This week I received a question from a therapist in Syria about group ideas for using expressive therapies with children who are living in a warzone. 

I first want to send you my prayers and wishes for the health and safety of you and your country.  I am sure that this is a difficult time for everyone and that emotions are running high everywhere.  To care for survivors of trauma in a war-torn environment, our own self-care and personal awareness is an important part of being sustainable in our work.  I think that being able to create an atmosphere of safety and stability for others depends on our ability to cultivate within ourselves a mindful and grounded response to the chaos in the environment.  I believe that children can sense when an adult is capable of offering the gift of genuine, gentle support.  When they feel confident that they can lean into that presence, they can begin their own healing process.

Here are a few suggestions I would have for expressive therapy groups:

- I would encourage the children to use art to explore various feelings through image, color, and shapes using activities such as Number 13, "Feeling Code Collage," Number 14, "Cooling My Hotspots," or Number 30, "Layers of Feelings."  These activities could also be modified using movement and music, where the children would enact the feelings (as well as the relieving response in the "Cooling My Hotspots" activity) one at a time or simultaneously in the group.   These offer children the opportunity to express feelings nonverbally and possibly access their emotions in a profound way.  Feelings that become locked or stuck inside after traumatic experiences can lead to behavioral problems later, so addressing them soon afterwards is an important way for children to begin to integrate their experiences.

- I would also suggest using music, movement, and art that is uplifting and celebratory of some cultural theme, such as holidays, religious songs, or folkloric dancing.  There is a lovely film called "War Dance" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UATS5K9IZT0) in which children are able to use a national dance competition to redirect their grief and champion their own tragic histories through expression of joy and celebration.

- Expressive therapies are also a great way to provide opportunities for the children to grieve the losses and destruction they have witnessed.  For instance, making cards or writing letters for someone who has passed away or for someone who has lost a family member or had their home destroyed.  Perhaps the children can design a ceremony to honor the lives that have been lost or express their prayers or wishes for the restoration and healing of the wounds, such as a creating a prayer flag, tying wishes to a tree, making sculptures of people or places that they want to memorialize, and releasing balloons, planting flowers, or lighting candles in memory of loved ones.  These projects are ways of empowering the children to express their desires for order and stability.

- Group activity Number 18, "Good and Bad Mandalas" is a great activity also for encouraging the children to be able to accept the complexity of the world around them, and hopefully integrate the awareness that life can have both good and bad aspects. 

- Some of the children may have flashbacks or recurring dreams or nightmares about painful events in their lives.  Those images can be depicted in artwork to help them to gain a sense of distance and control of the event.  After the children have expressed their feelings about those events, they can even re-imagine the event with added positive figures, such as a powerful protector who arrives on the scene to prevent the tragedy from happening or comfort the victims.  Even though it is only imagination, being able to envision a more tolerable version of the event can offer hope and courage. 

- Free art and free play is a great way to determine if and how a children has integrated their experiences.  Children can be invited to invent stories about a character (such as an animal) who faces a very difficult challenge and overcomes the challenge with personal powers and assistance from allies.  If a child repeats themes of disaster, failure, and death, I believe it is important to accept their stories and mirror their choices with caring and sensitivity.  I have sometimes asked children if they can imagine any power that would be able to help their character avoid disaster, and I have offered suggestions such as angels or superheroes.  If they insist that nothing could have prevented the disaster, then I join the child in expressing feelings about the event, whether sadness, anger, or disappointed acceptance.  Allow the child to repeat themes and stories as long as they are needed, since I believe it is the witnessing power of a caring observer that allows the child to slowly digest the story until it can evolve on its own.

I hope these ideas are helpful.  I also want to refer you to a website of a colleague of mine, The ArtReach Foundation (http://artreachfoundation.org/) that specializes in the use of expressive therapies in persons affected by war trauma. 

