Table Of ContentExpressive Arts Therapy for Traumatized
Children and Adolescents
Expressive Arts Therapy for Traumatized Children and Adolescents is the book so many expressive arts
and trauma therapists have been waiting for. Not only does it lay out an organized, thorough
framework for applying varied expressive arts modalities, but it also provides clear directions
for the application of these modalities at different phases of treatment. Both beginning and
experienced clinicians and students will appreciate the thoughtful analyses of ways for intro-
ducing expressive arts to clients, engaging clients with their art, being present to the art that
is created, and working within a particular session structure that guides the treatment process.
Readers will also receive more specifi c learning regarding the process of using body-focused
and sensory-based language and skills in the process of trauma treatment over time. Readers
will pick up more than 60 priceless expressive arts assessment and treatment interventions that
are sure to serve them well for years to come. The appendices feature these interventions as
photocopiable handouts that will guide the therapist working with youth through each phase
of treatment.
Carmen Richardson, MSW, RSW, RCAT, REAT, is a registered clinician spanning three
professions: clinical social work, art therapy, and expressive arts therapy. She is the founder
and director of the Prairie Institute of Expressive Arts Therapy (PIEAT), where she devel-
ops professional trainings for facilitators and therapists in the fi eld of expressive arts. She has
maintained a full time private practice in Calgary for over 19 years, and she provides clinical
supervision for social workers, art therapists, and expressive arts therapists.
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Expressive Arts Therapy for
Traumatized Children and
Adolescents
A Four-Phase Model
Carmen Richardson,
MSW, RSW, RCAT, REAT
First published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Carmen Richardson
The right of Carmen Richardson to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. The purchase of this copyright material confers the right on the purchasing
institution to photocopy pages which bear the photocopy icon and copyright line at the bottom
of the page. No other parts of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richardson, Carmen.
Expressive arts therapy for traumatized children and adolescents : a four-phase model / by
Carmen Richardson. — 1 Edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Art therapy for children. 2. Psychic trauma in children—Treatment. I. Title.
RJ505.A7R53 2016
618.92′891656—dc23
2015007082
ISBN: 978-0-415-73377-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-73378-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-81785-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To each child who taught me what it means to do brave therapy
Tell Me, She Said
Tell me, she said:
What is the story you are telling?
What wild song is singing itself through you?
Listen:
In the silence between there is music;
In the spaces between there is story.
It is the song you are living now.
It is the story of the place where you are.
It contains the shapes of these old mountains
The green of the rhododendron leaves,
It is happening right now in your breath,
In the heartbeat still drumming the deeper
rhythm
Beneath your cracking words.
It matters what you did this morning and last
Saturday night and last year,
Not because you are important
But because you are in it and it is still moving,
We are all in this story together.
Listen:
In the silence between there is music;
In the spaces between there is story.
Pay attention:
We are listening each other into being.
Sally Atkins 1
NOTE
1. Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective. (2003). Expressive arts therapy: Creative process in art and life.
Boone, NC: Parkway Publishers. Reprinted with permission.
