Digital Commons Network^™

Covid, Creativity, And Connecting Through Change: Reviewing The Literature On How Art Therapy Can Help Children And Adolescents Cope With Pandemic-Related Grief, Lydia Speicher

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most significant global events in the past century, both resulting in massive casualties and significant mental health outcomes across the world. Some of the most impacted populations are children and adolescents whose lives have been interrupted during their formative years. The purpose of this literature review is to explore how art therapy has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the grief experienced by children and adolescents through their losses of stability and peer support surrounded by uncertainty. This literature review seeks to understand exactly how the pandemic has affected the …

The Benefits Of Existential Art Therapy In The Wake Of Covid-19: A Literature Review, Alyson Rezendes

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light many complex and existentially rooted questions that are often difficult for individuals to process. In utilizing art along with a supportive and authentic therapeutic relationship, it can be possible to process these questions to help people both thrive and survive during these unprecedented times. The contents of this critical literature review will be examining the potential benefits of the utilization of existentially oriented art therapy with adults in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Explored within are the concepts of existential art therapy as well as the themes that can culminate in its …

Community Directed Exploration Of Expressive Therapy Applications To Combat Barriers To Mental Health For First Responders, Anne Rossman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

First responders are critically under supported in their pursuits of mental health and face a wide gambit of barriers to care. Using an asynchronous online forum, I invited first responders to engage in a community creative process, share their experiences of barriers to care and explore possible solutions to combat these barriers. From my review of the literature in preparation for this community project I surmised that to find effective methods of interventions and support for this population, the development of these should begin with the first responder community itself. The culture that surrounds this community often is avoidant of …

Redefining Connection And Meaning-Making Through Virtual Artistic Community Amidst Persistent Adversity: A Community Engagement Project, Gwendolyn Healy

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the meaning of community drastically shifted across the world. Many groups and individuals were forced to alter their professional, academic, and personal lives in order to persevere through this collective, global health crisis. During a time in history where so much changed in a short period of time, community and peer supports became more important than ever. Specifically for students involved in arts or expressive arts programs, the process of collective art making serves as a means of communication, connection, and emotional and mental processing. Without these connections and critical supports, feelings of disconnect, disinterest, loss …

Drama Therapy Interventions That Support Students With Asd During Covid-19, Olivia Reyes

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that began in December 2019, many people experienced traumatic losses, environmental stressors, and overall daily challenges. One of the populations most at risk during this time were those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Those with mental health illness and developmental differences are experiencing the pandemic in different ways. Individuals with ASD tend to have both developmental differences and mental health challenges that motivate individuals to seek medicinal and therapeutic help, along with other services to support their daily needs. This literature review addresses the negative and positive impacts COVID-19 has had on the …

Adolescents And Art Therapy: Exploring Safe Spaces Through Telehealth, Sarah Murphy

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis discusses an art therapy intervention in a virtual partial hospitalization program (PHP) with an adolescent population. Research involving the use of safe spaces in therapy, telehealth, adolescent group development, group dynamics, and digital technology in art therapy was explored. The intervention involved adolescent clients depicting a visual safe space using digital tools and exploring the concept of safety through telehealth. After the intervention, clients reported an increase in self-reported mood on average. Common themes found in the artwork include physical safety by holding boundaries and being around items or people they felt comfortable around. Personal artistic responses were …

Preparing For An Unpredictable Future: A Community Engagement Project, Rebecca Coates-Finke

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The COVID-19 Pandemic has upended lives across the world for the past two years, and it is hard for anyone to say if or when life will return to what we may have called “normal.” Communities must learn how to support and protect one another in rapidly changing circumstances, while holding space for the collective trauma and grief of this pandemic. In this thesis, there is a review of literature regarding trauma, collective healing within communities and families, and COVID’s impact on Jewish communities, with a particular focus on drama therapy. This is followed by a description of a workshop …

Potential Of The Arts To Promote Healing From The Social Effects Of Covid-19, Caroline Carr

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

For children, the global COVID-19 pandemic can result in less socialization, changing family dynamics, and hearing of or experiencing death around them. These changes may cause adverse effects on their development, economic status, and mental health. Posttraumatic growth can help children develop new pathways of understanding themselves, their world, and relationships with others. Expressive arts therapies (EAT) offer an alternative, creative way to attract and help heal children. Dance/movement therapy (DMT) is an established alternative treatment for mental health. As a form of therapeutics for traumatic events, DMT uses the mind–body connection to express emotions, thoughts, and dreams and produce …

Using Paper Theatres As An Expressive Arts Therapy Method: Activating Imaginal Worlds In Community Arts Practice, Silvina S. Ibanez

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Paper theatres are an artistic form that became widely popular in 19th century Europe. Also known as toy theatre and model theatre, a paper theatre has a small build-your-own proscenium and pre-cut paper characters that can be manipulated. Different styles of paper theatre can be found in several cultures.

