Art Therapy Practices for Resilient Youth

Marygrace Berberian is a clinical assistant professor at New York University. Ms. Berberian has invested her 25 year career establishing community-based art therapy initiatives for children and families at-promise. Benjamin Davis is a psychotherapist, educator, and consultant in New York City, focusing on non-pathologizing treatment models for LGBTQ individuals across the lifespan.

True to its title, this book offers a rare opportunity to absorb multiple strategies that are strength-based and positive. Each chapter includes one or more case studies to illustrate how art therapy was particularly helpful in navigating the complex issues children face, and how through art the child can find the curative path through the most adverse situations. Students and professionals alike will find inspiration in the cases presented and may start identifying their own clients as being at-promise.Gussie Klorer, PhD, ATR-BC, LCSW, LCPC, HLM; professor emeritus, Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleThis refreshing book contains many examples of how an optimistic stance can strengthen youngsters’ innate resiliency, reinforcing the necessity of conducting our work with a belief in the artist that is completely sincere. There is considerable evidence of the power of the self-fulfilling prophecy, especially the effectiveness of positive expectations. I thank the editors for this timely reminder of how perceiving young people’s creative capacities is at the heart of helping them to find and to articulate their own special artistry.Judy Rubin, PhD, ATR-BC, HLM, author of Child Art Therapy, The Art of Art Therapy, Artful Therapy, Approaches to Art Therapy and Introduction to Art Therapy; past president and honorary life member of the American Art Therapy Association; president of Expressive Media, Inc. Recognizing that youth are now the largest population in history, the chapters in this impressive volume include theory and neurobiological explanations as well as diverse current examples of developmentally sensitive, socially aware, and inclusive approaches to art therapy. The authors have edited an unprecedented and much-needed contemporary volume addressing the creative potential and promise of youth who have experienced adversity such as trauma, illness, physical challenges, substance abuse, and problematic sexual behaviors.Girija Kaimal, EdD, MA, ATR-BC; assistant professor, Drexel University; board of directors, President, American Art Therapy Association

• 1. Introduction; 2. Creative Problem Solving in Art Therapy: An Overview of Benefits to Promote Resilience; 3. Art as Communication for Young People; Part I Disruptions in Early Individual Development; 4. "My Passed!!!": A Case Study in the Efficacy of Art Therapy with Adolescents with Complex Trauma and Attachment Disruptions; 5. Promoting Resilience Through Attachment in Early Childhood Art Therapy Intervention; 6. The Mind, the Body, and the Creative Process: Embodied Representations in Art Therapy; 7. Building a Therapeutic Relationship with Children who Have Severe and Multiple Disabilities; 8. On Becoming Whole: Paul’s Journey Through Heart Transplant; 9. Strength-Based Art Therapy With Adolescent Psychiatric Patients; 10. DASH©—Draw a SuperHero: The Role and Significance of the Superhero in the Art of Children With Trauma; 11. Finding Safe Places in "Jars": Stamping Containers in Substance Use Treatment; 12. From Black and White to Color: Staying in the Metaphor Alongside Male Adolescents With Problematic Sexual Behaviors; Part II Disruptions in Family Systems; 13. Cultivating Resilience Through Creative Altruism with Institutionalized Youth in Foster Care; 14. Effects of Art Therapy on Identity and Self-Esteem in Adolescents in the Foster Care System; 15. ARTogether: Putting Community at the Center of Family Visits; 16. Drawing to Disclose: Empowering Child Victims and Witnesses in Investigative Interviews; 17. Resilience of Youth Overcoming Divorce-Related Stressors; Part III Consequences of Global and Systemic Stress and Inequalities; 18. Conflict and Displacement: Finding the Space for Creativity; 19. Neither Here nor There: Art Therapy with Unaccompanied Adolescents Seeking Asylum in the US; 20. Making Artistic Noise: Amplifying the Voices of Court-Involved Youth; 21. Fighting Isolation and Celebrating Gender Diversity: Art Therapy With Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth; 22. School-Based Art Therapy: Filling the Void; 23. A Journey of Hope: Art Therapy with an Unaccompanied Minor; 24. Art Therapy with Bereaved Youth; 25. Learning from Mistakes in Adolescent Art Therapy