One of the things that I have noticed in my field placement is the role that art has to play in the recovery process for mental illness. At my field placement a couple times a week we conduct a craft group which gives patients the opportunity to express themselves in an artistic way. Participation in the craft group is optional, but I have noticed that many people attend this group and seem to get a lot out of their participation in the group. Watching this group has led to me think about what the potential role of art therapy in helping Aboriginal seniors express themselves and work through trauma. According to Recollet (2009) Arts based methods have been shown to be useful in helping trauma survivors to develop self-esteem, socialize with others and to improve psychosocial functioning. Not only have art based therapy practices been shown to be helpful to trauma survivors, but I believe that art-based therapies would be easily adaptable to many Indigenous communities because of the importance that is placed on art and different creative forms of expression. I recently came across a quote which I found to be quite relevant to this topic. Apparently Louis Riel is quoted as saying “my people will sleep for over one hundred years, and when they awaken it will be the artists who lead them.” (Gattermann, 1999) I believe that this quote speaks volumes to the importance that art has played in the lives of many aboriginal and Métis people for many years. There is a lot of written literature that discusses the importance of art, symbols and different rituals to Aboriginal people. According to Dufrene (2005) Aboriginal people generally regard art as an element of life which is interconnected to all forms of art including, dance, and song. In addition an Aboriginal perspective sees art and spirituality as being one in the same.
As I researched this topic I came across a number of different Aboriginal healing centres that have incorporated the use of art therapy into their programs. According to a study conducted by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation only 10 out of 104 healing programs didn’t include an arts based program from the period of 2007 to 2009. One of the healing programs that I came across which offered one such program was the Waseskun Healing Centre located in Quebec. http://www.waseskun.net/eng/Waseskun%20Booklet%20-%20ENG.pdf According to the Waseskun Healing Centre Aboriginal people have the opportunity to explore their creative side using a variety of different mediums including paper, canvas, sculpture, and wood. The idea behind the art therapy program according to the Waseskun Healing Centre the goal of the program is “to reflect on the thoughts and feelings that arise during the art-making process.” Additionally the painting or sculpture becomes a tool for exploring thoughts and feelings with the therapist, either in a group setting or on an individual basis. The goal of the art therapy in this case is to improve self-awareness and improve communication.
When using Art therapy to work with Aboriginal seniors one of the recommendations that is proposed by Gattermann (1999) is to begin the art therapy session by asking the individual to think of a story from their past. I believe that this approach to working with Aboriginal seniors could be very beneficial because as we know many Aboriginal seniors have very rich, but often traumatic histories. By using a storytelling approach to begin the art therapy session I believe that this allows for the opportunity for Aboriginal seniors to either begin to work through a traumatic history through Art or to build on the positive experiences in their life and possibly strengthen their cultural ties through the use of Art. In addition Gattermann (1999) recommends that in order to strengthen the therapeutic alliance during art therapy that facilitator needs to make sure that they are using culturally sensitive materials which are familiar to the client. Many of the materials recommended include leather strips or cords, beads, soapstone, fur strips, and natural materials such as wood, bark or rock.
Although art therapy may not be the most mainstream approach to working with people who have a trauma history it has in fact proven to be one of the most effective approaches. Because many Aboriginal communities identify so strongly with art and creativity the use of Art therapy with Aboriginal people is considered to be a good fit. This extends into working with Aboriginal seniors who may not only identify with the creative process of art therapy but may also benefit from the therapeutic aspects of art therapy.
Kendall
References
Archibald, L. (2010) Creative Arts, Culture and Healing: Building an Evidence Base. Pimitawisisn Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health 8(3)
Dufrene, P. (1991) Utilizing the Arts for Healing through a Native American Perspective: Implications for Creative Arts Therapies. Canadian Journal of Native Studies
Gattermann (1999) Using Art Therapy with Aboriginal Offenders. Concordia University Thesis retrieved from http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/927/
Hi Kendell,
ReplyDeleteYour blog gave me an opportunity to have an understanding that Aboriginal people loves art, that there is a big connection between art and spirituality. It makes me think that sweat lodge has both spirituality and art piece in it.
I know that art therapy works mostly with children and in family counselling but never did I think that it also works with Aboriginal seniors. I will keep this in mind, thank you for the information.