A few posts ago I mentioned that visual art is used as a form of
therapy in a number of other professions. Counseling is one of these professions that have a growing interest in using drawing, photography, and other art forms such as music, play, and movement to enhance counseling interventions with individuals, groups and families. In 2004, "
creativity in counseling" was formalized within the American Counseling Association (ACA) as its 19th Division, the Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC). But before that, creative approaches to treatment have had a long history within the fields of psychology and counseling, including the work of Natalie Rogers, daughter of person-centered and humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. Natalie Rogers integrated her father's person-centered and humanistic principles with expressive arts therapies. Other powerful advocates include Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Virginia Satir, Bunny Duhl, and Peggy Papp, all of whom in some way saw counseling as a creative endeavor. Many counselors have embraced these approaches because they reflect the field's collective beliefs in human potential, diverse communication, and authentic self-expression.
Although counselors incorporate visual and other art forms in their work with clients, it's not clear if there is really an actual theory of "creativity in counseling" behind these applications. While art therapists capitalize on their extensive experience with applying the "third hand" to intervention, counselors tend to take more of an "activity" approach and depend more on "how-tos" than on in-depth knowledge of media properties or arts processes. Rather than mastering process and application at deeper level like creative arts therapists or expressive therapists, creative counseling tends to skitter along the surface, often dabbling in everything from listening to song lyrics to asking a person to draw "how you feel today". Sometimes yoga, roleplay, pet therapy or other experientially-based techniques are introduced. To me, some creative counseling sessions look a little like a set of parlor games to spice up the action when counselors are not particularly sure what to do with clients. Perhaps this is because many counselors do not take formalized training in creative arts therapies or related methods and instead accumulate skills at conferences and workshops; this may point to why creativity in counseling has yet to become more than a set of experiential activities that supplement verbal interventions.
That being said, there are ardent enthusiasts in the field of professional and mental health counseling who have spent many years studying creative arts therapies and play therapy approaches for adaptation to counseling. But much of what is written about creativity in counseling echoes the standard fare of decades of creative and expressive arts therapies literature, including the oft repeated phrase, "it's about the process, not the product." So when it comes to these "novel" approaches to counseling, everything old is new again. Despite the déjà vu, the creativity in counseling movement is influencing other creative arts therapies [art, music, dance/movement, poetry and drama therapy]. In recent years, dance/movement therapy and art therapy master's programs have hitched themselves to counseling coursework for professional identity and licensure opportunities [see previous post on art therapy education for more details]. This hybridization is slowly producing a new breed of arts therapists whose identities are less rooted in the arts and more inclined to being counselors who use the arts in sessions.
Of all the methods used in creative counseling, play therapy-- the purposeful application of props, toys, and games to treatment-- is one of the more popular approaches. In my next several posts, I'll be discussing this dynamic field at length. And you may be surprised, play is not just for kids anymore.
Be well,
Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC
© 2011 Cathy Malchiodi
http://www.cathymalchiodi.com
