapy&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8SSLF-2H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107,"url":"https:\/\/trestlewoodcounseling.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/09\/compassion-and-boundaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":167,"position":0},"title":"Compassion and Boundaries","author":"trestle5104","date":"August 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Erin Arwady, LMSW \u201cCompassionate people ask for what they need. They say no when they need to, and when they say yes they mean it. They\u2019re compassionate because their boundaries keep them out of resentment.' \u2013 Brene Brown, Rising Strong When I read this quote a few months ago, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":197,"url":"https:\/\/trestlewoodcounseling.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/12\/the-practice-of-gratitude\/","url_meta":{"origin":167,"position":1},"title":"The Practice of Gratitude","author":"trestle5104","date":"July 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I was having one of those mornings. 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