Abstract
Throughout history, the arts such as dancing, drumming, painting, and storytelling have been used by humans as healing practices and creative means to express life experiences, thoughts, and emotions. Due to the natural evolution of the human capacity for creative expression, contemporary expressive arts therapists integrate creative interventions in their clinical practice to support the cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual well-being of clients. Expressive arts therapists who take on the role as educators commonly implement creative interventions in their active learning classrooms for mental health students to express and tangibly represent positive psychology concepts such as creativity, goals, strengths, and life meaning. This chapter provides an overview of the expressive arts therapies and presents action-oriented positive arts interventions that enable higher education mental health students to foster self-reflection and personal drivers in order to flourish as future mental health practitioners. Specifically, the aim is to highlight the extent towards which positive arts interventions could be employed to form cultural identity, identify character strengths, gain insight into creative self-care interests, and examine career anchors. Such positive arts interventions help students become self-aware and culturally-sensitive mental health practitioners in our pluralistic society. The chapter includes case examples illustrating the integration of the arts in higher educational settings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Carey, L. J. (2006). Expressive and creative arts methods for trauma survivors. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and intervention. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Corey, G., Schneider Corey, M., Corey, C., & Callanan, P. (2015). Issues and ethics in the helping professions (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Darewych, O. H. (2014). The bridge drawing with path art-based assessment: Measuring meaningful life pathways in higher education students (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI No. 3615961).
Darewych, O. H. (2018). Digital devices as creative expressive tools for adults with autism. In C. Malchiodi (Ed.), The handbook of art therapy and digital technology (pp. 317–331). London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Darewych, O. H., & Riedel Bowers, N. (2017). Positive arts interventions: Creative clinical tools promoting psychological well-being. International Journal of Art Therapy: Inscape, 23(2), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2017.1378241.
Degges-White, S., & Davis, N. L. (2011). Integrating the expressive arts into counseling practice: Theory-based interventions. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Freudenberger, H. J. (1975). The staff burn-out syndrome in alternative institutions. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 12, 73–82.
Haslam, M. J. (1997). Art therapy considered within the tradition of symbolic healing. Canadian Art Therapy Association Journal, 11(1), 2–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/08322473.1997.11432225.
Knill, P. (1978). Intermodal expression (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI No. 302940451).
Lambert, J., & Ranger, D. (2009). L’art-thérapie et la psychologie positive: Ensemble pour favoriser le déploiement des forces de vie [Art therapy and positive psychology: Working together to allow life forces to flourish]. Revue Québécoise De Psychologie, 30(3), 57–70.
Landy, R. (1993). Persona and performance-the meaning of role in drama, therapy, and everyday life. New York: Guilford Press.
Malchiodi, C. A. (2005). Expressive therapies (Ed.). New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954–969. https://doi.org/10.1037/003-066X.41.9.954.
McConnell, A. R. (2011). The multiple self-aspects framework: Self-concept representation and its implications. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15(1), 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868310371101.
McNiff, S. (2009). Integrating the arts in therapy: History, theory, and practice. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Niemiec, R. M. (2014). Mindfulness and character strengths: A practical guide to flourishing. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe Publishing.
O’Hanlon, B., & Bertolino, B. (2012). The therapist’s notebook on positive psychology: Activities, exercises, and handouts. NewYork, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Owens, R. L., & Patterson, M. M. (2013). Positive psychological interventions for children: A comparison of gratitude and best possible selves approaches. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 174(4), 403–428. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2012.697496.
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Selgiman, M. E. P. (2004). Strengths of character and well-being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2(5), 603–619.
Pennebaker, J. W., & Smyth, J. M. (2016). Opening up by writing it down: How expressive writing improves health and eases emotional pain (3rd ed.). New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford: NewYork.
Riedel Bowers, N. & Darewych, O. H. (in press). Expressive Arts: Instruments for individual and community change. In P. Dunn (Ed.), Holistic healing: Theories, research and practices. Canadian Scholar Press.
Rogers, N. (2016). Person-centred expressive arts therapy: A path to wholeness. In J. A. Rubin (Ed.), Approaches to art therapy: Theory and technique (3rd ed., pp. 230–248). New York: Routledge.
Rubin, J. A. (1999). Art therapy: An introduction. Philadelphia, USA: Brunner/Mazel.
Sandner, D. (1979). Navaho symbols of healing. New York: Dover.
Schein, E. H. (1978). Career dynamics. In Matching individual and organizational needs. MA: Addison-Wesley.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5. Addison-Wesley.
Seligman, M., Ernst, R., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkin, M. (2009). Positive education: Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, 35, 293–311.
Snyder, C. R., & McCullough, M. E. (2000). A positive psychology field of dreams: ‘If you build it, they will come…’. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2000.19.1.151.
Steger, F. M., Shim, Y., Rush, B. R., Brueske, R. A., Shin, J. Y., & Merriman, L. A. (2013). The mind’s eye: A photographic method for understanding meaning in people’s lives. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(6), 530–542. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.830760.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2007). Counseling the culturally different: Theory and practice (5th ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
Thompson, B. E., & Neimeyer, R. A. (Eds.). (2014). Grief and the expressive arts: Practices for creating meaning. New York, NY: Routledge.
Tomasulo, D. J. (2014). Positive group psychotherapy modified for adults with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 18(4), 337–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744629514552153.
Wilkinson, R. A., & Chilton, G. (2013). Positive art therapy: Linking positive psychology to art therapy theory, practice, and research. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 30(1), 4–11.
Wilkinson, R. A., & Chilton, G. (2018). Positive art therapy theory and practice: Integrating positive psychology with art therapy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Weiss, L. (2004). Therapist’s guide to self-care. New York: Routledge.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the higher education mental health students who consented to including their artwork with written associations for this publication.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Darewych, O.H. (2019). Positive Arts Interventions: Creative Tools Helping Mental Health Students Flourish. In: Van Zyl, L., Rothmann Sr., S. (eds) Theoretical Approaches to Multi-Cultural Positive Psychological Interventions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20583-6_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20583-6_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20582-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20583-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)