Sometimes Words Just Ain't Enough – Enhancing the Contribution of Children in Therapy through Creative Expression

Abstract

The meaningful inclusion of children in family therapy is an ideal that therapists readily align with and yet struggle to implement effectively. Within a practice that relies heavily on verbal expression, young children provide a unique challenge for therapists, who require developmentally appropriate opportunities for the child to express, document, and share his or her experience in all its richness and colour. In this paper the author utilises art therapy to support greater inclusion of children in family therapy by capitalising on their creative talents and facilitating the child's visual story within the family dialogue. This can assist in the formulation and treatment of systemic issues.1 The meaningful inclusion of children in family therapy recognising that therapy with children cannot be a 'simplified' version of adult therapy. 2 Therapeutic approaches that rely heavily on the use of verbal expression alone do not adequately provide opportunities for children to express the width and breadth of their experience. 3 Art therapy offers therapists a way to capitalise on the unique creative capabilities of children allowing opportunities for a child's story to be told, heard, and incorporated in a meaningful way within the family dialogue effecting opportunities for systemic change.

Young people, living in care and adopted, talk about their experiences of receiving an NHS therapeutic intervention. Qualitative research analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

“…'The Tree of Life', a technique to 'change the headlines in a person's life story', to thicken stories of identity and resilience (Denborough, 2014;Ncube, 2006), was found to be helpful for Bea, who attended the sessions with her parents. Charlie preferred games over talking, and Anna enjoyed using props, 'the snake was my favourite one', and movement to enable her to communicate difficult feelings and memories, '…being a tree… and definitely the aeroplanes' (Klop, 2017;Herring, 2020).…”

A Learning Theory Approach to Attachment Theory: Exploring Clinical Applications

“…This is clearly different from ABFT, due to which it was impossible to merely apply ABFT to the middle childhood population. The fact that this is a challenging age for children to participate in family therapy is illustrated by many family therapists’ hesitation to involve children in family treatment sessions (Klop, 2017 ; Rober, 2008 ). To account for these challenges, MCAT acknowledges that younger children have not yet developed the verbal skills to fully participate in complex conversations that are part of ABFT.…”

“…To account for these challenges, MCAT acknowledges that younger children have not yet developed the verbal skills to fully participate in complex conversations that are part of ABFT. Instead, therapy in middle childhood requires more play and action (Klop, 2017 ; Rober, 2008 ). Therefore, MCAT is built around activities that serve as a leverage to facilitate exchange about attachment needs, emotions and unfolding interactions.…”

Art Therapy as an Intervention for Children: A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications from 1990 to 2020

“…Nevertheless, art therapy with children “cannot be a ‘simplified’ version of adult therapy” (Klop, 2017, p. 283). Art therapy for children is used to provide children with psychotherapeutic assistance through artistic media for achieving self-understanding, reconciling emotions, improving socializations, fostering self-awareness, enhancing behavior management and problem-solving capabilities, promoting self-transformation and growth, and fostering personality integration and potential development (Malchiodi, 2012).…”