Student Self-Care and Mental Health Well-Being through Creative Art and Art Journaling: Facilitating Self-Care Opportunities through Creative Art for Students in the Helping Professions

Abstract

Students entering post-secondary education can often become overwhelmed, which can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. As researchers with an interest in expressive and creative arts for the purpose of well-being we wanted to see if expressive and creative art would provide a positive impact on student learning and well-being. In particular, can the use of expressive arts and art journaling methods effectively engage and guide creative processes, while promoting self-care activities among students in health and public service professions? Moreover, can it potentially reduce anxiety and improve the overall psychological well-being of such students? A pilot project was undertaken with second year students studying in professional human service programs who were also doing a community practicum at an undergraduate university. Volunteers engaged in an eight-week facilitated creative art journaling program. The goal was to determine what impact expressive and creative arts might have on student stress and overall well-being. Data was collected by way of observation, photographs of student art journals, pre-post surveys, and post interviews. Although the pilot was interrupted by Covid-19, enough data was collected to recommend the potential for a positive impact on the well-being of students who engage in creative arts-based journaling practice.

Creating the Conditions for Reflethical Practice: Exploring the potential for creativity and arts-based approaches to support the development and evolution of ethical awareness in coaching practice

“…In addition to engaging with what exists, our suggestion is that embracing and successfully integrating Creative and Arts-Based Approaches into coaching and reflective practice allows for the evolution of our individual and collective ethical capacity. This might occur, for example, through enhancing our capacity for self-reflection by tapping into our somatic experience alongside our cognitive experience (Rigg, 2018), or offering modalities to explore our experience of practice that can support our well-being and professional self-care (Pryma and Briegel, 2024). Furthermore, utilising imagination and curiosity may encourage coaches to explore ethical dilemmas using novel approaches, in turn creating innovative solutions.…”