building a creative-arts therapy group at a university counseling center

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Building a Creative-Arts Therapy Groupat a University Counseling CenterRandal W. Boldt a & Sherin Paul aa Baylor University , Waco, Texas, USAPublished online: 20 Jan 2011.

To cite this article: Randal W. Boldt & Sherin Paul (2010) Building a Creative-Arts Therapy Groupat a University Counseling Center, Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 25:1, 39-52, DOI:10.1080/87568225.2011.532472

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Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 25:39–52, 2011Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 8756-8225 print/1540-4730 onlineDOI: 10.1080/87568225.2011.532472

Building a Creative-Arts Therapy Groupat a University Counseling Center

RANDAL W. BOLDT and SHERIN PAULBaylor University, Waco, Texas, USA

Creative-arts therapy groups offer university students powerfulways to address intrapersonal and interpersonal concerns. Thesegroups combine the strengths of a traditional process group withthe benefits of participation in the expressive arts. The creativeprocess draws students in, invites insight and introspection, andfacilitates outward sharing as they build intentionally meaning-ful relationships. Students can share their experiences and insightswith each other as they explore their identities, shaping and mold-ing themselves along with their art. While some students expressreluctance about traditional group therapy, a creative-arts therapygroup may offer a compelling alternative with similar benefits. Thisarticle offers a framework for practitioners interested in buildingtheir own creative-arts therapy groups.

KEYWORDS art therapy, creative-arts, group therapy, university/college counseling centers

The long boardroom-style conference table was probably meant for note-taking, power point presentations, and evaluating the bottom line. Instead,on this day, last month’s newspapers were scattered in overlapping pat-terns to protect the oak from potential abuses committed in the name of“self-expression.” At one end a young woman sat stiffly, dripping papier-mâché through long, delicate fingers onto the newsprint. As she squeezedand spread more layers of soppy, torn paper onto her multi-media sculptureof a human-eating plant, I wondered if she would somehow connect it withher own emotional experiences—with the plant’s natural outward floweringbeauty disguising labile emotions. Later, in more vulnerable moments, she

Address correspondence to Randal W. Boldt, Baylor University Counseling Services, OneBear Place #97060, Waco, TX 76798-7060, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

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40 R. W. Boldt and S. Paul

described her ambivalence about opening up to others and fears about tap-ping emotions that she couldn’t control. Each week, after initially holdingback, she took more and more chances in sharing her inner experiences,her self-expression softening, even as her papier-mâché carnivore grewharsher.

Down the table, another papier-mâché artist explored her life-sized self-metaphor of a lone wolf. Stretching three feet long and standing over twofeet high, her wolf was a strong, powerful image for a student wrestlingwith low self-esteem and negative self-judgments. “Wolves run in packs,” shenoted, appreciating their connectedness and unity with something greater—and with her own desire to find a pack. Her embracing of this symbolismparalleled a growing sense of comfort with herself as she displayed heremerging strengths and self-confidence.

Up and down the table, students worked, hunched or sprawled, someclustered and some isolated, but all members of a creative-arts therapygroup. At the far end of the long table were two of the newest mem-bers to join the group, oozing ambivalence—both trying to understandwhat being a part of this group meant, or any group for that matter.What demands and risks would be placed upon them? Would they beaccepted or would they be hurt? Their terrified nonchalance about authenti-cally encountering an “other” reminded all of the members about their owninterpersonal struggles; they all rushed in to ease the “newbies”’ tensionwith reassurance, even at the possible cost of more authentic communica-tion. It was not long, however, before the initiates were joining the othersin stripping back layers of protective veneer and becoming vulnerable tothe group, even as they were adding layers of papier-mâché to their owncreations.

For three years now the Baylor University counseling center has offereda creative-arts process group for students seeking therapy for a varietyof intrapersonal and interpersonal concerns. Undeterred by the lack of awell-stocked art studio, the group has squeezed into the staff conferenceroom, usually reserved for professional training, case consultation, and staffmeetings. Around the room, finished and half-finished artwork, raw sup-plies, boxes, and multiple media are crammed, stuffed, and shoved intothe bookshelves that were designed for, well . . . books. Artwork and sup-plies are taking up space, blocking pathways, and landing wherever theyfit. This area was seemingly designed to smack of professionalism, disci-pline, and competence. And yet, it is somehow more appropriate to holdstaff meetings amidst the sloppy, dripping canvases of student’s exploringtheir very lives, beautifully messy and poignant reminders of our mis-sion, sharing their journeys with them while they explore and test theirpersonalities, shaping and molding themselves much like they do theirartwork.

