HEALING THROUGH EXPRESSIVE ART THERAPY

Several years ago on a pilgrimage to Kenya, FPC member and licensed therapist Kristine Rand trained the Holy Family Center (HFC) staff on how to use expressive art therapy with their patients. Throughout COVID this has been an especially useful tool among the HIV+ teenagers who come to the clinic. Expressive art therapy multiplies the avenues by which adolescents and youth seek out meaning, clarity and healing. It offers a different way for them to express and work through their emotions, troubles, and issues. While one person may work well with talk therapy another might benefit from journaling, movement, art, or a combination of different experiences during therapy.

The goal of expressive art therapy is not an artistic outcome but rather a focus on the process of creating the art. The patients are not required to have any artistic ability but instead rely on their senses to help them process what they are experiencing. Each creative art activity is unique to the patient and has the power to help them connect with parts of themselves they didn't know they were hiding. Through their projects, they explore their deepest emotions using symbols to represent conflict and express how they relate to and understand what they are feeling. We are so thankful for Kristine’s leadership and for the talented HFC counseling team that that continues this vital work with our youth.