In my work with children, I often need to help clients who are struggling with sleep, especially because of fears and nightmares. Books and creativity provide helpful ways to approach these topics with kids, teaching them self-soothing skills to use at night and empowering them to respond to fears that may come up. Of course, always take the time to investigate what is going on with your client specifically so that you can address the underlying reasons for trouble sleeping – a child with … [Read more...]
Teaching Emotional Literacy With Finger Puppets
I have another guest post to share with you - Kathryn explains how to create easy finger puppets to explore emotions. I have often done different emotion masks with clients, but I think these finger puppets are great for adding a playful element that would engage some clients better, especially the younger ones. These emotion puppets seem like a great tool for helping kids practice listening to what their different parts/feelings have to say. Hi everyone! My name is Kathryn, and I’m an … [Read more...]
Circle of Gratitude: How to Calm Anxiety, an Art Therapist Shares a Way to Help
In this guest post, art therapist Mari Grande, LCSW-R, LCAT, EMDR EAC, SEP shares about using art and gratitude to soothe anxiety. By Mari Grande, LCSW-R, LCAT, EMDR EAC, SEP People often feel anxiety is a horrible thing. It can feel scary and you just want it to go away! But what if it’s like the Wizard of Oz? You think the wizard is this big frightening thing, demanding and yelling, and then it turns out to be a bumbling little person behind the curtain. Learning to get past … [Read more...]
Is Anger One of the Most Misunderstood Emotions?
Anger is a powerful emotion - but one that both clients and therapists can struggle to address. Art provides a helpful tool for both expressing and containing anger in therapy. Sigal Govrin LPC, ATR-BC has written a guest post about understanding anger, as well as ways to explore it through art. By Sigal Govrin LPC, ATR-BC I don’t know about you, but I have had an interesting relationship with anger. I believe for me it started in childhood where I witnessed my mother fear this … [Read more...]
Exploring ACT Art Therapy
I recently had the opportunity to review the new book ACT Art Therapy: Creative Approaches to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Dr. Amy Backos. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has always been a model that I have wanted to learn more about (it was not introduced at all in my graduate program), but for some reason struggled to connect with. The pieces that I had known about – practicing acceptance of thoughts instead of trying to fight them, being committed to taking helpful actions, … [Read more...]
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