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Building a Creative-Arts Therapy Group 41

GROUP THERAPY FOR TODAY’S COLLEGE STUDENTS?

“College students in this millennial generation just won’t come to grouptherapy,” was one of the messages we heard over and over while exploringnew group ideas. Yet, from the perspective of the well-known group ther-apists and authors, Corey and Corey (1997), “Groups are the treatment ofchoice, not a second-rate approach to helping people change,” and they“have immense power to move people in creative and more life-givingdirections” (p. 5). College seems an ideal time to continue developing therelational style that suits students the best, and yet sometimes they struggle.If the general trend of increasing social isolation of Americans is accu-rate (McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Brashears, 2006), then college students notbeing able to communicate in deeper ways with one another is not surpris-ing. Although most students can write a 10-page paper on the academictopic of their choosing, how many can effectively express their identityin a meaningful way with others, and how many are comfortable doingso? Furthermore, how do these students get by in a world that requires alanguage in which they are not fluent? How do they communicate theirwants and needs, and how do they form bonds with others? It seems thatmany students and nonstudents alike have a difficult time developing theirown identities and are uncomfortable when it comes to forming bonds withothers—not realizing the two are linked. Without acceptance, support, andintimacy, college students remain vulnerable to many of the most commondifficulties presenting at our counseling center, including depression, anxi-ety, adjustment issues, and relationship concerns. Group therapy, therefore,is an ideal approach for meeting these needs.

But what about this perception of the millennial students’ reluctance?This is where we drew upon our appreciation of the arts for inspiration.We believed an art group would be intuitively appealing. Not only might itappear fun, it offers students an activity to focus attention on, in case theinterpersonal self-consciousness became too intense. Furthermore, creatingart itself has communicative power and is an attempt to be understood. Fromthe earliest markings found in the caves of Lascaux to yesterday’s graffiti stillwet on the sides of subways, visual art has a powerful way of evokingthought and emotion in the viewer, holding within it joy, pain, love, hate,and life waiting to be consumed, or a person’s hope to speak in ways he orshe could not manage otherwise.

We became excited about the possibilities of a group that used both artand traditional verbal discussion to address student issues. We have becomemore informed by the well-established field of art therapy, as well as thegroup therapy literature. Not merely fun, art-making allows the expressionof “unacceptable” emotions, can free up inhibitions, and can both stir up anindividual’s anxiety toward taking action as well as offer an enormous relief

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from tension (Case & Dalley, 1992). The therapeutic benefits are amplifiedwhen the art is shared in the group and then verbally processed with theother members and facilitators. Everything becomes grist for the mill. Byadding the artistic element of creating and sharing images to a college stu-dent process group, we hoped to enhance the therapeutic work done by themembers as well as ease the initial anxieties students sometimes have aboutentering a group. Described below are some of the experiences we had andprinciples we discovered in the development of this group so that readersmay be inspired to adapt them to their own campuses.

GETTING STARTED: REFERRALS TO A CREATIVE-ARTS GROUP

Matching individuals to group membership is hard and often accomplishedthrough the process of choosing whom not to select (Yalom, 1995). Inthe end, the nature of the group personality itself, sometimes throughattrition, may also have an impact on who fits well. However, we havedeveloped some helpful principles based on our understanding of the inter-personal nature of emotional problems and of group therapy, as well as ourunderstanding of the artistic process.

Following the belief that an individual’s psychological concerns areintricately woven into his or her interpersonal relationships, students will-ing to look at the interaction between their relationship patterns and theirpresenting problems seem to be appropriate referrals. Both strengths andweaknesses are revealed in the ways people relate to each other. In ourexperience, the more a student is willing to look inward and explorehis or her own influence on important relationships, the more beneficialgroup therapy can be. For example, a severely depressed individual wouldhave difficulty initiating interest in the group or in self-expression and maynot make a good group member. However, if the depression lifts perhapsthrough other treatment, the creative-arts therapy group might be an appro-priate place to start addressing the interpersonal factors woven into thedepressed condition. Similarly, a student with an unmanaged eating disorderwould not be an appropriate referral, but a student with mildly disorderedeating, struggling with loneliness and self-judgment, could potentially ben-efit greatly from the group. In short, including students who are willing toview their concerns with an interpersonal focus, and excluding students withmore severe pathology, seems to increase the benefits for the existing groupmembers.

