Professional paper

The Emotional Gifts of Expressive Arts Therapy

Jamie Marich orcid.org/0000-0001-8799-0489 ; The Institute for Creative Mindfulness, Akron, OH, USA

Abstract

The author, a Croatian-American expressive arts therapist and trauma educator, uses the vehicle of the scholarly personal narrative (SPN) to orient readers to expressive arts therapy contextualized by her personal evolution through the practice. Her personal narrative references experiences of connecting
with her ancestral ties through the expressive arts (i.e., folk dancing) and
spending time in Bosnia-Hercegovina teaching English using expressive arts
methods. The author explains how early connection to the expressive arts and
its multi-modal nature — bringing in various avenues of expression, not just
one art form —gave her an outlet for working with emotions while growing
up in a home that was stressful and traumatic. The narrative concludes with
broader conten-tions on how the integration of expressive arts therapy into
well - established clinical modalities for healing trauma enhances trauma
treatment. A sample expressive arts process used by the author during the
COVID-19 pandemic is also provided.

Keywords

expressive arts therapy, trauma, scholarly personal narrative (SPN), COVID-19 pandemics

Hrčak ID:

314706

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/314706

Publication date:

20.12.2023.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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