Contents
Foreword xi
William Steele
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction xix
PART 1
The Expressive Arts Therapy Way 1
1 Expressive Arts Therapy 3
The Expressive Arts Way 3
The Profession of Expressive Arts Therapy 4
The Shapers of the Field 5
Expressive Arts Therapy: The Prairie Approach 6
References 8
2 The Action of Expressive Arts Therapy 9
An Expressive Arts Therapy Framework 9
The Persona of the Therapist: The Many Hats We Wear 9
Introducing the Arts to Clients 11
Engaging Clients With Their Art 16
The Art of Questions 18
Experiments 19
Artistic Acts of Victory 20
The Voice: Breathing Life Into Words 23
Wise Witness 25
Art Responses 26
When to Use an Art Response 27
Inviting Others to Create an Art Response 29
References 31
PART 2
Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy 33
3. Children’s Experience of Trauma 35
The Sensory Experience of Trauma: Honoring the Internal World of the Child 35
Trauma and the Brain, Memory, and Body 35
Trauma and the Brain: Wired to Survive 37
vii
viii Contents
Trauma and Memory: The Journey From Implicit to Explicit Memory 39
Trauma and the Body: Nervous System Arousal 41
References 42
4 A Resource-Oriented Lens 44
Resourcing as the Foundation 44
Resources Inherent in the Expressive Arts Process and Product 48
Resource-Oriented Attitude of the Therapist 50
The Ear of the Heart Listening 53
Working With Resources 54
Dumpster Diving: The Therapist’s Healing as a Resource 58
References 61
PART 3
An Expressive Arts Four-Phase Model of Treatment 63
5 Introduction to the Expressive Arts Four-Phase Model 65
Overview of the Four Phases 66
Working With Single-Incident and Multiple Traumas 67
Phase Guidelines and Phase Interventions: Rationale and Process 67
Caregiver Involvement Throughout the Four Phases 67
The Therapy Process Over Time: Beginning, Middle, and End 68
Number of Sessions Required 69
Individual Session Structure: Beginning, Middle, and End 70
Temporal Orientations: Then and Now/Past and Present 72
Working With the Body’s Rhythm 73
Therapist and Caregiver Attunement to the Child 73
Compassionate Listening 74
Structured Flexibility 74
What to Do With the Tangible Art 75
Modifying Interventions 75
Working Intermodally 75
Permission Statements 75
Moving From One Phase to the Next 76
Therapist Handouts for Organizing Assessment and Treatment Information 76
Information Handouts for Clients 80
Readiness to Begin Phase One 81
References 81
6 Phase One Guidelines: Understanding the Child’s World 83
Initial Assessment 83
Multiple Treatment Providers/Professionals 84
Process of Assessment Sessions 84
Therapist Response During Assessment Versus Treatment 85
Overview of Assessment Tools 85
Standardized Tests 86
Art Therapy Assessment Tools 87
Expressive Arts–Based Information-Gathering Tools 87
Questionnaires for Information Gathering 97
Readiness to Move to Phase Two 103
References 104
Contents ix
7 Phase Two Guidelines: Cultivating Safety and Resources 105
Phase Two Expressive Arts Interventions 107
Readiness to Move to Phase Three 119
References 120
8 Phase Three Guidelines: Processing the Trauma 121
Phase Three Expressive Arts Interventions 122
Readiness to Move to Phase Four 144
References 144
9 Phase Four Guidelines: Reclaiming, Reframing,
Repairing, and Reorienting 145
Phase Four Expressive Arts Interventions 146
Readiness to Close Therapy 167
Appendix A. An Expressive Arts Four-Phase Model 169
Checklist of the Main Map 169
Appendix B. Therapist Handouts for Organizing Assessment
and Treatment Information 171
Highlighting Core Issues 171
Feedback Form 172
Tracking Assessment and Treatment 173
Managing Activation—Adolescents 174
Managing Activation—Children 175
Acts of Victory and Mastery 176
Thoughts, Feelings, and Beliefs Checklist 177
Appendix C. Information Handouts for Clients 178
Caregiver Involvement in the Four Phases 178
The Inner World of My Body 180
Appendix D. Phase One: Expressive Arts–Based Information-Gathering Tools 185
Map of My World 185
How Trauma Changed My World 186
My Relationships 187
Amazing Body 1 188
Amazing Body 2 189
My Body and the Trauma 1 190
My Body and the Trauma 2 191
Self-Portraits 1 192
Appendix E. Phase One: Questionnaires for Information Gathering 193
Exploring Art Modalities and Creativity Beliefs 193
Child and Caregiver Trauma History 195
Impact of Trauma on Caregiver 196
Why It Was Hard for Me to Tell 197
Why It Was Hard for My Child to Tell 198
Responsibility Rating Scale (Child) 199
Responsibility Rating Scale (Caregiver) 200
Responsibility for the Trauma 201
Safety Questionnaire 202
Feelings About the Trauma 203
Disclosure Questionnaire 204