Additionally, in this type of group students must be willing to riskexpressing themselves artistically. Children use art naturally for expres-sion and processing, but adults tend to become self-conscious and filterthemselves, judging the “quality” of their work rather than the experienceof producing it. In the well-known words of Pablo Picasso, “Every child

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is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up”(ThinkExist.com, 2009, n.p.). Through education and group support theintent is to liberate college students from the artistic limits they place onthemselves, with the hope that over time they also find liberation frommental and emotional shackles. Sometimes a student’s progress becomes amatter of finding the right artistic medium, but for others it remains a strug-gle to put marks or color on paper, and they remain stiff and self-conscious.Frequently, this struggle is indicative of the very issues they are wrestlingwith interpersonally. One student in our group drew simple stick figures,without color and without interaction between the figures, barely respond-ing to the prompt given for artistic exploration. Interpersonally, this studentrarely initiated conversation and sat passively, waiting to be told what todo and which art supplies to use. Efforts to engage him brought detached,expressionless one-word responses. The parallels between his art and hisexpressions seemed clear. This student may have been more appropriatefor a traditional process group. Exploring a client’s comfort with art is animportant part of the screening process.

IMPORTANT THERAPIST QUALITIES

The facilitators must have some experience and training in group therapyprinciples and techniques, of course. They also must be comfortable andwilling to use art materials and risk expressing themselves in the group.However, being a trained artist is less important than being a lover of artand an appreciator of the artistic process. An art group facilitator’s self-expression can be limited to here-and-now sharing, verbally and artistically,but the genuine nature of this sharing is important. If group members sensethat the facilitators are uncomfortable with artistic self-expression, then theytoo may feel inhibited and limited. They may become self-censoring if theybelieve that the facilitator is trying to fake interest. On the other hand, anenthused therapist who can comment on the energy, emotion, and attentionto detail that goes into a student’s work will ultimately be encouraging andsupport students in revealing their inner worlds to the group.

A GOOD SCREENING HELPS MAKE A GOOD FIT

When students express interest in the creative-arts therapy group, they areinvited to a screening session with the group leaders. We believe the screen-ing process builds important connections with the prospective client andmodels the type of interactions that will be the focus of group, thus enhanc-ing a successful referral. The goals of this session are to (1) educate thestudent about the group, (2) educate the student about the use of art, with

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a focus on process over product, (3) explore any ambivalence about join-ing the group, and (4) secure an informed consent and commitment, if thestudent is a good candidate. The importance of attendance and confiden-tiality are discussed. New members are asked to commit to eight sessionsand then make known to the other group members their intentions and rea-sons should they decide to not continue. This session number ensures ampleopportunity to integrate with other group members and then be able to makean informed decision about continued participation. Establishing upfront,and continuously throughout the group, firm boundaries and guidelines isnecessary to allow the interpersonal process work to develop. Students arethen given a handout describing how to make the most of a creative-artstherapy group and asked to review it at home, with treatment goals inmind. Finally, students are assigned the additional homework of imagin-ing or developing a personal metaphor for how they see themselves inrelationships. They are challenged to find a metaphor that captures theircore relational style as much as possible. We believe that preparing thismetaphor before starting the group will encourage students to begin theself-exploration process and enhance their group experiences.

THE USE OF RELATIONAL METAPHORS

One group member created the image of “a lightning storm over plains ofglass” to express her experience of frequent relationship conflicts as well asher fear of being shattered by them. She noted the beauty of these storms,however, and expressed her belief that through the shattering of the glassshe sees the potential for healing that long lay buried. She tied her goalsfor the group to this imagery, indicating that she hoped to continue workingthrough the “storms” of her life and improving her relationships. In particularshe wanted to focus on changing her tendency to keep her struggles privateand instead seek support from others.

Metaphor offers a rich way to explore interpersonal patterns and asafe way for group members to introduce themselves as well as exploreand express themselves over the course of the group. Early introductionmetaphors can sometimes serve as markers for how a student wants to betransformed and may even foreshadow the eventual transformation. Theyalso prime the group to avoid the usual social introductions and patterns ofrelating. Instead of conversations (such as “what year and major are you?”),members can move toward sharing vulnerabilities and the discovery of newstrengths found in relating to each other more genuinely. As new membersjoin and begin sharing their metaphors, they start connecting at a morepersonal level. Art projects often center on some of these self-metaphors sothat students may explore them further.

