The Introductory Guide to Art Therapy

Experiential teaching and learning for students and practitioners

Susan Hogan, Annette M. Coulter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317909101
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Psychothérapie

The Introductory Guide to Art Therapy provides a comprehensive and accessible text for art therapy trainees. Susan Hogan and Annette M. Coulter here use their combined clinical experience to present theories, philosophies and methods of working clearly and effectively.

The authors cover multiple aspects of art therapy in this overview of practice, from working with children, couples, families and offenders to the role of supervision and the effective use of space. The book addresses work with diverse groups and includes a glossary of key terms, ensuring that complex terminology and theories are clear and easy to follow. Professional and ethical issues are explored from an international perspective and careful attention is paid to the explanation and definition of key terms and concepts. Accessibly written and free from jargon, Hogan and Coulter provide a detailed overview of the benefits and possibilities of art therapy.

This book will be anindispensable introductory guide for prospective students, art therapy trainees, teachers, would-be teachers and therapy practitioners. The text will also be of interest to counsellors and other allied health professionals who are interested in the use of visual methods.

Chapter 1

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Introduction

The scope of the book

Susan Hogan

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I try not to forget that each painting is a unique expression of the individual who painted it – no one else could have done it. It has to be honoured as a unique creation.

(Elizabeth Colyer, c.1986)

Scope

This book is an indispensable introductory guide for prospective students, art therapy trainees, teachers, would-be teachers and therapy practitioners. The text will also be of interest to an increasing number of counsellors, and other allied health professionals, who are interested in the use of visual methods. The overall aim of the book is to serve as a well-rounded introduction to the subject.

The Introductory Guide to Art Therapy is intended to be a key text for trainees, a handbook for professional art therapists and a resource for other practitioners wishing to use art in their work. The text has been written so that it can also serve as a preparatory text, with careful attention being paid to the definition of key terms and concepts. The philosophy and main styles of working are elucidated without one particular model being promoted above others, thus giving an essential, and previously lacking, even-handed introductory overview of the subject. The lucidity of the prose makes complex topics easily comprehensible. The book presents the principles of experiential learning and reflective practice in an art therapy context. It moves on to explore professional and ethical issues with an international perspective.

As a good all-round introduction to the subject, it is useful for other professionals wishing to get a sense of what art therapy is and how it is used. A would-be employer could pick up this book and, after digesting it, have a clear understanding of the potential role of the art therapist within their organisation. The volume is therefore useful in a range of contexts.

The Introductory Guide will cover all aspects of essential practice. Written with a self-conscious absence of jargon and ‘psycho-babble’, this book aims to demystify art therapy. Therefore, this text should be useful for those coming new to art therapy. In particular, we hope that trainee art therapists will want to turn to this book as their starting point, but it should also be of interest beyond a trainee readership.

The two authors have distinctive voices and points of view; both are mature practitioners able to offer different, but complementary, perspectives. We may not always agree, but there is mutual respect apparent.

Outline of content

The book explores the context and definition of art therapy. Then chapters which explore experiential learning and teaching (useful equally for the art therapy trainee and the art therapist who is thinking of running workshops) follow. The book then goes on to explore art therapy theory and aims to give an overview before examining art therapy with different populations in several chapters. This is followed in the last chapters by an examination of the supervisory issues, then finally concludes with a consideration of professional issues in a global context.

Defining art therapy

This introductory chapter will outline the scope of the book and present a summary of the book’s contents as follows.

2. What is art therapy? The art therapy environment: managing and using the space

The chapter will give an overview of the term ‘art therapy’. It moves on to describe the art therapy room, and explores ideas about managing the art therapy space, including the storage of art works. The basic principles of good practice will be articulated regarding the importance of confidentiality. The implications of sharing a room with other therapists or other art therapy practitioners will be explored, especially with regard to the pros and cons of being able, or not able, to put art work up on walls. The disposal of group art objects will also be discussed.

The context of art therapy will be articulated. Different client groups and work settings will be outlined, from prisons to palliative care. Finally, a brief section on the history and development of art therapy is also included.

Art therapy – teaching and learning

3. Reflections on experiential learning

This chapter explores the concept of ‘experiential learning’ in detail. The chapter is based on the author’s experience of teaching structured introductory courses in art therapy since 1990, and will discuss how to teach art therapy experientially. It looks at the role of pictorial symbols, analogies and metaphors, and also at the overall structure of art therapy sessions. The configuration of the workshops, the ability to compare and contrast different formats and then how these different formats influence the dynamics of the group is discussed; techniques which can be used to help participants to start to reflect upon this are described and analysed.

4. An introduction to art therapy: further reflections on teaching directive art therapy at an introductory level

This chapter elaborates in detail on the content of an art therapy workshop series. The aim of the workshops is to present participants with a variety of quite different formats so that they can see the scope of ‘directive’ art therapy; all the sessions are structured. It is possible that participants may discover one particular way of working they enjoy, or they may go on to employ a range of group formats with clients if they study further in the subject and become practitioners. The different techniques are described in detail.

The chapter also presents a basic analytic ‘tool’ for students to help them to reflect on their experience of group work and get full benefit from the experiential group work. An analytic tool, or aid, is useful because reflecting on the multilevelled nature of group work is complex. Students can use the tool as a starting point for their own detailed analysis of the group work in their reflective diaries; it is hoped that it won’t be used as a reductive checklist. The concept of ‘reflective practice’ is elaborated.

