Art Therapy

Abstract

The use of group art therapy, individual art therapy and family art therapy in an inpatient child and adolescent mental health services unit will be described, including images and consumer feedback to demonstrate effectiveness. The artworks made in art therapy can reveal hidden dysfunction in the young person and/or their family members. Recent trauma research supports capacity to access this material safely through non-verbal visual communication. Family art therapy has been a useful intervention to support the identification of illness in a parent, to improving attunement between the parent and the child and for the parent to detach from their child’s symptoms by agreeing to get treatment for themselves. If the patient cannot separate from the illness in the parent, their symptoms will persist.