Some powerful imagery has emerged from this format, often revealinga relational history of pain. One student described himself as a stone wall,

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with cracks here and there but also with boarded-up doorways where hehas tried to open himself to others, been damaged, and so retreated. Heentered the group following a break-up with his girlfriend. Another studentsaw herself as a doormat, and was seeking help with asserting herself inrelationships. Another was a teddy bear, found on the roadside, abandoned,yet still hoping for a caring home. The Lighthouse recognized his leader-ship qualities and strengths. He was tall, strong, and shone brightly, but alsofrequently was isolated and detached. The Wingless Angel pursued her spir-itual faith and direction intently, but with awareness of the bloody stumpswhere her wings had been and of the pain caused by past relationshipswhen they were torn away. One student identified with an image of theJapanese rice balls that have small surprises of fish or other food tuckedinto their backs. She was unable to see her own qualities and strengths thatmade her special because they were behind her, though others could easilysee them. Every metaphor revealed interpersonal struggles, often a sense ofbeing marginalized or disempowered, and often revealing the therapeuticwork that lay ahead for the group experience to be effective. This directedthe leaders’ interventions, as goals were literally observable and discussedwith all the members from the beginning.

BALANCING GROUP STRUCTURE AND GROUP PROCESS

As facilitators of this group we have wrestled with how to orchestrate themarriage of a process group with the creative process. We have had toconsider how much to structure the group and how much to encouragemembers to chart their own course and path. Should we provide art activitiesor allow spontaneity ? Should we interrupt discussion in order to create?Should we interrupt art-making in order to discuss? How do we encouragerisk-taking and intimacy without appearing intrusive? Is the art being usedto relate and build healing connections or to hide and create distance? Itwould be nice to say this has all been worked out, but in reality the group isconstantly evolving and is intimately connected to the idiographic makeupof each group and each session. We have found that both too little and toomuch planning interrupts the flow and process of the group. We have hadto develop an ever-ready stance to roll with the flow of the group, whilestill influencing it therapeutically. For us, this experience elicits an imageof a potter, throwing on a wheel. Both hands are cupped to shape, guide,and influence the clay, maybe even “invite” the clay to rise and take shape,finding its perfect form. Too much pressure, or too little, and things becomeoff-center, unstable and hard to make right again, spinning awry. Whenbalance is achieved, the form emerges effortlessly, beautiful in both formand function.

We have learned from our experiences and developed a flexible struc-ture and some underlying principles to guide our group interventions. Each

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group session is loosely divided into three phases that sometimes over-lap and sometimes remain distinct. At the beginning of the group, time isreserved for each member to “check in.” The check-in offers a transition tobegin the meaningful work of therapy, allows members to share their emo-tional starting point for the group, and anchors them to be intentional abouttheir goals for each session. We openly discuss, “What do you need fromgroup today?”

During the middle, largest phase an “artistic prompt” is typically offered.This is the most experiential phase of the session, where students are activelymaking art. This is a time of both creating and discussing. Students areencouraged to work on their goals and to “grab” time as they see fit tointroduce topics and concerns. This is also the most variable time, with theoutcomes being uncertain and unexpected. Students sometimes create qui-etly and sometimes they ignore the art supplies in order to process verbally.Usually some mixture of the two is occurring and the facilitators are jugglingthe interactions and their own responses, trying to encourage helpful groupnorms.

The final phase of each weekly session is the “wrap-up.” In this phase,students share their art work with other students, and facilitators encouragetheir responses to each other’s revelations. It is a time of assigning meaningto the experiences of the group as a whole as well as to each individ-ual. While it is often hard to interrupt art-making projects, the therapeuticexperience can be undermined if inadequate time for processing is allowed.Gauging when to shift to the wrap-up is an important facilitator task. Atthe end of the wrap-up students are asked, “What has been the impact oftoday’s group on you?” This helps students understand and categorize theirgroup experience on that day.

As in many therapy groups, focusing on the process of the experience,including the verbal, non-verbal, and artistic, has been critical in devel-oping the healing group culture and inviting a shared responsibility forexploration and change. Using the here-and-now therapeutically, by meta-communicating, has been invaluable, often helping the group out of a stuckplace. The focus of our interventions is on the group goals of developingcommunity and closeness, rather than on each individual member’s goals,so that the group and not the facilitators can meet individuals’ needs.

