The Transformative Role of Art Psychotherapy in Social Work
Lee Simmons 01/06/2014
Edited and first published by BAAT
INTRODUCTION
This report is about my work as an Art Psychotherapist and Community Development Worker in a pilot Community Social Work Team (CSWT), in the second phase of the project.
In January 2013 my report of Phase: 1 was published by the British Association of Art Therapists in the biannual Newsbriefing Magazine and online. It described my role in London Borough of Sutton, and I hope was useful for colleagues, organisations and anyone with an interest in the subject.
This article gives an overview of the variety of interventions I deliver as part of my role. I hope it shows that a flexible approach that integrates different models and projects, works well for art therapists, clients and organisations.
My position in the second phase continued within the Community Social Work Team (CSWT) with the job title Art Psychotherapist / Community Development Worker (AP/CDW). In the first year, I developed and initiated community based projects with a range of partner organisations around Sutton; and delivered individual and group Art Psychotherapy for adults and some family work using Art Psychotherapy, and also social art projects. I set up an intergenerational project with people in sheltered accommodation working with three other organisations.
Within my role I was also able to link up with the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) Clinical Health Team, through the UK-wide ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’ initiative, described later in this report.
PROJECTS / CLIENT WORK
The longer-term projects have been those where an external organisation that can provide space, materials, and support for the concept of the work is also involved. For example, a traditional group is continuing to run weekly and is described below.
OPEN ART PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP
This weekly open art psychotherapy group has been running for over two years, and has the go-ahead to continue for another year in its current form.
There is a core group of eight people, but others can come to sessions without prior warning, and people are free to come and go as they like. The group is always at the same time, in the same part of the communal main hall, the art materials are out on the table, music off, and people are free to draw, paint, or write.
The group has become more solid over time as people understand the process and boundaries; the work is stored confidentially, and participants have developed their own style; communication between group members has become increasingly fluid and comprehensive.
To maintain a secure place to store work confidentially, a regular time slot, and physical site for the group, and to minimise interruptions from outside of the sessions is part of the therapist’s role in establishing and facilitating a therapeutic space, which is essential in psychodynamic work. I have been able to demonstrate that the group’s existence in a traditional art therapy format allows for other projects and collaborations to be possible, since it is a place that people can be referred to who are not yet able to take part in more directive project or group work.
One of the core members attempted to go to a confidence building course, but was unable to manage the non-therapeutic environment. It was important for him to have the group to return to, and continue to build his resilience and communication abilities until he may be able to attend something more mainstream.
I encourage the group to self-run on occasion, to support a sense of independence. This is not frequent and it would not work for many of the attendees if it was. A consistent group member told me that when I was not present the group felt less safe, she felt less relaxed and she did not know why. I suggested this might be because I do not make art, but watch and think about the group member’s art making as I feel this offers some containment for these particular clients .
Self sustainment of groups is a method likely to be increasingly used by commissioners in the future to enable more people to be supported with less public money. These groups will not have a therapist present so a psychodynamic baseline will not be maintained, but they can link with therapeutic groups that are better able to help people to work through blockages preventing their engagement in the non-clinical projects.
The Open Art Psychotherapy Group, from May 2012 to May 2014 included 34 clients: many were referred directly, a few had individual art psychotherapy with me and then moved into the group, and some moved from ‘Creative Club’ and ‘Creative Thinking Sessions’, described in the previous text, to the group. There were also people who self referred. Clients value the Open Art Psychotherapy Group, in some cases in has been the only reason they left the house. Through the group at Sutton Mental Health Foundation, they have then gone on to take part in other linked activities.
Client comments from the Open Art Psychotherapy Group 02/09/2013:
‘I find it a very relaxing group. Everyone respects each other. It is a very good team. Every one brings out their talent in different ways and all sorts of ideas. The only one negative thing is the time. The time has got to be longer than two hours.’
‘Enjoy making colourful pictures that I can treasure’.
‘I find the group very calming and I like the company’.
‘I find the group a great way of releasing emotions and sharing experiences without being under any kind of pressure.’
‘Joining the art group has allowed me to express a desire to create. Things I no longer am able to through my lack of vision, but now I can express the words which flow out of my imagination’.
‘I find that the Art Therapy is a calming place where you are free to colour, paint, or write poems to express feelings or emotions. It is a peaceful place where I can relax and the people are nice.’
'To meet others who share one’s problems and understand what we are going through.’
PLATES
In the previous report I introduced ‘Plates’, an intergenerational project that I set up, and developed in partnership with three other organisations. This went on to include a series of ceramic sessions involving older people living in sheltered accommodation who came to Scola college and made the tableware they had designed within their home, along with younger people. We held an exhibition, feedback sessions, and the younger people continued to visit of their own accord. The intergenerational project work was exhibited with enthusiasm from all involved. We re-grouped for a fish and chips dinner six months on and the ceramics were returned to their designer / makers providing a keepsake.
REFUGEE NETWORK
As part of a project set up for refugees and migrants in Sutton, I ran three collaborative art making sessions for mothers and their children. We began with free painting sessions, then painting with the theme of ‘home’, which led to talking about home. Group members said they saw each other in a different way after doing this and gained understanding of each others’ backgrounds. They also used their own languages at times, which they seemed to find empowering as they were learning English in the project space. It was satisfying to hear people speak in their native tongue, as well as English.
