Art Therapy

Parenting, the role of attachment, and the creation of an art therapy curriculum to address both, are the main topics of this research. Attachment is explored in terms of the participant’s attachment status, and their ability to parent in a way that promotes secure attachment. The intersection of a mother’s own attachment status and how the mother parents their child is a primary focus of the curriculum. The curriculum promotes the healing of a mother’s own attachment status while facilitating healthy attachment within the mother-baby dyad.

Art therapy has many benefits when applied to various populations, and studies support the efficacy of art therapy interventions. This research paper focuses on using art therapy with clients experiencing grief and loss resulting from the loss of their beloved pet. It also explores Bowlby’s attachment theory and the connection between humans and animals; challenging the stigma that pets are not considered family members. Disenfranchisement is an issue that challenges the bereaved who struggle with or struggle to find support and understanding during the grief process. The pet bereavement workshop combines memorialization with art in a group setting, allowing participants to create and form bonds with like-minded individuals.

Art therapy programs have been successfully integrated and applied to K-12 public schools. Art therapy can be utilized to provide mental health services to students with varied learning and social needs and applied into numerous counseling theories to provide mental health services to youth, comply with legal mandates, and support a comprehensive school counseling program. This study focused on the history of specific public school art therapy programs, the art therapists who developed these programs, and the positive outcomes associated with integrated art therapy programs. The rationale for an integrated art therapy program is presented in this study with examples of best practices. This study explored the reported needs, challenges, and perceptions of school counselors such as increased demands, high caseloads, and the desire for professional development. This paper discussed the employment status of school-based art therapists and the challenges they experience when working in schools. This paper examined the interdisciplinary relationship between art therapy and school counseling and art therapy’s common goals with that of the American School Counselor (ASCA) National Model. Art therapy is applicable to a variety of brief-counseling approaches utilized by school counselors. Art therapy is a natural fit for school counseling and when art therapists are hired as school counselors they might assimilate into the educational system. This study resulted in the development of a website (toolkit) for school counselors and art therapists interested in integrated art therapy programs, professional development, and advocacy for the initiation and/ or sustainment of an integrated art therapy program in public schools.

The National Endowment for the Arts has provided and promoted the Our Town Creative Placemaking Grant Program to lay the groundwork for system changes that sustain integration of arts, design, and cultural activities into local strategies to strengthen communities (NAEA, 2021). George Junior Republic is a residential treatment center located in Grove City, Pennsylvania with an art program that has collaborated with various partners throughout the Grove City community. Outside of the art projects, George Junior Republic and Grove City have functioned independently for over a century. It is time to partner together and bring a better quality of life to the people that live and work in both communities. This unique opportunity of partnering with the local government of Grove City and a residential treatment center through the sustainable integration of art, culture, and design is exactly what the Our Town Program was designed for. This proposal addresses the collaboration of art therapists, artist residency, and community empowerment to create the Art Unites project designed for the Our Town grant proposal.

“The Standing (De Pie) Project” is a self-advocacy and socially-engaged collaboration art project, centered in Miami-Dade County and organized by two Miami-based visual artists (one with expertise in sculpture and the other with extensive experience in mental health counseling and art therapy). With the help of individuals from the community, “The Standing Project” will bring together 21 chronically homeless people from various Camillus House programs to make art. The project aims at creating 3 life-size sculptures from scrap materials and other ordinary objects that people discard on a daily basis. In addition, the creation of Zines will be an integral part of the art-making process. A Zine, (little self-published magazine made from scratch) is a person-centered approach in the field of art therapy (Mosinski, 2010, p. 261). Zines may include poetry, drawings, photography, collage, and/or any combination of these. They are “diaristic” (Thomas, 2009, p.35) in nature, and their purpose is self-exploratory and sometimes educational on under-represented, important issues. The Zines will not only provide a forum through which participants can work through and share their ideas and experiences, but will also advocate for and raise awareness of three issues potentially related to homelessness (mental health illnesses, living with HIV, and LGBTQ experiences and concerns). The sculptural pieces will be entitled, respectively, “Faces of Mental Illnesses,” “Live Positive HIV” and “Let’s Get Bold Together? (LGBTQ).” The goal of this project is to provide this group of homeless individuals an opportunity to repurpose objects towards a positive message, create new memories, and increase social interactions among themselves as well as with other members of their community through the art making process. The found-object sculptures will be used to advocate on behalf of every chronically homeless person in Miami-Dade County and create awareness about homelessness and the creativity behind the often-stigmatized faces of members of these populations. Participants will create a project portfolio that will culminate in an exhibition. The project requests a budget of $17,000.