I wish you the best and thank you for the wonderful work you are doing with those whom you serve.  blessings and peace, Gloria 

Another great question from a reader was sent in this week about how to use expressive therapies to build group cohesion.   This is such an important step in building rapport among group members so that trust and safety can build over time.  As a closeted introvert myself, I find that it is crucial to begin a group with unintimidating activities that encourage each person to slowly open up and connect in the milieu.  I also like to create a sense of fun and play to reduce tension of being in a new place with new people.  If I have a large group, I might break the group into smaller groups of 5 - 7 people. 

I am fond of using some of the activities on my list of group activities on this website to foster group cohesion, particularly the Friendship Mural (#4) and the Pride Collage (#27) so clients could learn about each others' differences and similarities.   Here are some other ideas:

- Sometimes for ice-breaker activities, I start with a simple game of word association using a ball.  The rule is that each person has to say a word that relates to the last word spoken. 

- One of my favorite group games is called the "Question Game" in which participants stand in a circle and throw a ball to someone in the group and ask a question.  The recipient then throws the ball and asks another question to someone else without pausing and without answering the question.  The game becomes interesting when people start asking very personal or provocative questions to each other, causing the recipient to laugh, pause, or accidentally answer the question.

- I also suggest teaching a simple song for the group to sing together as a way to build a sense of unity.  Drumming, clapping, and moving in a circle can be a powerful way for a group to connect.  You could pick a song that has a serious or silly mood (or both!) depending on what you feel the group would benefit most from.  

- Here is one art activity that is fun to get the group in a playful and interactive mood: Each person starts with a sheet of paper and writes a silly sentence.  Each person passes their paper to the person on the right.  Each person then folds the paper downward so the sentence is invisible and draws a simple sketch that expresses the sentence.  Each person passes their paper to the right.  Then each person looks at the picture and tries to guess what the picture is about.  They fold the paper down again so the drawing is invisible, and write a sentence that represents the picture.  The papers keep going around until they arrive at the original person who started the drawing.  It is fun to look through the paper and see what people made.  

- I also enjoy telling stories in which one person starts the story and then passes it to the next person until someone says, "The End."  I encourage each person to take a turn starting a story. 

Anyway, there are some general ideas that I hope are helpful. 

Feel free to comment and add your own favorite group ideas!

I recently received a wonderful question from a reader:
"When using these exercises, do you create along with them to give a sense of 'I'm in this with you" or do you spend the time observing their creative process?"

In my experience, whether I join in the activity with my client depends on many different factors.  A guiding image for me would be like a musician trying to provide a particular atmosphere for a dancer, delicately balancing leading and following.  Some clients may feel so stuck in unproductive patterns that they invite guidance, modeling, and direction from a therapist, including demonstrating a creative process.  Other clients will have an intuitive grasp on exactly what they need to create and explore in themselves, and in those cases, I am the blessed (and sometimes breathless!) follower who gets to witness their discoveries unfold. 

In general, I sense that many people, particularly teenagers, suffer from feeling unseen, invisible,and misunderstood by those around them.  I find that I ideally want to communicate to clients that I am sincerely invested in learning about them and seeing the world through their eyes, and so I usually do not engage in my own art because I want my clients to know that they have my undivided attention.  I find that the more emotionally involved and transformative the work becomes for a client or within a group, the more crucial it is for me to establish my presence as an anchor, a witness, a holder of the space that can be trusted to sustain the process to its completion.

That said, I have also engaged in creative processes with clients for particular reasons under certain circumstances.  In a session with an individual, particularly in the beginning of a therapeutic relationship, I find that many people feel uncomfortable being observed in silence, and some clients have even requested that I make my own art.  In those cases, I sometimes will make art that I intend to present as a gift to my client that mirrors what I understand about themes in the client's life.   Or I may use my own creative process to reveal how I have personally worked with the particular issue that the client is working on, such as grief or anger, without revealing excessive personal details which could shift the focus of the process. 

For example, in the Four Elements Of You activity (Number 33), which is often a meditative and silent activity, I have joined in with my group to remove the power differential of my role as witness, and communicate, "I am with you."  Many people fear that seeking mental health treatment means they are abnormal, and by personally engaging in an activity, I hope to convey that they are not alone and that their struggles are completely valid within the spectrum of human experience.