The student artists in the group communicate both verbally and visuallywith their art. Periods of creating, talking, or even silence reflect individualand group dynamics and become material for therapeutic exploration—asthey do in all process groups. The use of imagery enhances the richnessof the exploration, and it becomes the facilitators’ task to track the themesand nudge the group toward understanding in a way that offers insight andchange. We make repeated invitations for intimacy, even asking permissionto nudge the students out of their comfort zones, but ultimately we honorany resistance we encounter and even validate the protective functioning ithas served before.

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ARTISTIC PROMPTS

While we try to allow students to choose the direction and focus as muchas possible, we also have in mind our own ideas and perceptions aboutthe unspoken themes and concerns that the group might need to process.We come to group with one or more creative projects in mind to serve as“artistic prompts,” and we offer them as possibilities for exploring. We tryto offer artistic choices and ideas for exploration that neither limit creativitynor leave members floundering for direction. Early in the development of agroup, we look at ways for members to share more with each other aboutthemselves and their relational histories. Some of our prompts in the earlystages of a group have included the visual expression of self-metaphors,self-portraits, and even a shoe sculpture project for each to express whatit is like to “walk a mile in my shoes.” Prompts should catch the interestof members and offer opportunities to access the themes that have beenobserved, but also should be flexible enough that members can interpretthem in ways that best fit their individual needs.

The creation of a family genogram is one artistic prompt that has beenquite useful for several groups. Through drawings, students were asked tocreate metaphorical expressions of their family members, including them-selves, with symbolic connections between them that capture the nature ofeach relationship. Few other guidelines were offered. The means and man-ner of approaching the activity were left open, as were the content and howmuch an individual wanted to share during the wrap-up time. Group mem-bers approached this task in unique ways. Family members and importantfriendships were drawn or painted as an illuminating flashlight for a help-ful mentor, a brick wall for a stubborn caregiver, open arms for a nurturingrelationship, Zeus for an overbearing and power-wielding father, and fire fora person who had left the student repeatedly “burned.” Relationships werecaptured in many ways as well, including barbed wire, chains, glue, brokenlines, and firmly gripping hands. One member portrayed her significant rela-tionships as planets, with varying colors to describe their personalities, eachwith a unique orbit around her own planet. Members generally had fun withthe artistic exploration.

Thinking about early family histories and relationships has the poten-tial to stir deep, and sometimes painful, emotions, however. One memberhad difficulty with the genogram prompt, never settling on her metaphors,and simply doodled or created simple geometric patterns. She appeareddistracted and fidgety throughout the artistic response phase of the ses-sion. Her artwork and the process of creating it, or avoiding it, of coursewere intertwined. Even in the absence of telling a clear visual story withpaint or pastels, she was speaking volumes. During wrap-up, she apprehen-sively and tentatively revealed that she experienced abuse during childhood.It was difficult, as a therapist, to not jump in with a response directed

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specifically to her, but it proved much more helpful to comment on thesudden, vigilant stillness of the other members and wonder aloud how theemotionally loaded sharing was affecting all of them. They then respondedwith an outpouring of affection, validation, and questions that helpedher to process her experiences safely, and then brought up their ownexperiences of abuse and neglect, offering her further connections. Thegroup sharing was much more supportive and powerful than the facili-tators alone could have provided, and moved the group towards deeperconnections and working norms of vulnerability, intimacy, and openness.This group was learning ways to take care of its own members withoutrelying too heavily on the therapists, and had a corrective emotional expe-rience from the process of doing so. The metaphorical genogram was thecatalyst.

As therapeutic group norms of increased sharing, risking, and support-ing emerge in later sessions, we are able to offer students richer and morelayered artistic prompts. For example, we have suggested that a studentexplore his or her “inner beauty” and “shadow side” in the same work ofart. In other groups, students have explored the ways they feel invisibleto others, do not have a voice, or are like a shadow person. Some groupshave also examined in their art the tensions between a student’s individualneeds and outside pressures and expectations from others. Other groupshave looked at the concept of masks—the ones students choose to wear,the ones they do not, and what is underneath. We also prompted a groupwith a joint project to look at the roles each member fills in the group andhow these roles related to each individual’s relationship goals. During theshared wrap-up time in all sessions, we encourage, but do not pressure, stu-dents toward increased sharing and intimacy; members always decide howmuch they want to share and how much hold back. One student, wrestlingwith her family relationships, painted the tensions she experienced dailyin a stylistic self-portrait. In this painting, her head is surrounded by col-orful stars to express her dreams and ambitions, and the rest of her bodyis chained down to multiple black concrete balls, capturing the restrictionsshe feels placed on her by others. This evocative imagery elicited strongresponses from every student in the group who had also, at some time, feltweighed down by the expectations of others. The facilitators’ role was thento encourage their supportive interactions and the development of positivenorms among them.

