Narrative Performance and Book Launch

Art Therapy and Foster Children: What are We Forgetting?

I work with many children and youth who are part of the foster care system. It is a complex, messy, and chaotic system of care. I contract with many amazing caring Social Workers who try hard to provide homes for children that are safe and nurturing. The system often falls short of what it should be, sometimes traumatically. Over the years I have come to believe that a few things need to be in place to assist children who move through the maze of foster homes and transitions. We are hard wired to belong, attach and be safe in a “home”. For the children I work with, this is not always the case. I work with many caring nurturing foster parents; sadly I also work with foster parents who fall short.  

Over time I have come to realize that following are some of things that help children who journey through foster care:

1. Not being split from their brothers and sisters. The first thing children want is their Mom or a loving nurturing parent. If that can’t be possible, then travelling through multiple homes with adults who are not Mom and Dad is less painful if your brothers and sisters are along side to provide family, sense of belonging and safety. Splitting up siblings causes all children to go through abandonment once again. If possible, keep families together.

2.  Not being lied to. Children need and desire to hear the truth. It is their right to know why they are in foster care. It helps stop self-blame, guilt, shame and fear. The children of care have suffered some form of trauma to be removed from their biological parents, being lied to about the reasons why they are in foster care by Social Workers, Therapists, Foster parents causes more trauma.

3. Home visits with as many relatives as possible is important. The children I work with live for their family visits. Every effort necessary should be made to ensure the visits happen no matter how complex it becomes.

4. All questions about family, the system, and the future should be honestly answered by those in charge. The worst thing for a child lost in the system is not knowing.

5. Foster parents should receive education, training, support, and ongoing guidance. Foster children often have complex behavioural issues, trauma, emotional issues, grief, and attachment issues. Families who are supposed to be helping these children grow and flourish need the knowhow and skills to deal with dissociation, food problems, anger problems and a host of other issues resulting from children being raised in a traumatic environment and then going through the pain and grief of losing their biological parents.

Life is messy, complex and challenging. When we work along side children we can never forget to keep the needs of the child at the forefront of the system called Social Services. Children’s safety and wellbeing depends on having true attachment, real family, and authentic care, not being placed in an environment that looks like it provides nurturing but really it doesn’t. If you’re interested in reading more about my work with children please see my new book, “There is No Need to Talk About This.”

What Does Trauma Recovery Actually Look Like?

Recovery looks different for everyone. It is simplistic to reduce anything as complex as how people heal or change to stages, steps or phases. However, I have noticed a flow or pattern of how people go through their recovery process. Sometimes they repeat stages, stay for long periods in certain stages or even jump stages. Here is the framework that I often see.

1. Denial. Most people start their recovery with some degree of denial. In order to live life, be successful, and move forward denial is an important coping skill. Sometimes a traumatic memory needs to be hidden in the psyche if a person wants to survive. When the time is right to heal; meaning that there is enough safety, enough support, and/or the weight of the trauma memory becomes too big to carry, then the work to unfold the trauma capsule or memory can begin. Other parts of the self work hard to protect the traumatized part with denial. Consequently, the parts of the psyche or self that have been denying the trauma need to emerge and agree that they have been doing just that and it is no longer beneficial to continue. This part of the work can go on for a long time depending on how much the person wants to move on in their healing. I hear phrases like:

“I can’t believe this really happened to me.”

“This couldn’t been true.”

“Did I make this up?’

When there is no longer any part of us invested in denying the reality and scope of the trauma, then we feel like we are seeing the truth of what happened for the first time, even though we have lived with it for years. The pain now fully emerges due to not having the numbing device of dissociation to cover it. We wake up into numbing disbelief, which turns into pain and suffering. At this stage we need a lot of support, nurturing and care to not turn to addictions to escape the feelings.