Another reason I might join in a group activity is to model risk-taking for clients who are new to creative expression.  Feelings of inadequacy and fears of ridicule are two of the greatest obstacles for being creative.  I have used posters on my wall to create an atmosphere of acceptance, such as "In art, there is no right or wrong."  In an effort to please or "do it right," some clients stay close to familiar images and struggle to tune in to their own individual and unique expression.  For example, in the Feeling Code Collage activity (Number 13), a client might draw "happiness" as a sun.  I might join in the activity to show that happiness might also look like a fish, a bed, or fireworks.  In music, drama, and dance activities, the vulnerability and risk is usually much higher, so I almost always participate.

Ultimately, my goal is to tailor my involvement in a way that would make a client feel at ease, seen, and willing to take risks to explore the inner terrain of the psyche.  Though my goal is to communicate that it's not about me, it is finally all about me, since essentially what I offer a client is all that I am, including whatever wisdom or limitations that I carry within myself.  When I interact with a client within the complex programming of our shared transference and countertransference, together, we can create a new way of being in the world through the rituals and gifting that occur in our sessions, and for me, that is the ultimate creative process: the shared creation of the self through heartful exchanges with the changing forces of the world. 

I finally earned my Registration as an Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT) through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA).  I want to share a line that I submitted as part of my application that hits a resonant note in the heart of my work:

"I now know that being an expressive arts therapist is more than a bag of tricks to use in a therapy session.  It is a way of offering my full presence to someone and allowing the full creative potential of both of us to flow freely."

I recently read the wikipedia article on "Imprinting" as I was reflecting on the way that early patterns of behavior seem so difficult to change.  I went to wikipedia with the question, "Does imprinting ever wear off?  Did the chicks ever stop following that guy around?" 

I didn't get the answer to my question  (if anyone knows, please enlighten me), but I discovered an unbelievable story about the way humans have used the principle of imprinting to help birds overcome difficulties resulting from captivity. 

From Wikipedia:

"The Italian hang-glider pilot Angelo d'Arrigo [...] noted that the flight of a non-motorised hang-glider is very similar to the flight patterns of migratory birds: Both use updrafts of hot air (thermal currents) to gain altitude that then permits soaring flight over distance. He used this fact to enable the re-introduction into the wild of threatened species of raptors.

 Birds that are hatched in captivity have no mentor birds to teach them their traditional migratory routes. D'Arrigo had one solution to this problem. The chicks hatched under the wing of his glider, and imprinted on him. Then, he taught the fledglings to fly and to hunt. The young birds followed him not only on the ground (as with Lorenz) but also in the air as he took the path of various migratory routes. He flew across the Sahara and over the Mediterranean Sea to Sicily with eagles, from Siberia to Iran (5,500 km) with a flock of Siberian cranes, and over Mount Everest with Nepalese eagles. In 2006, he worked with a condor in South America."

I found myself very moved by this story, and perhaps it is a beautiful parallel for what we do as therapists: to re-orient the natural instincts of our clients who may have not learned the healthy patterns they needed early in life.   I am inspired to know that there are such self-sacrificing heroes in the world who can help us to navigate our way through a changing world and remind us of our true natures. 

Angelo d'Arrigo passed away on March 26, 2006 at 44 years of age.  Rest in peace. 

Wow!  The IEATA Conference surpassed my wildest expectations in its richness and caliber of presentations and offerings.  The location was gorgeous, and there was an exciting sense of power in the air to be part of our collective force of innovators. 

I also had a wonderful experience sharing my work through my presentation, Dance Orientations for Re-Wilding the Self and the World.  This presentation was about mapping intentions in dance practices that activate our healthful participation in the web of life.  As I prepared to give my presentation, I realized that this work has been important for me to celebrate and affirm the tremendous gifts of our species to be beautiful and benevolent members of the biosphere.  Check out my video and writings on my new webpage.  I look forward to your comments and questions!

The 2013 IEATA Conference is fast approaching!  I wanted to share a description of the workshop I will be presenting.  Hope you enjoy it!

