I figure that one of my first few posts should be to explain a bit about Expressive Arts Therapy (ExA), since I'm likely to talk about it a fair bit here. I feel like it needs some explanation, since not very many people have heard of it - I hadn't even heard of it until a few weeks before I applied to the Vancouver School of Expressive Arts.
Start with the obvious - it's kind of therapy that works with the arts. Most people have heard of art therapy or music therapy, which use visual art or music in therapy sessions. Instead of staying with just one art form, ExA can draw on any and all of them - visual art, music, writing, dance, theater, anything that engages the imagination. Often, we'll move between 2 or 3 art forms in one session. I love this freedom to choose the art form that best fits the client's mood and inclination, and the possibility to deepen the creative experience by moving into a different art form. Telling the story behind the painting, adding sound to the dance, these kinds of shifts add complexity that often allows deeper immersion into the imagination and can bring new meaning to the emerging work.
The use of multiple art forms is reflective of the interdisciplinary theoretical basis of ExA. Most kinds of therapy, from more traditional talk-based therapies to art therapy and music therapy, are based purely in psychological theory. This means that all the theory behind them is based on the individual, and often on what it wrong with them. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is the psychology bible, and as the name suggests, it's all about identifying what is wrong and trying to "fix" the client - it is deficit-based. While ExA draws on some psychological theory, it also draws on anthropology, sociology and philosophy, and is primarily based in arts-based theory. This allows our work to be resource-based, focusing on each client's strengths, building them up to improve quality of life. Working with the arts and the imagination allows us to (re)discovery many of those strengths and resources, particularly when the client faces some sort of challenge during the creative process. Later in the session the therapist will generally draw attention to the resources they saw during the art-making, and inquire how those resources might be brought to bear on the client's day-to-day struggles.
Because ExA draws mainly on arts-based theory, the art work that emerges during a session is not analyzed as a expression of the client's subconscious; specific colours and shapes are not assumed to mean specific things. The art work is valued for its own sake, rather than as a reflection of the creator. Focusing on what is right for the emerging artwork generally allows the client to temporarily move away from the troubles of daily life and go deeper into the imaginal realm, an "alternative world" where transformation and growth is possible. Following the needs of the art leads us down unexpected paths, pulling us out of our habitual ruts and ways of thinking. Towards the end of a session, once the art-making is done, the therapist will may ask if the artwork has a message for the client and what that message is. The message is often both surprising and affirming, generally reminding the client of a resource they used during the creation process. Regardless of whether or not a concise message become clear, the art work acts as a third participant in the session, leading to places and insights that the client and therapist alone would not have found. That the the power of the arts and an arts-based approach, and it has a transformative power that I would not want to live without.
There is a lot more to ExA that I have not touched on here - theoretical concepts (including serious play, the basis on my thesis), general structure, the philosophical basis, applications beyond therapy. However, I think this gives you enough of a sense of what ExA is about for you to follow future blog post, and hopefully wasn't so long that I lost you partway through. For a one sentence re-cap - ExA is about harnessing the transformative power of the arts to improve people's lives.