2. Anger. The second step after we fully accept our trauma is anger. We are angry at the past, people in the present, and ourselves. We are angry that the world can be so cruel, that we were not protected, that people can act so horrid, and that we had to live through what we did. We can be angry with our therapist for leading us into this awakening. During this stage I hear phrases like:

“How come my mother did not protect me?”

“I wish he was dead.”

“There is no God.”

“The world is cruel.”

“Why me?’

When we learn ways to move through anger, how to release it safely, how to hold it without being overwhelmed by it, and how to calm it, then we can move into a more reflective expanded awareness of our self and the world. We need to pace this step because we could be dealing with years of bottled up anger. Remorse, self-blame, and fear can emerge and different parts of self will have different agendas and stories that we will need to listen to and resolve.

3. Bargaining. The third step is bargaining with the past and the future. In this stage people feel that they have lost too much time, wasted the best years or their lives or made bad choices because of their traumatic childhood. Sometimes they wish they had never started their recovery process because it is too painful. Sometimes they wish they could just check out. This is a time when clients stop therapy and think they need a break, when really, what they need to do is feel all the feelings that are emerging and realize that they can bear it, even though it is difficult and painful. During this stage I hear phrases like:

“I will never use again if things just get better.”

“ Why me, I don’t deserve this.”

“ If I read this book, do this workshop, see this healer I will be healed and the pain will be over.”

“Why can’t I just move on?”

 Railing against fate can turn into having a deeper ability to reflect, understand and be with the chaos of the universe. We can move away from blame and fear and find new ground after we get a new philosophy, spiritual belief or understanding of the world that fits.

4. Depression. The fourth step is depression. This stage is usually flooded with sadness for yourself, others and the state of the world. Sometimes you are reflecting in a healthy way on your past and other times you feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of your loss. You may isolate yourself and pull back from the world. It is the beginning of the mourning process and you need to be gentle, and soft with the new you that is emerging.

During this stage I hear:
“The world is too evil.”

“Maybe I need to travel, retreat, and/or move.”

“ What is the meaning of life?”

This retreat stage is a time to heal wounds, talk to family members and start the process of meaning making. It really is a time to embrace “not knowing” although every inch of you wants to know why. It is a time to deeply listen to all the different parts of you and be with yourself in a kind compassionate way. You are getting to know yourself freshly.

5. Acceptance. In this stage of the work you learn to accept yourself and others. You return to the surface work of being yourself in the world. Practical matters are easier to work with and you don’t feel as lonely. You want to reconstruct yourself and find a new way of being in the world. The pain and turmoil are still with you but you have skills in releasing, being and working with it. You find that you can stand in the reality of your situation without the past hijacking you. You don’t feel the urge to deny the past. It has found a different way to live openly in your body. You are starting to feel hopeful. During this stage I hear:

“I am feeling more integrated and whole.”

“I am amazed about how strong I really am.”

“I want a more meaningful life.”

“I am less afraid and more peaceful.”

This awaking stage can be scary and exciting. It is another birth stage in your life. You don’t turn your back on your weakness or wounded parts but use your strength to integrate and include them in yourself. Accepting your own weaknesses enables you to accept other people’s weaknesses and creates an expansiveness in your field of awareness.

Clients art work.

How Wanting to Help Can Be Harmful

I worry when I hear people in the “helping professions” say that they want to help. Why? Because that attitude can be harmful.

I work with children and youth who have been marginalized and discriminated against. They have often been abused in their homes, treated badly in their foster homes and labeled by teachers, foster families, therapists and social workers as problem children. When one of us in the helping profession gets involved to “help” these children we may do further damage. How?

There can be something wrong in the wanting to help when there is something in it for the helper. Why do we want to help? So we feel that we are doing something worthwhile with our lives, that we are “making a difference”. What does this have to do with the needs of the child? Sometimes nothing. Sometimes this “helping” attitude gets in the way of seeing and being with the child. It is an agenda. The child needs to change in the way the helper wants in order to make the helper feel successful and useful.

