Art Therapy & Family Healing, By Kate King, M.A.

It is often wondered, what exactly is art therapy? An abundance of incredibly creative guesses have been made to define this therapeutic endeavor: Is it therapy for artists? Art for therapists? Finger painting for adults? The truth in defining art therapy is more logical than it seems. It is the psychotherapeutic practice of using art in therapy sessions to provide a nonverbal, expressive outlet for individuals who may not be ready or able to verbally express their struggles. The next question: Is art therapy just for kids? Absolutely not. Art therapy can be an effective treatment modality for all ages, genders, and groups. Utilization of art, in any form, allows for the creator to see their life challenges reflected back at them as a metaphor in the art. This type of exposure can be both empowering and healing. Empowerment arises as the creator sees their own ability to express internal fears and issues through the art. Healing can come through the creator’s relationship and thoughtful meaning-making with their art.

Art can evoke and reveal communal struggles as well as personal ones. For this reason, art therapy can be an effective form of therapy to use with families. The intricate web of a family system is often tangled with emotion and charge. Each family member possesses their own perspective, their own reality of life in the family, and tries to harmoniously live within the system without forsaking their individual experience. It is not difficult to understand how a group of people, often very different from one another, struggle to find themselves on the same page, especially if the family has encountered a challenge together involving one or more of the members. This is where art therapy comes in. Creating artwork, both individually and collectively, gives the family an external location to place their emotions. The art therapist may give the family directives to create imagery representative of their experience of the family network, to represent themselves within the family system, to create a depiction of their emotional state evoked by the family. When created and witnessed by one another in the safety of the therapeutic space, family art therapy can be revealing of issues that have been beckoning to be expressed by some members, while other members were completely unaware or resistant to acknowledge their existence.

Initially, family therapy can be painful or difficult. Exposing oneself to a group of people, especially a family, can evoke fear or hesitation. Without even mentioning many peoples’ hesitation to utilize art materials at all, creative expression can be a mysterious world to clients who may wonder what vulnerabilities it might reveal publically. Once entered, the world of art and creative expression can be exciting, and sometimes painfully revealing. The hope, however, is that once the difficult challenges begin being reflected in the artistic process, the family might show support or compassion for one another. With the structured presence of the art therapist, family members can learn to see the issues exposed by the art as being precious information about their loved ones. This realization is an invitation of sorts. The art invites family members to truly see each other, inside and outside, without hiding the rawness that may be hidden away. If families are truly willing to heal, having the courage to delve into the mystery of each other’s experience through art therapy can be a highly effective and powerful strategy. After all, if art therapy is not therapy for artists or fingerpainting for adults, it may be the exact connecting modality a family has been searching for.

  Further reading on art therapy and family healing:

Kerr, C. & Hoshino, J. (2008). Family art therapy: Foundations of theory and practice. New York; Routledge.

Moon, B.L. (1997). Art and soul: Reflections on an artistic psychology. Springfield; Charles C Thomas Publisher.

Malchiodi, C.A. (2003). Handbook of art therapy. New York; The Guilford Press.