     Since the advent of agriculture, the human hunger for change has caused
us to accelerate survival technologies more rapidly than we can
assimilate.  Proponents of ecopsychology suggest that industrialized
societies produce lifestyles that are addicted to continuous stimulation in
order to dissociate from the feelings of alienation from the natural world,
leading to many environmental, social, and mental health crises of today
(Glendenning, 1994).  Our perverted drive for greater comfort and security
has placed us so out-of-step with the natural rhythms of the world that a
different kind of change is needed to restore our sense of belonging to the
Earth as a member species.   

    The perspectives of indigenous peoples of the world have largely been
disregarded as primitive, nonsensical, or irrelevant in academic discourse, but
this imperialistic mindset has thwarted our ability to integrate their ancient,
time-tested knowledge into our current perception of health (Blanchard,
2011).  Every human being is indebted to ancestral origins in tribal
hunter-gatherer groups who successfully survived in the wild.  Endangered
rituals of descent into the underworld are the legacies that have continually
renewed our intimate relationships with the natural world (Plotkin, 2008). 
Dance and movement have held a wide range of functions in non-industrial
societies, including mental and physical healing for individuals, resolving
social conflicts, and honoring the forces of nature.  

     In my twenty-year exploration of dance and movement, I have
distinguished nine valuable intentions or orientations that serve to activate
the primary characteristics of a healthy, wild human animal.  The first
three, Meditative, Ecstatic, and Mystical, are focused on transcendent,
universal, or divine realities culminating in a state of harmony with the
natural world.  The next three orientations, Relational, Social, and
Activist, provide structures for communities to maintain an internal balance and
constructively participate in local ecologies.  In the last three
orientations, Physical, Expressive, and Trance, the dancer becomes a tracker in
the wild, imaginal realms of the human body, the personal or collective
unconscious, and nature, respectively.   
    
     While all of these orientations are valuable, the Trance orientation is
our least developed area of competence due to our troubled history with the
humans and land on which we find ourselves.  Most of the residents in the
United States are relative newcomers to this continent, and our dominant society
has been founded in momentously destructive changes to the native people and
their ancestral covenant with the land.  Unresolved transgressions and
growing estrangement with nature have resulted in the loss of our capacities to
skillfully contribute to the unfolding story of humanity’s role in the “dream of
the Earth” through revelatory experiences (Berry, 2006).  I will suggest
that the Trance orientation of dance is perhaps the most promising method of
establishing unsentimental, historically-conscious relationships with the
more-than-human world.  

    Dance Orientations for Re-wilding the Self and the World is a treatise
on the importance of reprising the benevolent role of the human species in the
web of life.  The interwoven segments of lecture, discussion, and engaging
creative processes are intended to convey a heartfelt invitation to deepen our
personal and professional awareness of the power of dance.  My hope in
mapping these embodied intentions is to re-imagine a model of health that is
interconnected with the health of the larger community of life.  In this
way, we not only respond to the changes of the past, but also direct change
toward a hopeful future.

References: 
Berry, T. (2006).  Dream of the Earth (2nd ed.).  San Francisco,
       CA: Sierra Club Books.
Blanchard. G. (2011). Ancient Ways: Indigenous Healing Innovations for the
       21st Century. Holyoke, MA: NEARI Press.
Glendenning, C. (1994).  My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from
       Western Civilization.  Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Plotkin, B. (2008).  Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness
       and Community in a Fragmented World.  Novato, California: New World Library.

The Nine OrientationsUPPER WORLD ORIENTATIONS

The goal of the Meditative Orientation is to achieve a state of balance in the body and mind.  The mover directs and controls the energy, sometimes with pre-determined forms from ancient schools of wisdom.  The focus is on actively calming or concentrating the mind to express qualities of clarity, transcendence, or non-attachment.  This dance expresses the human gift of mirroring and affirming the harmony of nature and all of existence.  E.g.: Tai Chi; Yoga.  Access: Good