So how do we do this work and keep ourselves and our agenda out of our work? I think the first and most important step we can take is to be as present and as awake as possible when we are with clients so we can be authentic and genuine. Russell Delman talks about returning to grounded presence. This means that I am not getting lost in feelings or thoughts. It means that I stay aware of the “I” that is with the children that I work with.

A clients artwork to help remind herself to dream big about the future.

I might think that I know what needs to happen in a session, but I need to be aware that the part of me that thinks I know, needs to be mindful and aware that it is a small part of the rest of me that is resting in being awake, aware and available to what arises fresh in the moment. What arises freshly is what I need to be ready to hold, be with and facilitate, not what my imagined “agenda” thought was needed.

When I start wanting something to happen in a therapy session, I know that “I” am leaning in way too far. The session is becoming what I want and that means there is less room for the client’s needs.

New Publication: There Is No Need to Talk about This: Poetic Inquiry from the Art Therapy Studio

 
In the book, There Is No Need to Talk about This readers are given a glimpse into my therapy practice. The poems embrace the painful aspects of my clients' lives, the breakthroughs and struggles my clients experience. The text explores mental illness, trauma, abuse, autism, and depression  and how art and play therapy can help clients move into wholeness. My hope is that this book will resonate with anyone who works with children and youth and that it may inform practice as well. 
The book is published by Sense Publishers and may be ordered online at: Sense Publishers.
 

Grand Theft Brain Development and Art Therapy

It has long been known that whatever we focus on, repeat day after day and habitually do creates more of the same thoughts, beliefs and patterns in the brain. The brain wraps itself around whatever our strongest focus is. Norman Doidge in How the Brain Heals Itself, writes about competitive plasticity and the brains ability to rewire itself.

The good news in this is that we can change our brain by exposing it to what we need or want it to believe or perceive in the process healing. It also confirms that doing activities like showing up to meditate and doing the practice, even when it seems hopeless and unfruitful, still helps rewire the brain and deepen and strengthen the networks in the brain that will allow better and more focused meditation in the future. So practice does pay off.

I work with children who habitually wrap their brain around video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto.” That is the realty that is being reinforced and absorbed by their brains. These types of games normalize the violence and abuse that some of these children have lived through and help program the children to display behaviours that support violence.

I have also witnessed children who have come from abusive homes and foster homes who have been moved to nurturing and safe foster homes whom have changed so dramatically that I can hardly believe it. Their brains rewire to the new environment and as a result the child looks cared for, act like they matter, develop empathy, and start to like themselves.

 I also feel that in coming to Art Therapy and being exposed to the arts, they get another healthy piece of reality in learning that they are creative and they can create. I do therapy with my clients, but if I only did art, that alone would expand and heal the children whom I work with brain networks. It opens out a whole new world to explore for some of my clients who have never picked up a paint brush, touched clay or made a toy from scratch.

Brain research is fascinating and confirms for me that I picked the right profession.

Some Surprises are not Good

A child's drawing of how she feels when she is surprised. 

I do Art and Play Therapy with children who have moved many, many times to new foster homes. With each move there are new setbacks, new fears, new traumas, and new issues for child to struggle with. Sometimes the move to a new environment happens as a complete surprise to the child and sometimes what a Social Worker describes as going for drive ends up being arriving at a new home for a very startled and shocked child.

So, it is any wonder that small and large surprises, moves or changes would trigger traumatic memories or fears?

Even those of us who have not moved seven or eight times in our lifetime, find moving traumatic or at least tough. Having your own space, room, or home helps create the environment within a sense of grounding and belonging can take root and grow. Always moving, means that space has to be nurtured inside oneself. It is hard to trust others or the world if it cannot also be grown outside oneself. And it cannot be grown at all if the body is constant flight-or-fight response.