Whenever possible, group members are invited to develop artisticprompts on their own. The more mature and stronger communities are ableto take on this task, while groups in earlier stages defer or find safe top-ics to explore. One mature group, nearing the end of the semester, cameup with a prompt to artistically explore the emotional areas each memberwas withholding from the others. There were no expectations that this artwould be shared; the decision about this was delayed so that the artistic

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exploration would not be filtered. One poignant artwork that emerged fromthis exercise was a dramatic and tearful self-portrait of a face, split down themiddle, surrounded by the words, “different, ignorance, acceptance, beliefs,understanding, judge, and hide,” with a tornado spiraling at the end of apath, and with the face’s mouth taped over and the word “TABOO” writ-ten across the tape. This student was never able to share the underlyingstruggle with the group, but was able to share the emotions that wentalong with keeping a tremendous secret. The wrap-up time at the endconsisted of affirming the emotional needs, and recognizing and validat-ing the emotional struggle, for each member—regardless of how much eachchose to share about his or her artwork. For some, it also offered insightand release.

GROUP LEADER ROLE AND ART-MAKING

What are the leaders supposed to do while the members are engaged morein creating than conversation? We struggled with this question for sometime. Initially, the students and leaders worked side-by-side on their ownself-expressions, drawing, painting or creating collages. This had some ben-efits, as the members felt more at ease than if they had been watched whilethey painted. We found, however, that we were torn about putting our trueselves wholly into the project, potentially losing our awareness of group andindividual processes and sometimes revealing more than we wanted aboutour own issues. We wanted to find a balance that normalized art-making,allowed us to share our personalities with the group, but also maintainedappropriate boundaries. One way we found parallels Yalom’s (1995) empha-sis on process illumination (p. 150), with the therapists meta-communicatinga here-and-now experience of the group dynamics. In our group, however,instead of only verbal process comments, artwork was used to commenton group processes. For example, on one occasion the group was makingmagazine cut-out collages that expressed each member’s unique personal-ity, but that avoided examining group relationships. So the therapists madecollages that captured the group process. We used exaggeration to note thetraditional group roles being played: leaders, loners, those who dominate,those who hide, those who drift away, and those who try to connect. Wenoted the way they avoided intimacy, and the way they looked toward usfor direction. We artistically wondered about the masks being worn andwhether the group would notice if members were suffering silently. Duringwrap-up we presented these images to the group. It made an impression,both because it was here-and-now feedback of our own experiences of thegroup, and because it was done with art. Students were then able to exploretheir very own relational style, in vivo, with the facilitators and with eachother.

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ARTWORK AND PORTFOLIOS

All the students’ artwork is saved in portfolios while they attend the creative-arts therapy group and can be reviewed at any time, but must remain withus until they terminate. The portfolio offers a visual addition to case notesand also a way for students to review their emotional progress over thesemester. The portfolio serves as both a physical and metaphorical con-tainer for a student’s self-expressions. Viewing a student’s accumulatedbody of artwork is often a moving experience, as the individual artist’sstyles, themes, and relational patterns become more evident. One studentweaved advanced calculus theorems and proofs in between O’Keefe-likeflowers, warning signs, and Dr. Seuss fish imagery, working with preci-sion and exactness for detail. Verbal exploration usually confirmed that theworks of art were windows into the interpersonal dynamics of the artist.For example, dark heavy colors ran through the artwork of a depressedstudent, while artificial, controlled, plastic imagery and pastels adornedthe works of another student who sought help with avoiding emotionalintimacy.