The organisation planned to use the work in a festival later in the year, and I left the paintings at the site. They said they would integrate art into some sessions in the future. Approximately 80 people from more than 10 different countries took part in the three workshops.
At the moment I am intrigued by a parallel process that has taken place, where I seem to have acted out the role that many people, and institutions, take with refugees in not bringing the presence of the group, or activities undertaken more to the forefront of my work in LBS. I have not made this work visible and am continuing to investigate why this might be.
MAKING SAFEGUARDING PERSONAL
This national programme involved a number of councils, developing methodology to make the safeguarding process more person centred.
In Sutton therapists and social workers have begun to work together in Safeguarding processes. As part of this initiative I collaborated with Speech and Language, Music, and Drama Therapists, holding focus groups with service users to find what they think about the Safeguarding process and how it can be improved.
There have been five focus groups, where people from different backgrounds and abilities, who have experience of the safeguarding process were supported in communicating their ideas about the process.
Information from these groups has been fed back to the project team.
A proposal that I have made and begun work on is to use EMDR and Art Psychotherapy during Safeguarding interventions, to soften the experience and help the clients to progress on from the trauma, potentially reducing chronic payments to staff and commissioned services.
Including therapy in the Safeguarding process can save the council money through some prevention of chronic dependence on staff and commissioned services, which is a frequent outcome of the safeguarding process. Clients have reported that though they do become physically ‘safer’, they often feel less safe with the changes made to their environment and social network. For example, removing someone from a violent relationship, is also removing the familiar, known, and chosen; and providing the unknown.
CONCLUSION
I have described several interventions, all part of my role as an Art Psychotherapist and Community Development Worker. I feel the diversity and breadth of projects make my work stimulating and creative. Throughout this, I have also maintained my own art practice as painting has proven to be a helpful tool for managing, processing and thinking through the feelings brought up through direct client work, and organisational stress, as well as being a valuable activity in itself. By continuing to maintain my own art practice I have been able to keep my thinking alive in a creative way despite pressures of working in a large institution.
At the time of publication (September 2014) a new project has been initiated using Art Psychotherapy, and EMDR therapy, with people who hoard. This is from within the Community Social Work Team and has a public art element.
I want to thanks colleagues and clients who have helped me edit this report and my managers for approving its dissemination in Newsbriefing and on-line and Stefan Polanyk (Community Social Worker) for the title of this text, and continuous help and support in the work environment.
Lee Simmons 01/06/2014
Edited and first published by BAAT
INTRODUCTION
This report is about my work as an Art Psychotherapist and Community Development Worker in a pilot Community Social Work Team (CSWT), in the second phase of the project.
In January 2013 my report of Phase: 1 was published by the British Association of Art Therapists in the biannual Newsbriefing Magazine and online. It described my role in London Borough of Sutton, and I hope was useful for colleagues, organisations and anyone with an interest in the subject.
This article gives an overview of the variety of interventions I deliver as part of my role. I hope it shows that a flexible approach that integrates different models and projects, works well for art therapists, clients and organisations.
My position in the second phase continued within the Community Social Work Team (CSWT) with the job title Art Psychotherapist / Community Development Worker (AP/CDW). In the first year, I developed and initiated community based projects with a range of partner organisations around Sutton; and delivered individual and group Art Psychotherapy for adults and some family work using Art Psychotherapy, and also social art projects. I set up an intergenerational project with people in sheltered accommodation working with three other organisations.
Within my role I was also able to link up with the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) Clinical Health Team, through the UK-wide ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’ initiative, described later in this report.
PROJECTS / CLIENT WORK
The longer-term projects have been those where an external organisation that can provide space, materials, and support for the concept of the work is also involved. For example, a traditional group is continuing to run weekly and is described below.
OPEN ART PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP
This weekly open art psychotherapy group has been running for over two years, and has the go-ahead to continue for another year in its current form.
There is a core group of eight people, but others can come to sessions without prior warning, and people are free to come and go as they like. The group is always at the same time, in the same part of the communal main hall, the art materials are out on the table, music off, and people are free to draw, paint, or write.
The group has become more solid over time as people understand the process and boundaries; the work is stored confidentially, and participants have developed their own style; communication between group members has become increasingly fluid and comprehensive.
To maintain a secure place to store work confidentially, a regular time slot, and physical site for the group, and to minimise interruptions from outside of the sessions is part of the therapist’s role in establishing and facilitating a therapeutic space, which is essential in psychodynamic work. I have been able to demonstrate that the group’s existence in a traditional art therapy format allows for other projects and collaborations to be possible, since it is a place that people can be referred to who are not yet able to take part in more directive project or group work.
One of the core members attempted to go to a confidence building course, but was unable to manage the non-therapeutic environment. It was important for him to have the group to return to, and continue to build his resilience and communication abilities until he may be able to attend something more mainstream.