When any unexpected event happens, we all experience levels varying levels of fear, surprise, or shock. The children I work with have had their fight-or-flight response activated so many times that it becomes a habitual state to live in one or the other. A startle response which is a brief mental and physiological state of surprise or not knowing in response to a small surprise or change, moves quickly into high end flight reaction (dissociation) or fight (aggression). Moving to a new classroom, new bedroom, having a new eating place at the dinner table, etc. all trigger the trauma response without the child knowing why. But it is our responsibility as adults to know why and to create the safety and containment that child in our care needs.

When the rules of reality dictating everyday life are always changing, as where you live, who you call Mom, and what the day to day rules are, how can a child achieve self-regulation?  

So if a foster child is in your classroom, home, or therapy room understand why surprises are not always good for this child. Routine is important, change is frightening and needs to be clearly explained. Being consistent with your child makes them feel safe and wanted. Watch your child for signs of activation; raised eyebrows, wrinkles in forehead, dilated pupils, dropped jaw, darting eyes, shallow breathing, tightening in the upper body, or a darting or running response. These involuntary bodily responses often displayed for a fraction of a second may be followed by confusion, fear, or anger.

Explain to them what is happening and why. Offer them ways to de-escalate as, to do some deep breathing, drink a glass of water, do some movement or release the energy in a way that works for the child. Later doing art expressing feelings would be a good idea. When children regain control and body awareness, then they are not triggered by small changes that remind them unconsciously or consciously if the big life changes that they have experienced. The fear, anger and frustration that the child now feels transforms into grounded awareness and self-regulation. The flight or fight response decreases and the child can move safety and confidently through the world.

Is All Art Therapeutic?

Is all art therapeutic?

This is another question that people continually ask me. If creating art is not an activity that slows down your mind, causes you joy, allows you to lose track of time, or makes you feel settled and grounded, then no it’s not therapeutic for you. Art making is only therapeutic if it brings you into a more aware awakened state, calming down your nervous system and making you feel positive emotions. Any activity that activates positive neurons and allows you to relax is therapeutic. That could be fishing, cooking, gardening, writing, or making art.

I have worked with clients who feel stress when they try to do art. It is not a fun, relaxing, centering activity for them at all. So, it is not therapeutic at all.

But, for some people using their hands has a calming effect. Women and men throughout time have knitted, sewed, painted, practiced pottery and have found that it benefited their overall health and well being.

Kelly Lambert, author of Lifting Depression writes that:
“… when you knit a sweater or plant a garden, when you prepare a meal or simply repair a lamp, you are bathing your brain in feel-good chemicals and creating a kind of mental vitamin.”
Creating helps you feel productive and achieve mastery. By focusing your cognitive and emotional energies on accomplishing making something by hand it becomes a wonderful use for our neural networks as research has repeatedly proven.

Learning new crafts and art processes results in improvements in cognitive functioning and enhances brain plasticity. Because the brain is designed to actively respond to novelty and external enriched environments, it is forced to grow new cells and those cells are forced to make new connections. In making art, we use all our sensory organs.

This month in the studio we have been playing with knitting.

French Knitting.

Circle looms provide easy way for children to create toques.

 Knitting with thick bamboo needles. 

FAQ About Art Therapy

How do you stay healthy when you are dealing with trauma and heart breaking stories all day?

I am asked this question frequently. The short answer: I am doing what I am passionate about and what I think matters. However, the long answer is that I work at it. Ken Wilber wrote a book called Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening that suggested the need for having a spiritual, emotional, physical and cognitive practice to maintain balance and growth. I have been doing that for years. I am a regular runner, which helps with releasing stress, frustration and keeps me physically and mentally fit. I meditate which is important to help me grow spiritually and keeps me from over identifying with my small self. I am constantly taking courses and reading which keeps me mentally sharp and I practice Focusing weekly to help me stay healthy emotionally. When I am overwhelmed by the system, the world, or my clients I have a partner who is willing to listen to me and I have a wonderful two year old Granddaughter to play with when I want to feel better about humanity.

