Art Therapy for Our Facilitators

Our art group facilitators recently participated in a brief art therapy exercise aimed at exploring the issues and challenges presented by discipline and boundary setting, in the context of DrawBridge art groups. We often think of discipline in a negative or harsh light, but this exercise was aimed at shifting our understanding of discipline, re-focusing on the experience of children, and creating models for positive boundary setting during art groups.

Many of the behaviors displayed by children are actually a request for adult boundary setting. The act of setting limits can provide a safe container, a sense of security, and relief for children. They experience this sense of safety when an adult figure is providing leadership and predictability.

This is especially true for homeless and vulnerable children, who often lack a core sense of consistency and security in their daily lives. It is also likely that these children have had fewer opportunities to let go, relax, and play. When parents are experiencing major stress, disruption and insecurity, children often take on adult worry and feel responsible, at fault, and ashamed. It becomes very difficult for them to concentrate on learning, growing and exploring life's challenges and gifts with wonder and joy. When limits are set in a balanced and compassionate way, they are intended to create safety, but also to allow for the freedom and play that is essential to a child's development and formation of a healthy self image.

Having re-imagined discipline as a potentially positive experience for the children in our groups, it was time to start drawing! First we imagined what a positive, safe, creative art group would be like and placed this in the center of a large circle.

Next we drew four disciplinary or boundary setting challenges around the center circle. Finally, we drew our creative solutions to each of these challenges, encircling everything we had drawn before.

The act of working through a set of challenges visually, allowed many of the participants to think more creatively about the issues they resolve in their art groups. At DrawBridge, we believe that we already possess everything we need to heal. Art making is profoundly helpful in its ability to make these internal resources accessible. Art allows us bring our insights out into tangible form. We encourage everyone to explore art and their own imagery and to follow the path of growth and healing that these images suggest.