I encourage the group to self-run on occasion, to support a sense of independence. This is not frequent and it would not work for many of the attendees if it was. A consistent group member told me that when I was not present the group felt less safe, she felt less relaxed and she did not know why. I suggested this might be because I do not make art, but watch and think about the group member’s art making as I feel this offers some containment for these particular clients .
Self sustainment of groups is a method likely to be increasingly used by commissioners in the future to enable more people to be supported with less public money. These groups will not have a therapist present so a psychodynamic baseline will not be maintained, but they can link with therapeutic groups that are better able to help people to work through blockages preventing their engagement in the non-clinical projects.
The Open Art Psychotherapy Group, from May 2012 to May 2014 included 34 clients: many were referred directly, a few had individual art psychotherapy with me and then moved into the group, and some moved from ‘Creative Club’ and ‘Creative Thinking Sessions’, described in the previous text, to the group. There were also people who self referred. Clients value the Open Art Psychotherapy Group, in some cases in has been the only reason they left the house. Through the group at Sutton Mental Health Foundation, they have then gone on to take part in other linked activities.
Client comments from the Open Art Psychotherapy Group 02/09/2013:
‘I find it a very relaxing group. Everyone respects each other. It is a very good team. Every one brings out their talent in different ways and all sorts of ideas. The only one negative thing is the time. The time has got to be longer than two hours.’
‘Enjoy making colourful pictures that I can treasure’.
‘I find the group very calming and I like the company’.
‘I find the group a great way of releasing emotions and sharing experiences without being under any kind of pressure.’
‘Joining the art group has allowed me to express a desire to create. Things I no longer am able to through my lack of vision, but now I can express the words which flow out of my imagination’.
‘I find that the Art Therapy is a calming place where you are free to colour, paint, or write poems to express feelings or emotions. It is a peaceful place where I can relax and the people are nice.’
'To meet others who share one’s problems and understand what we are going through.’
PLATES
In the previous report I introduced ‘Plates’, an intergenerational project that I set up, and developed in partnership with three other organisations. This went on to include a series of ceramic sessions involving older people living in sheltered accommodation who came to Scola college and made the tableware they had designed within their home, along with younger people. We held an exhibition, feedback sessions, and the younger people continued to visit of their own accord. The intergenerational project work was exhibited with enthusiasm from all involved. We re-grouped for a fish and chips dinner six months on and the ceramics were returned to their designer / makers providing a keepsake.
REFUGEE NETWORK
As part of a project set up for refugees and migrants in Sutton, I ran three collaborative art making sessions for mothers and their children. We began with free painting sessions, then painting with the theme of ‘home’, which led to talking about home. Group members said they saw each other in a different way after doing this and gained understanding of each others’ backgrounds. They also used their own languages at times, which they seemed to find empowering as they were learning English in the project space. It was satisfying to hear people speak in their native tongue, as well as English.
The organisation planned to use the work in a festival later in the year, and I left the paintings at the site. They said they would integrate art into some sessions in the future. Approximately 80 people from more than 10 different countries took part in the three workshops.
At the moment I am intrigued by a parallel process that has taken place, where I seem to have acted out the role that many people, and institutions, take with refugees in not bringing the presence of the group, or activities undertaken more to the forefront of my work in LBS. I have not made this work visible and am continuing to investigate why this might be.
MAKING SAFEGUARDING PERSONAL
This national programme involved a number of councils, developing methodology to make the safeguarding process more person centred.
In Sutton therapists and social workers have begun to work together in Safeguarding processes. As part of this initiative I collaborated with Speech and Language, Music, and Drama Therapists, holding focus groups with service users to find what they think about the Safeguarding process and how it can be improved.
There have been five focus groups, where people from different backgrounds and abilities, who have experience of the safeguarding process were supported in communicating their ideas about the process.
Information from these groups has been fed back to the project team.
A proposal that I have made and begun work on is to use EMDR and Art Psychotherapy during Safeguarding interventions, to soften the experience and help the clients to progress on from the trauma, potentially reducing chronic payments to staff and commissioned services.
Including therapy in the Safeguarding process can save the council money through some prevention of chronic dependence on staff and commissioned services, which is a frequent outcome of the safeguarding process. Clients have reported that though they do become physically ‘safer’, they often feel less safe with the changes made to their environment and social network. For example, removing someone from a violent relationship, is also removing the familiar, known, and chosen; and providing the unknown.
CONCLUSION
I have described several interventions, all part of my role as an Art Psychotherapist and Community Development Worker. I feel the diversity and breadth of projects make my work stimulating and creative. Throughout this, I have also maintained my own art practice as painting has proven to be a helpful tool for managing, processing and thinking through the feelings brought up through direct client work, and organisational stress, as well as being a valuable activity in itself. By continuing to maintain my own art practice I have been able to keep my thinking alive in a creative way despite pressures of working in a large institution.
At the time of publication (September 2014) a new project has been initiated using Art Psychotherapy, and EMDR therapy, with people who hoard. This is from within the Community Social Work Team and has a public art element.
I want to thanks colleagues and clients who have helped me edit this report and my managers for approving its dissemination in Newsbriefing and on-line and Stefan Polanyk (Community Social Worker) for the title of this text, and continuous help and support in the work environment.