The intention of the Ecstatic Orientation is to surrender to the pulsing, generative force of the universe so completely that the body becomes like a conduit for high voltage currents of energy.  This dance dissolves the ego to the point that propriety is lost and noticeably involves a loss of control and a break from familiar movement vocabulary.  It can pop out suddenly when the mover transitions from dancing from the individual soul to “being danced” by something much larger.  This dance generates a profound experience of fullness and eliminates feelings of psychological hunger, the root of consumer culture.   E.g.: Chaos rhythm of the 5Rhythms; Sufi Whirling; Rave dance.  Access: Poor

The Mystical Orientation is an intimate dialogue between the individual self and the Divine Beloved.  This form has a wide range of emotional modes within it, such as longing, joy, separation, ferocity, flirtation, seduction, etc., and may lead to a state of union if the boundary between lover and beloved becomes blurred, though that is not necessarily the goal.  The dialogue itself is the method through which the dancer is purified and recognizes her place in the cosmos.  This practice endears us to the Universe and places us in sacred relationship with life by resonating with the love that sings from the core of all things.  E.g.: Praise dance; classical Indian dance; devotional or worship dance.  Access:  Good

MIDDLE WORLD ORIENTATIONS

The Activist Orientation is distinct from other orientations in that the dancer is consciously trying to communicate an important message to her people to bring about a necessary social adjustment.  The message may be drawn from the desires of the individual dancer, or the dancer may be able to express the desires of others whose voices need to be heard.   The intention is to harness the power of dance to motivate one’s community to consider new possibilities and alternative responses to a current predicament. E.g.: Flash mob; thematic performances about issues of women’s rights, environmental awareness, race and identity, etc.  Access: Fair

The Social Orientation is a wild way to feel a sense of belonging in a larger group through community dancing. Here, the ego is welcome, and in fact, a little healthy competition also stimulates creativity and cultural pride and may highlight certain shared values in the culture, such as complexity, toughness, or sensuality.  The healthy form of this dance glorifies the uniqueness of every individual within the community, including old and young, male and female, and all body types.   By learning and utilizing the gifts of each member of a community, dancers cultivate the inclusivity and sensitive witnessing necessary for a human community to function sustainably.  E.g.: Dance off’s; community celebrations; folk dances. Access: Good

The primary focus of the Relational Orientation is the interaction with another human dancer to express feelings of connection, trust, and intimacy.  This dance expresses our mammalian need for closeness with others through a visceral and vulnerable exchange of mutual support.  At the height of this form, dancers merge into one body and appear to be telepathic.  The Relational Orientation fulfills an important element of emotional health in humans and minimizes aberrant behaviors that stem from isolation. E.g.: contact improvisation; tango.  Access: Good

UNDERWORLD ORIENTATIONS

The Physical Orientation includes movement practices that focus on a conversation with the wild body with the intention of following its natural energetic patterns by listening and receiving, not directing the movements.  Dancers are magnetized by the innate wisdom and guidance available to us through heightened kinesthetic awareness.  This dance is an affirmation that we are a conforming feature of the earth’s body, and erases the line that divides the human world from “nature.”  E.g.: Continuum; Feldenkrais; Body-Mind Centering. Access: Poor

In the Expressive Orientation, the dancer journeys through the inner landscape and tracks themes of personal depth and mystery.  Dances in this orientation may include mythical or poetic images, original patterns or movement structures, or impulses guided from an unconscious source.  These dances invoke revelatory experiences that heal and nourish the soul and transform wounds into strengths to offer the world. E.g.: Authentic Movement; Body Tales. Access: Fair

Perhaps the wildest dance orientation, the Trance Orientation is also the most endangered due to the widespread brokenness of the human-earth covenant.  When the covenant is intact or repaired, the Trance Orientation culminates in a direct interaction with nature or nature spirits.  The dancer attunes with the ecological reality of her immediate surroundings by cultivating ancestral relatedness, exploring the psychosocial history of that ecosystem, and slowly building empathy with non-human perceptions and experiences.  This dance is the inter-species language by which humans can participate in the more-than-human community and gain insight into our role on the biosphere.  E.g.: possession dance; shamanic dances of indigenous peoples. Access: None ​