In contemporary art, the use of paper theatres in several modalities led to an exploration of whether such theatres also could be used as an art therapy method. Research was conducted into expressive art therapy principles, Jungian perspectives, and recent studies in neurosciences. The studies included in the literature review confirmed …

Community Art For Rebuilding College Communities Following The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review, Amber Haney

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper is an examination of arts-based community engagement projects as a way to creatively engage, support, and endorse healing in college communities. This paper was written with consideration for potential long-term impacts on college students, individually and collectively, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this paper, college student mental health trends in the United States are addressed and existing community engagement projects that center around community, healing, and resilience are examined. This paper argues that art therapy practices that are meant to advance societal healing can occur outside of the traditional, clinical individual or group therapy session …

A Virtual Art Therapy Curriculum For High School Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Informed By Bronfenbrenner’S Ecological Systems Theory, Kendra Soule

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

During the 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic became a global health threat. In order to maintain public safety many schools had to transition onto a virtual space using online programs and classrooms. Not only did schools move to an online platform, but also mental health therapy moved to telehealth platforms to serve those affected by the pandemic. Art therapy is a form of therapy that uses the tangible art making process, art piece, and therapeutic relationship as aspects of therapy. With the move to the virtual setting, art therapists had to modify their work to fit the new setting. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological …

The Integration Of Tbri & Expressive Therapies Continuum: In-Home Expressive Arts Interventions For Foster And Adoptive Families During Covid-19, Jill Stockburger

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

With the onset of COVID-19 and the necessary isolation of a global pandemic, the therapeutic space was forced to redefine itself within the virtual realm as the ripple effect of collective trauma further compounded families healing from complex or relational trauma. Clinicians were virtually invited more into participants’ living spaces and interdependence with interpersonal family dynamics through this evolution. By combing the evidence-based practice of Trust-Based Relational Interventions with the framework of the Expressive Therapies Continuum, a more expansive, embodied, and uniquely client-centered, neurologically developmental approach emerged that engaged the healing potential of the caregiver-child relationship through increased co-regulation and …

Creating A Movement Group In The 2-Dimensional World: Using Dance/Movement Therapy Interventions To Build Connections For Children, Naomi E. Muhs

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The world experienced many changes after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, including counseling sessions transitioning to being delivered through the service of distance counseling. As a growing field, dance/movement therapy must explore distance counseling services to expand and have relevancy within the demands of current society. This project addressed the gap in the research on the integrating of distance counseling services and dance/movement therapy while presenting an interactive remote method for facilitating a group therapy session with a dance/movement therapy approach. Every piece of literature that was researched helped in creating the interventions that were implemented with the clients. The following …

Self-Compassion Integrated Art Therapy For Mothers During A Pandemic, Shannon Dover

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis reviews literature related to parental mental health and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). COVID-19 is a collective trauma in which individuals experience the trauma differently depending on race, gender, and class. Women’s experience of living during COVID-19 related to changes in the workplace, caretaking, and more. The pandemic influenced parents and notably mothers with increased stress, depression, grief, and anxiety. The practice of self-compassion reduces shame and self-criticism which are common experiences during parenting and trauma. Self-compassion and art therapy can aid in resiliency and make living during COVID-19 more comfortable. With a literature review, results yield the following …

A Critical Approach To Resilience And The Need For Community: Anti-Oppressive Music Therapy At A Homeless Shelter During Covid-19, Corrine Mina

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected death and infection rates of racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, immigrants and refugees, and those experiencing poverty, amplifying the racial, socio-economic, and systemic inequalities that already existed in the United States of America. People experiencing homelessness often do not have the privilege to shelter-in-place or work from home; the same goes for essential workers who must work in-person to provide social services. This community engagement project challenges the notion of individual resilience through the lens of critical race theory and a systems approach to oppression observed in an emergency homeless shelter serving …

Storytelling As An Expressive Arts Therapy Intervention With Children Via Telehealth, Sidney Marie Joines

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

As an expressive arts therapist in training working in the midst of a global pandemic, I sought to develop a creative, safe, accessible, and effective intervention for children via telehealth during a time of great uncertainty. Coronavirus 2019 has had a massive impact on mental and physical health and disrupted the lives of billions across the globe; the pandemic also forced mental health professionals to online formats. I found a significant lack of literature around expressive arts therapy via telehealth. Through considering theoretical approaches from cinematherapy, narrative therapy, metaphor therapy, play therapy, and expressive arts therapy, I developed an eight-week …

Using Ritual And Expressive Arts With Parentally Bereaved Children, Chelsy Bailly

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review discusses how Expressive Arts Therapy can be used to create and continue ritual to generate safety with parentally bereaved children. For the purpose of this literature review, children include individuals under the age of 18. Each section, expressive arts, ritual, and grief/bereavement, is broken down to include definitions and important information as it relates to children. Expressive Arts Therapy uses a variety of art forms as therapy and has varied applications with a wide variety of populations. Death is inevitable and with it comes grief. Grief, in this thesis, refers to the feeling felt by those who …