I have to be diligent to not hold on to the sadness and pain that is involved in my work. I struggle with feeling that things are not getting better in the world for women and children so I watch what I listen to outside of work hours.  I can’t listen to the news, watch discouraging movies and/or go out with people to complain about the state of the world. This is not putting my head in the sand, I just need to be careful to balance what I see, hear and read so that I don’t become discouraged.

What do you do to keep healthy?

One of the art activities that we have been doing in the studio lately is mask making. Children learn about identity and self expression when they engage in making a mask. They express feelings through their art, develop critical-thinking skills, and learn that there is more then one right answer or way of creating something. Art making builds confidence and helps children feel happy. 

FAQ About Art Therapy

I am starting a new series of blogs answering questions that I get asked about Art Therapy and counseling. The first in the series is about education. I hope you enjoy the series.

Hello. I am wondering if it is enough to have an Art Therapy diploma or degree or do I need to add more to be a good Art Therapist?

I believe that in this area of work, one should always be exploring new ways of practicing. This could mean going back to university for more degrees, taking weekend workshops, or doing online courses.

There are two important areas to be updating oneself in. One is in the world of counseling where there are always new methods and ways of working and the other is in the world of expressive arts. I often take online and weekend art workshops to keep myself updated and inspired. Some clients enjoy dance, puppetry, drama, music and other visual art. It is impossible to be good at all the arts, but it is important to keep exposing and challenging oneself to learn.

In order to keep learning and improve my therapy practice I have taken Somatic Experiencing which provides an excellent education for working with and understanding trauma, EMDR and Brain Spotting which have proven to be invaluable tools to use with clients for trauma resolution and reframing. I studied with and continue to study with Russell Delman. I completed his three year mentorship program “The Embodied Life” which focused on Zen meditation, Feldenkrais Method, and Focusing. I am a Focusing teacher and worked with Ann Cornell to learn Focusing. All these courses and ways of working have augmented and enriched my Art Therapy practice. I also returned to university a few years back to get a Masters. I think it is important to be a lifelong learner and read as much as possible.

As an Art Therapist, I find that I am constantly drawing on tools, information, techniques and ideas from a variety of different kinds of therapies and disciplines. Each client I see has a different set of needs and I find it helpful to have lots of ideas and ways of working at my disposal.

Having said this, I am first and foremost an Art Therapist. Most of what I learn, I adapt into the framework of Art Therapy. It is fun and creative to draw on many sources and beliefs to keep my practice alive and vital.

One of the art activities that we have been doing in the studio lately is string art. Children learn how to problem solve, think creatively, observe, and analyze when they are engaged in creating art. They express feelings through their art, develop critical-thinking skills, and learn that there is more then one right answer or way of creating something. Art making builds confidence and helps children feel happy.

Mermaids and Art Therapy

Being an Art Therapist means that I need to have many art ideas. On average I see seven clients a day and each client wants and needs something different. Some clients engage with a lot of art making, others none. Consequently, I am always searching and researching art ideas that can be used therapeutically.

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon Jane Davenport and Teesha Moore’s online workshop called Mermaid Circus. Find out more about it by going here info@janedavenport.com. They are both amazing teachers and artists. I wasn’t sure if I could turn what I was learning into therapy, but I did and with great results. The main concept of the class was to create handmade journals from drawings and collage images to explore the circus and mermaid themes.

I created my own journal in the shape of a mermaid and left it in the studio where several teenagers saw it and then wanted to create their own. I explained that I was making eight different mermaids that expressed different parts or qualities of myself. I illustrated my reflective side, joyful side; I named three mermaids to show my curiosity, desire, to pause, and forward movement. I created one to represent chaos, another for openness.

I was thrilled that several people wanted to do the same project to represent different parts of themselves. Other clients chose to create a single mermaid to which we added a self-portrait and then decorated. The project has been fun, illuminating and insightful for the clients and myself.