I recently moved to Cartersville, Georgia for a position at a partial hospitalization program for children and adults.  This position has many new challenges and opportunities for using the expressive therapies in a mental health setting.  One great advantage is that there are fewer regulations about materials that can be used, since the clients are not actively in crisis and can have access to objects with metal pieces, such as a drum!  Joy!  Also, each client's stay in the program is longer than the typical five days at the Crisis Unit, so that affords more in-depth involvement over time with each client.  One challenge I have faced so far is that there are more restrictions about hanging artwork on the walls in my new space, and the treatment rooms are not stocked with art materials - they have to be brought into each room for the sessions from a storage closet.  One thing I have learned over the years is that having an engaging and creative space is one of the most important steps when inviting a client into an expressive process.  I am hoping to have more ways of making the environment of my new position more warm and welcoming. 

Since part of my theoretical orientation of expressive therapy is rooted in principles of ecopsychology, I feel I should mention my experience with being in a totally different bioregion than I was in Florida.  Georgia has a very complex natural history that I am in the process of learning about.  The Creek, Cherokee, and Yamasee Indians of this region were mostly wiped out by diseases, forced relocation, and genocide, but many of the Creek Indians of this region formed a community in Florida known as the Seminole Tribe.  The history of slavery and the civil rights movement in this region continue to affect daily life, as countless incidents of racism have been brought up during group sessions in the few weeks that I have been working here.  Atlanta was one of the earliest industrialized cities in this country, and the colonialists of this region exerted over three centuries of harmful dominion over humans and nature, resulting in a very exciting process of creative survival. 

Walking in a nearby park, this phrase popped into my mind:  "The walking wounded create their destinies."  Both through my work with troubled children and teens and also through my observations of the resilience of the people and nature of this land, I hope to witness the beauty and grace of how all earth inhabitants can overcome horrendous difficulties and cultivate tremendous powers of insight and manifestation. 

I'm very excited to report that I will be presenting at the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) conference in Berkeley, CA, held on March 14 - 17, 2013.  This year, I will be presenting my work in exploring nine different orientations in free-form movement practices that correlate to the upper, middle and lower worlds from the shamanic paradigm.  I have found this map to be so beneficial in my work with bridging the expressive therapies with ecopsychology, as well as personally beneficial in deepening my own dance practice.  I'll let you know more about it in future posts.  Please check out the details of the conference on this link - it is sure to be a wonderful event. 

http://www.ieata.org/conference.html

I also presented at the IEATA conference back in 2009 on my work using veils in movement in expressive arts therapy processes with teen girls and their mothers.  It was entitled, "The Veil, the symbol of Islamic covering" and explored increasing multicultural awareness of the practice of veiling from a historical, social, political, and symbolic perspective.  Please enjoy these two videos that I used in my presentation as an introduction to dispel some perpetuated stereotypes about veiling practices.

I'm happy to report that my Free Art experiment in my teen expressive arts therapy group (in which I refrained from giving any specific directives) was a success.  I still felt compelled to start each session with a relevant discussion topic which I felt deepened the group field and propelled clients toward a more intimate and introspective exploration in their art process.  Rather than overwhelming the clients in the room who had little art experience, I found that Free Art was actually less intimidating to them since they could start with something that was familiar to them, such as a design or decorative lettering.  In subsequent sessions, I found they became more comfortable and appreciated the freedom, especially when other group members modeled intense interest in their own art. 

One challenge is when a one or more group members have advanced drawing skills, which seems to stifle and intimidate others in the room.  I have to work harder on those occasions to assure clients that it is more important to make one's art meaningful than to make it appear impressive to others.  Occasionally I engage in my own art process with the group as a way to model the safety of taking risks and trusting the outcome when making art.  The most important part of the session continues to be the sharing segment, where my goal is that everyone in the room feels seen and supported with compassionate and respectful witnessing.  Within a few  sessions, I find that most clients are able to enjoy an unbridled creative foray into their inner life.

I feel very privileged that so many wonderful young people have shared their most vulnerable and courageous artwork, poetry, music, stories, and dances with me.