Creativity is our birthright, and yet that is something so many of our clients struggle with, often having been shamed by parents or teachers.  Yet what might our sessions be like if we provided a safe space for clients to connect with the life force of their creativity? How might integrating creativity into your clinical work reinvigorate you, as the clinician? How are the visual arts perfect gateways for clients to explore their deepest intuitive wisdom? And how can your facilitation of arts and crafts with clients enable you to learn about aspects of their lives that otherwise would be unspoken?

In this interactive, experiential workshop, we will explore the therapeutic uses of various types of visual arts and crafts with different populations. So as to better understand the healing power of creativity first-hand, you’ll have the opportunity to engage in a variety of arts and crafts-making yourself. This will include mandala drawing, ritual creation, exploration of affirmation and oracle card imagery, as well as choosing from a menu of one hundred therapeutic things you can do with blank index cards and markers.

Objectives:

• Understand the history of the use of arts and crafts in counseling
• Discuss the therapeutic benefits of arts and crafts 
• Identify specific clinical applications of arts and crafts, based on a client’s treatment plan
• Become familiar with various ways of introducing and utilizing arts and crafts into session
• Practice several ways of engaging in creative activities that have a therapeutic purpose 
• Explore the connections between creativity, artwork, crafting and healing