 I love using the mermaid form for symbolic reasons. For me it speaks of going into the depths of our unconscious, swimming in silence, and moving through currents. As women many of us have experienced losing our voice, being silenced, disconnecting, dissociating, and being misunderstood. Mermaids symbolize the different ways women have bound by society, lost their ability to move and be seen. Mermaids are mystical beings that are desired and feared. The mermaid started out as a fishtailed Aphrodite and was called “Virgin of the Sea” carrying all the symbolism attributed to Aphrodite.

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While working on my images I was reminded of Clarissa Pinkola Estés story, “Sealskin” in Women Who Run With the Wolves. Estés writes that in Jungian psychology, “the ego is often described as a small island of consciousness that floats in a sea of unconsciousness.” The story talks about how women lose and then reclaim their own voice, own values, imagination, clairvoyance, stories and memories. It talks about how we can practice intentional solitude opposed to being dissociated or lost in fogginess.

Working with these mermaids has been a joy for my clients and myself. I am always thrilled when I discover such a rich, deep image to explore as therapeutic art. Thank you Jane and Teesha for the inspirational class.  

How Do I Support or Diminish a Child’s Self-Esteem?

Playing with gel beads which help children feel calm.

Those of us who work in the helping professions have a profound affect on the self-esteem of the children with whom we interact. 

We help build a child’s self-esteem and sense of worth by doing the following:

1.    We need to accept the children we work with unconditionally. I am not talking about accepting all behaviour; I am referring to always accepting the child. We need to separate the child from their behaviour and realize that their behaviour is not their character. The children I work with know that I care deeply for them and that I unconditionally support them.

2.    We need to learn to overlook small behaviours. Knowing what behaviours to ignore and what behaviours to focus on are important in helping children develop and learn.

3.    We need to have realistic expectations. We can hope for more, want better, but we need to be realistic in the moment. I always have positive expectations for the children that I work with, but I know that growth will happen when it happens.

4.    We need to recognize effort and improvement. We need to remember the changes that the child has gone through and celebrate any movement forward.

5.    We need to appreciate the child’s uniqueness and respect their decisions.

As parents or people working in the helping professions with children, we can diminish children’s self-esteem and self-worth in the following ways:

1.    When we have conditional acceptance or rejection, we diminish children with whom we interact.

2.    When we overact to small problem behaviours.

3.    When we have unrealistic expectations.

4.    When we accept only perfection.

5.    When we hold grudges against the child.

6.    When we evaluate the child as good or bad based on their behaviour.

7.    When we expect the worst from them.

8.    When we constantly compare them to others that we see as better.

9.    When we neglect them.

10.When we get into power struggles with them.

How Do You Raise Creative Kids?

Simple, be creative yourself. You provide the environment, role modeling, opportunities and inspiration for creativity.

1.    Live a creative life yourself. Read, do art, make crafts, schedule screen time, makeup stories, be creative with your clothes, create beautiful meals, and have fun with your children.

2.    Feed your imagination. Rearrange your living spaces, invent new crafts, have new experiences and involve your children in all the above.

3.    Play. Limit, through scheduling, screen time (t.v., gaming, internet etc.), and play board games, makeup new games, make chores into games and embrace messiness.

4.    Be open-minded. Take adventures with your children, try learning a new language, try on new ideas and beliefs.

5.    Don’t criticize yourself in front of your child for making mistakes, being the wrong size, or not being good enough.

If you live a creative life, so will your child. You are the number one factor in helping your child grow and nurture their creative mind. Research shows that children lose their flexibility, creativity and uniqueness as they age. By the time they reach adolescence, their thinking becomes more structured and fixed. But if children are raised with having parents who have encouraged them to risk and not be afraid of making mistakes, and have instilled an early love for stories, art, theatre, and dance then chances are those children will be highly creative. Children who grow up watching their parents fix things will have confidence to try fixing things themselves. They will believe that they can creative problem solve and be “handy”. Creativity comes from trying, learning, and being motivated to study, make and do. Creative children have valuable skills for life because they trust themselves to be capable.