5. Becoming an art therapy practitioner

On completing their training, art therapy graduates begin a new phase of their career: the process of finding employment. This chapter covers important topics for practice, from negotiating a job description to suitable attire.

There is also a section on commonly used art therapy assessments. The aim of art therapy assessments varies. Assessment can include assisting in the establishment of a diagnosis (particularly in those countries in which private health-care insurance dominates). Assessment can also be used to determine the suitability of an individual for art therapy (and the chapter outlines several such art-based evaluations). Assessment also refers to the evaluation of the progress of therapy, as well as the evaluation of outcomes. In Britain, standard measures of effectiveness have been developed which focus on the outcome of therapeutic interventions. Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluations – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) – for example, is being used to try to produce cohesive global evidence of clinical effectiveness. However, Gilroy, Tipple and Brown (2012) note the presence of a ‘heterogeneity of assessment practices’ in clinical practice (p. 219).

6. Teaching art therapy to other allied health professionals

Some of our work is about running educative consultation training for established clinical teams, or professional groups or individuals who want quick instruction about using art more effectively in their work. These allied health professionals do not want to complete art therapy training, but often claim to be already ‘doing art therapy’ in their clinics and just want to expand these skills further. This chapter addresses ways an art therapist can sensitively advise about their profession in this context and demonstrate that just using art materials in a clinical setting is not necessarily ‘art therapy’, despite that what may be happening can have therapeutic aspects to it.

7. Innovative teaching strategies

This chapter addresses current training practices when teaching art therapy techniques to therapists and counsellors who are already experienced practitioners in their own right and who wish to make more effective use of art in their clinical work. Some innovative teaching strategies are discussed that incorporate current art therapy teaching practices with the skills and experience of other therapist practitioners who wish to make use of art more effectively in their work. Qualified art therapists can be over-protective of their skills and unprepared to share their expertise with non-art therapists. The realities of being part of a clinical team and involving interested colleagues with effective art therapy practice can be a rewarding challenge. The art therapist must be able to share their skills with a sceptical community or group of health professionals as well as to those who offer professional support. The main emphasis of this chapter is how to teach art therapy to colleagues, how to facilitate team-building through the use of art therapy, as well as how to work in co-therapy with other allied health professionals. The chapter answers how to integrate specialist art therapy skills into an effective clinical team, in which the art therapist is valued.

Art therapy theory

8. An overview of models of art therapy: the art therapy continuum – a useful tool for envisaging the diversity of practice in British art therapy

This chapter will assist in providing some clarity to a situation that, at first sight, particularly to training therapists, seems extremely confusing. Art therapy today is rather complex and ‘the art therapy continuum’ is an attempt to give an ata- glance picture, or ‘snap-shot’, of this diversity. Like any snap-shot, it does not reveal the entire landscape, but the chapter gives an overview of the main models of contemporary art therapy practice. As the chapter illustrates, British art therapy today is fundamentally eclectic with a number of different theoretical models in practice. In brief, these are a gestalt psychology approach; an analytic transference-focused model; a group-interactive model which draws from existential philosophy and symbolic-interactionism (which will be explained) as well as psychodynamic theory; an art therapy support-group model which is often ‘person-centred’ in orientation; and finally studio-based approaches, which are favoured by some art therapists in Britain today, in which engagement with the art process is seen as fundamentally curative. These main approaches are outlined in detail.

9. The role of the image in art therapy and intercultural reflections: working as an art therapist with diverse groups

What is the fundamental difference between art therapy and psychotherapy or counselling? How does the image function in art therapy? What is the triangular relationship? This chapter will discuss the role of the image in the art therapy process and will survey different ideas about this from different theoretical perspectives. The role of the art making differs in different modes of art therapy. Some of the tensions between visual and verbal elements will be elucidated. A discussion of the pros and cons of directive and non-directive art therapy work is touched upon.

This chapter brings post-modernist theory to bear on the subject of art therapy; it challenges the reductive use of theory and the over-interpretation of clients’ art, giving examples. A sketch of the main work on cultural difference within art therapy is also presented. The chapter also interrogates the importance of maintaining a critical awareness of gender norms in clinical work, whilst focusing on cultural differences and their acknowledgement within the art therapy process.

Art therapy populations and methods

10. Working as an art therapist with children

The particular skills needed to work with a wide range of different young clients is presented and discussed. Recommendations for training are made. The contribution of art therapy to working with children and adolescents is increasingly appreciated by the general population of art therapist practitioners. This chapter describes establishing an art therapy service in both mental health and community welfare settings. The chapter includes consideration of individual and group work contexts, as well the role of parents, siblings and the extended family. Reflections on the importance of non-verbal and not-knowing processes on both the part of the therapist and the child are included. Links are made to other symbolic and metaphoric uses of the creative processes such as sand play, free play, drama, music and dance. The non-verbal aspect of creative thinking and the processing of emotional issues from a neuroscience perspective are included.

11. Working as an art therapist with offenders

This chapter will outline the use of art therapy in prisons and other secure settings. It will also provide a broad context for the use of art therapy in prisons providing an overview of literature in the field on this subject, and a detailed critique of key texts.

What are the particular dilemmas faced by art therapists working in secure settings? Drawing on clinical experience, the particular implications of working with offenders are addressed. Examples from art therapy clinical practice in the form of short case studies and vignettes are presented to illuminate and illustrate this work.

12. Art therapy with couples and families

This chapter describes how art therapy is used in couple counselling and family therapy. This includes examining different theoretical approaches with an emphasis on systemic family and couple art therapy, but also includes more recent models, particularly narrative and brief solution-focused family and ...