| 21 August 2010
Expressive Therapy uses a range of self-discovery processes to bypass the logical mind and tap into that world we know exists but cannot seem to comprehend consciously. This experiential and holistic way of working involves more than ‘just talking about the problem’, and provides the opportunity for real and lasting change.
This method allows a feeling of release, insight, increased energy and a sense of well-being and resolution. Expressive Therapies are a coordinated collection of personal growth methods, such as play, movement, journaling and Sandplay therapy developed specifically for helping children and adolescents in Australia since 1987. This approach is based on the research and writings of several of the Twentieth Century pioneers in human development and psychology.
What Types Of Issues Do Children And Families Have?
Young people come to counselling for many different reasons. They may have been affected by an emotional or traumatic situation, suffered early trauma, abuse, or live in an ongoing stressful environment. Children may exhibit unusual or challenging behaviours which alert us that something is not quite right. We all have a deep yearning to be heard and listened to, and this desire and yearning to express what is inside is even stronger in young people.
Case Study
Last week I had my first session with an eight year old boy. I had seen his mother for an assessment session the week before and found out the following information. The parents have a long and dysfunctional relationship. The boy has witnessed considerable domestic violence. The parents have been to mediation and the child is with his mother for nine days then with his father for five days. The child is displaying physically aggressive, dominating and controlling behaviours towards his mother and sister. The mother now has her new partner living with them and the child is angry at and rejecting of this partner.
The child arrived with his mother and his sister. He looked petrified, unable to give any eye contact and moved towards his mother for reassurance. I encouraged him to come into my office and reassured him that Mum would be back from the shops earlier than our finish time. In the therapy room, the boy stood completely still, again rigid and frozen. I asked several questions to which I got no response. I encouraged him to look around the room and asked him about why he thought he was coming to counselling. He shrugged. I began explaining to him very basically about some of the things I knew about his life, he nodded reassuringly each time I got it right. This was the beginning of forming a trusting relationship with him.
After a while I asked him to choose two symbols off the shelves of something scary and two symbols of something beautiful. He stood for what seemed like an eternity until I noticed a very faint smile. I commented on it and he said there wasn’t anything scary enough on the shelves to which I responded, “Great, let’s draw something that’s even scarier than what is on the shelves”. He nodded enthusiastically and I quickly got the crayons and paper out and got down on the carpet and he joined me immediately.
He a picture of a ‘slayer’ on top of a petrol station. There was petrol everywhere and a lit match. We discussed the picture in detail and I asked if this picture could be anywhere in his body where would it be. He indicated it would be in his heart. I encouraged him to close his eyes and see it in there. He did so and described it as spreading out from his heart to his whole body.
Then I asked what would happen next in the picture. He drew an explosion and bones broken flying everywhere. With further encouragement, he was able to choose more symbols from the shelves to go with the important elements of the pictures and we talked about these images in much more depth.
Then I asked him to now find two beautiful symbols. He chose a bird and a red tree and brought them back and began drawing them. We began a dialogue between the symbols. The beautiful symbols wanted the destruction to stop and the destructive symbols just didn’t care, they wanted to blow up.
To integrate I invited the boy to draw a body outline and he mapped the feelings on the page, drawing where in the body each was found and what colours and shapes they looked like. He wrote dialogue bubbles on them as well. To finish off I encouraged some deep breathing, focusing on breathing in the colours in his head and breathing the colours through his whole body and out his heart
At the end of the session the boy said he’d like to come back again and as he walked out the door smiling, he grabbed the happy face from the feeling faces wall and placed it confidently in the middle. He walked out into the waiting room with his head up and smiling, very different from an hour earlier when he walked in.
There is much work to be done but this was incredibly satisfying for me to see this young boy, so full of anger, self-doubt, and fear be able to engage so fully in a session.
The shift in his energy was almost tangible. Through complete acceptance of his ‘shadow’ side or the destructive part of his personality he was allowed to explore it and express it and get to know it. This reduces its power, this takes much courage – courage that many adults don’t even have. This child felt proud of his drawings and creations and his inner wisdom.
Written by Monique Rutherford, an experienced psychotherapist specialising in the parent-child relationship. She also offers workshops for parents called ‘Parenting from the Inside Out’.