Art Therapy and Weather

Why are we obsessed with liking or disliking the weather when we clearly need to learn to “be with’ it? We can move to a different climate zone, but when we decide to stay where we are, why is it so difficult to accept the weather? I live in an extremely cold area. It snows all winter, the temperature drops below minus 30 Celsius and it always will. So, why are people shocked and dismayed when that happens? Why do we all complain when we have weather conditions that we are well aware will happen and will continue to happen?

I remember visiting some natural hot springs in Hawaii and listening to a man complaining to his friend next to me in the pool. When he was done, his friend said, “If you can’t be happy here in paradise, you can’t be happy anywhere.” She was probably right.

Accepting the impermanence of weather is good practice for accepting the impermanence of life. Learning to be okay with the weather, whether pleasant or unpleasant is good practice for learning to be okay with life. The “isles” of weather reflects the “isness” of life. I have lived in many different climates and environments. In this stage in my life, I just can’t get that worked up over the weather. I have decided that I will practice weather acceptance as a way to further my practice of accepting what is. If I really can’t accept the weather, I will move, but I am well aware that no matter where I am there will be some days of bad weather.

An Art Therapy Exercise for Accepting the Weather

When my partner taught school he had a morning ritual of Calendar Corner. One of the activities was to pick a symbol of the weather and place it on the calendar. There were clouds, a sun, raindrops, snow, ice, and a wind symbol. The children were learning about the changing weather. In this art exercise we are going to play with weather symbols.

Gather some art supplies. Start by getting comfortable, feeling grounded in your chair and noticing your feet and legs. Take a minute to notice your feet. Take some time to relax your feet and let them make contact with the floor. Press your heals into the floor, then the toes. Gently press both sides of your feet into the floor. Now shift your attention to the chair under your legs and buttocks and adjust yourself to get even more comfortable in your chair. Take a deep breath into your stomach. Now move to your chest. Now move your awareness to your hands and arms. Notice if there is any tension and gently release it. Take time to sense into your hands, stretching the fingers. Now, bring awareness to your neck, then your head. Take a few minutes to do a body scan noting where you feel relaxed. Notice where you feel any tension and breathe into those areas. Now gently turn inward, sensing into your inner throat, chest and then resting in the belly area.

Now imagine a hot sunny day. Where in your body do you sense this image? What feelings and thoughts does it invoke? How attached do you feel to this picture? How accepting do you feel of this picture? Now present yourself with an image of a very windy day. It may be a day from your memory or something that you imagine freshly. Notice where in your body this image sits and how it feels. What are your thoughts? How attached do you feel to this kind of weather? How accepting do you feel to this kind of weather? Now imagine a wet rainy day. Envision yourself caught in the rain without an umbrella or raincoat. Notice your body’s reaction and note your thoughts and emotions. How attached do you feel to this picture? How accepting do you feel to this picture? Now, imagine a cold snowy blustery day. See yourself shoveling snow. How does your body react to this image? What thoughts and feelings are you having?

Bring yourself to your paper and art materials and record your reactions to the different weather conditions through image making or words.

Art Therapy and Running

I work with teenagers who run. They run away from home because of abuse, violence, addiction problems, and an assortment of other issues. A rather common mistaken belief is that they are running away to have a good time, and/or don’t want to follow rules. However, in reality they are usually running from a negative, hurtful family situation. For the youth with whom I work, many of them believe that their only chance to survive is to run away. They are not mature enough or streetwise enough to realize that the street may be no safer than the home that they are fleeing. Many, if they paused to think through their decision, would still run believing that life on the street would give them more control over their lives. But in reality, once they hit the street often they find themselves trapped in dangerous circumstances and may get manipulated into prostitution, drug dealing or thievery.