Of course the product and process cannot be separated. Creating some-thing and exploring an artistic medium is a process of self-exploration, butthrough the senses rather than thoughts. Letting go of the potential valueof the product (“this art isn’t going to be good”) and embracing the valueof the process is pivotal. Another student’s work revealed swirls, the mix-ing and blending of colors and shapes, and the addition of many layersand textures. Her works appeared to be always “in progress”—as she was.Unsure about her major and life’s direction, this student was drawn to thesensory experiences of creating and dripping herself out into these imagesof muddled people, scenery, and events. She enjoyed being able to spreadpaint with her hands, adding then mixing over and over, finding the rightnuances to capture her world in its great richness, vagueness, and ambiva-lence. The ambiguity of her pictorial struggles mimicked her real-worldexperiences. The satisfaction of creating these images was evident in herfacial expressions, as she was able to process experiences that eluded verbalexploration.

Students were able to take their entire portfolio home following theirfinal session. It was exciting to witness them reviewing their works ofart, reminiscing about their experiences of creating each one and reflect-ing back on their original emotions. This review allowed us to invite agroup discussion of ways they had experienced themselves changing overthe semester and ways they had seen each other change. During these dis-cussions members would use the artworks as prompts and sometimes asevidence.

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THE POTENTIAL OF A CREATIVE-ARTS THERAPY GROUP FOR AUNIVERSITY COUNSELING CENTER

A creative-arts therapy group can be a sanctuary where students wrestlewith both their artwork and their relationships. It is an “unplugged” groupexperience in which members relate by painting and talking, not “texting.”Group is not about being “good” at art, but being willing to risk the creationof art to communicate and express. Sometimes words are not enough andhamper expression. Adding the language of art offers richness to this pro-cess. Focusing members on the artistic process reinforces the importance ofexperiencing and relating rather than simply producing and achieving.

Creative-arts therapy groups are starting their fourth consecutive year atthe Baylor University Counseling Center. Due to their popularity, and to fitwith students’ schedules, two groups are now offered each semester. Thelead author has facilitated ten of these groups. Each one runs the course ofa semester and wraps up before finals, although some students “bridge” thefall to spring semesters for a full academic year of group therapy. Over time,our ability to screen and select motivated students has steadily improved, sothat our recent dropout rate for a semester is estimated at around 10%. Theauthors have drawn on prior group therapy clinical experience, includingthe lead author’s experience providing similar art therapy groups to childrenand high school age teenagers. While we can only claim informal training inart, we both consider ourselves “artists” in the way we see and relate to theworld and continually explore our own avenues of artistic self-expression.

The combination of verbal processing and art-making has brought stu-dents in for group therapy at our university’s counseling center and engagedthem in the process of change. Our impression is that the creative-arts ther-apy group has connected with a marginalized part of the university cultureand may particularly speak to this generation and be a hook to draw stu-dents into the center. Our assessment of the therapeutic impact is based onclinical impressions and the strongly positive self-report of members, whogive feedback that the art-making is key to “helping us talk at a more per-sonal level.” One member noted that “my issues are still there, but I don’tfeel so alone with them. . .and I can tolerate them better.” The creative-artstherapy group has helped students with a wide range of presenting con-cerns to reduce their symptoms and carry on, in spite of their struggles, andto find comfort in sharing their burdens with each other. Vincent Van Goghfamously said, “If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘I am not a painter,’then, by all means paint. . . and that voice will be silenced” (ThinkExist.com,2009, n.p.). After early protests and either self-conscious or self-deprecatingcomments about both their artistic abilities and their psychological strug-gles, group members discovered that they were artists after all—artists andcreators of their own growth and healing process.

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REFERENCES

Case, C., & Dalley, T. (1992). The handbook of art therapy. New York: Routledge,Chapman & Hall, Inc.

Corey, G., & Corey, M. (1997). Groups: Group process and practice. Pacific Grove,CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M. E. (2006). Social isolation inAmerica: Changes in core discussion networks over two decades. AmericanSociological Review, 71, 353–375.

ThinkExist.com Quotations. (2009, May, 21). Pablo Picasso quotes. Retrieved May21, 2009, from http://thinkexist.com/quotation/every_child_is_an_artist_the_problem_is_how_to/143237html.

ThinkExist.com Quotations. (2009, May 27). Vincent Van Gogh quotes.Retrieved May 27, 2009, from http://thinkexist.com/quotation/if_you_hear_a_voice_within_you_saying–you_are/326536.html.

Yalom, I. D. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (4th ed.). NewYork: Basic Books.

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building a creative-arts therapy group at a university counseling center

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