Art Therapy Activities Art Therapy for Mental Health Problems in Children

I'm Deb shoemaker and I'm an art
therapist and I work as a private
practitioner with integrated therapy
associates and I wanted to talk with you
a little bit today about art therapy and
some different techniques and approaches
in working with people who have mental
illnesses basically art therapy is a
form of psychotherapy but instead of
just talking with clients art therapists
use art materials to help people express
their feelings or thoughts or ideas or
even use the art materials as a in a
cathartic way to get their emotions
demonstrated or to get them out then
it's very specific depending on the
individual and what the goals are and
what the needs are art is one one of
children's first languages our way to
communicate and it's something that they
are familiar with and comfortable with
at early in an early age and even from
infancy oats and toddlers for scribbling
and then moving forward until until
around and that this age is getting
younger and younger
but around fifth grade 10 12 years old
children start to be self-conscious
about their drawing and and then kind of
some stop that spontaneity or interest
in drawing art therapy with children is
it's it's a way that they communicate
and feel comfortable with generally and
and where they may not have the
vocabulary to describe their feelings or
an event that happened or trauma they
can use the art to express that or draw
it out or even use the art materials in
a cathartic ways and that's some basic
information about art therapy and ways
to use our therapy with people who have
mental illnesses