I receive calls from Social Service Workers asking me if I can work with teens who have been found and returned home or placed in foster care or a group home and they say to me, “She / He is a runner.” Often there is a belief that if the child or youth ran, that they need to be pulled in. They need discipline, structure, and need to learn respect. Tamed.

Yes, I agree we all need some of that. However, after doing trauma work for many years I respect that somatically these kids knew that running was what was needed. There is strength and courage in running. Running sometimes is the only sane action one can take. The problem is not the running; the problem is what they are running from and where they are running to and often is not to safety.

After they are picked up by the police and placed in a foster or group home they now have a new trauma to deal with. By the time I see them, they are often angry, confused and no longer willing to trust anyone. Now instead of being free they are trapped in a new situation where they have less freedom, less control and power. But their bodies remember the high of running. They remember the state of euphoria of getting out of a dangerous situation combined with the environmental stimuli and the biological aspects of stress of the escape. Endorphin levels are raised when running under stress and this creates the runners high. Moods are elevated and pain decreases.

Human beings have always ran. We ran to hunt and to survive being hunted. When in danger the muscles, viscera and nervous system are all preparing us for escape. This urge to run is experienced as the feeling of danger. Anxiety actually occurs when our flight from danger is somehow thwarted or aborted, so we don’t get to complete our response to it. We experience trauma when we feel trapped and can’t flee. Without active defense responses, we are unable to deal effectively with danger, and so we become anxious and go into freeze. Freeze becomes trauma.

I am a runner. I run for exercise and sanity. When I run I feel strong, free and happy. When I was younger if I had have been wise enough, brave enough or empowered enough to run, I would have. When I work with youth who run, it’s not the running that I want to stop, but the direction that they are running in. I want to help them to learn how to run to safety and support. I want them to run into empowerment, self-worth and self-love. Their instinctual bodily wisdom to run away was right. What was not right were the reasons they ran in the first place.

Art Therapy Exercise for Running

Many of the young boys I work with have ADHD. They have a hard time sitting still and waiting for recess or lunch. Their bodies need to move. When they can’t physically move, I tell them to close their eyes and imagine that they are on a beach or a wide open field and they are running as fast and as hard as they can. In this way, their bodies get some internal sense of movement and their minds relax. This art therapy exercise is to use when you want to run or walk but can’t.

Gather some art supplies. Start by getting comfortable, feeling grounded in your chair and noticing your feet and legs. Take a minute to notice your feet. Take some time to relax your feet and let them make contact with the floor. Press your heals into the floor, then the toes. Gently press both sides of your feet into the floor. Now rock back and forth on your toes to your heals. Notice if you sense any colour in your feet. Now shift your attention to the chair under your legs and buttocks and adjust yourself to get even more comfortable in your chair. Take a deep breath into your stomach. How is your stomach? Do you sense any emotion here? Bring awareness to your back. What are you noticing here? Is your back tense or feeling relaxed?  Now move to your chest. Can you breathe freely? Is your chest open or closed? Notice if your chest is constricted, expanded, or in some other state. Now move your awareness to your hands and arms. Notice if there is any tension and gently release it. Take time to sense into your hands, stretching the fingers. If your hands could be anywhere in nature, where would they want to be?  What would they be touching? Now, bring awareness to your neck, then your head. Release any tension in your jaw and neck area. Now gently turn inward, sensing into your inner throat, chest and then resting in the belly area.

Now imagine the perfect place to run. Take time to notice the scenery, smells, hear the sounds. Notice the temperature and feel the air on your skin. Start running in your mind and stay present in your legs and feet as you effortlessly move. Notice the changing scenery and feel the different parts of your body responding to the running. Feel your arms swaying, and bring awareness to your chest. Now, when you are ready bring your hand to the paper in front of you and continue to run on the paper. Move your hand in rhythm with your moving body. Reflect the movement and feel of the run.