A Holistic Art Therapist’s Guide to Helping Children Process Complex Emergencies →
A Holistic Art Therapist’s Guide to Helping Children Process Complex Emergencies
Children are at-risk when their intellectual prowess, emotional stability, or social skills are deficient and/or their basic needs are not met. With the current pandemic, powerful natural disasters, increase of mass shootings, and other complex traumas the need for emotional support is ever growing. Utilizing holistic modalities such as art and essential oils empower children in their healing journey. The following article will provide educational tools for helping children process trauma in response to natural disasters, mass shootings and other complex emergencies (referred to as complex emergencies here on out).
What is Art Therapy? Art therapy breaks the barriers for children to express themselves without a dependency on words. Art therapy also gives children a safe place where they can learn how to use new materials expressing inner feelings, sublimate inappropriate behaviors, and learn social skills. A variety of art mediums can be used with children depending on their individual case. While an art material may be beneficial to one child it may be detrimental to the condition of another. An art therapist is professionally trained knowing the assets, limitations, and metaphors when choosing the best material for a client.
Roles of the counselor/art therapist. Mental health counselors and art therapists work with children who are grieving from complex emergencies within their agencies and private practices as well as traveling to the place where the disaster happened. Art therapists open art studios in whatever places are provided to them so individuals can come together for community support and safety. Within these studios the children can create art to express their feelings, bring an awareness to their inherent strengths and previous coping mechanisms, as well as gain a sense of normalcy to the emotions they are having.
Behavioral and emotional responses. When working with children following complex emergencies it is important to identify the actual loss and grief the child is experiencing. There are many different kinds of losses that can accompany a complex emergency such as the child’s sense of safety and security, the loss of their home, personal items, school, daily rituals, or the death of a loved one, including pets. After a complex emergency children are coping with more than one loss and often grieving on multiple levels. One might feel a sense of survival guilt about animals, friends and family who were left behind during evacuations. The child might have also witnessed violent crimes, looting, come in contact with disease, and also heightened family stress due to the loss of their incomes exposing them to multiple levels of disaster. Unprocessed psychological trauma can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Like adults, children also experience and process loss and grief in a variety of ways. Some children might not express emotions, and adults need to understand that those individuals need the same kind of support as a child who outwardly is more expressive with their emotions. Children also have their own set of coping strategies that can be expressed in a variety of ways. It is often difficult to communicate overwhelming feelings while also reliving the experiences through dreams, flashbacks and nightmares. It is important to provide the child a safe space to explore their feelings and cope in their individual ways as well as provide them with other effective coping strategies. Following traumatic experiences a child might become withdrawn, angry, depressed, anxious, insubordinate, restless, or regress amongst other behavioral changes. The traumatic events can become recurrent and further lead to a child’s inability to trust others, create a positive self-identity and relationships, and healthy coping strategies.
Children need a space that is free from the chaos that is happening around them by eliminating or limiting the amount of media they are exposed to. Children can become re-traumatized by watching news stories, anniversaries of events, seeing missing persons or imagery of the event in their daily lives. Providing a safe space for a child free from the media to express their emotions can allow them time for processing and feel a sense of normalcy back in their life.
How caregivers can navigate support at home. When supporting children after a complex emergency one must be empathetic and listen to the child, while also encouraging them to tell the story of what has happened from their perspective. This allows the child to choose the pace while exploring the thoughts and feelings surrounding the trauma. Storytelling is beneficial to help normalize and universalize the child’s thoughts and emotions surrounding the trauma, as well as allow the individual to describe their version of the story and circumstances surrounding the loss and grief.
Children who have not developed the language skills needed to tell their story can create images as their response to the trauma. It is also beneficial to use books when working with children. Storytelling can be done in a variety of ways depending on the child’s interest and cognitive and developmental levels. Perhaps writing poems for older kids or creating visual stories with drawings along with conversation bubbles. Playing with toys, dolls and sand tables are also beneficial ways to allow children to express their stories and overall feelings.
Using essential oils to support emotional needs. Essential oils are natural, effective and safe aromatic compounds extracted and distilled from plants. They are concentrated, fast acting, and quickly absorb into the skin. Aromatherapy is an extremely powerful way to impact our emotional wellbeing using essential oils. Our nasal passages are a direct pathway to the limbic system of the brain, this is where the amygdala processes the body’s emotional responses. So simply inhaling the aromatic compounds of an essential oil is an effective way to calm the nervous system reducing anxious feelings and/or uplifting your mood.
Essential oils from citrus fruits, herbs, flowers and tree can offer emotional support and comfort in times of trauma. Some suggestions for use are; Comforting Blend, Grounding Blend, Restful Blend, Ylang Ylang, Siberian Fir, Geranium, Cedarwood, Melissa, Lavender, Frankincense, Birch, Marjoram, Juniper Berry, Wild Orange, Lemon, Encouraging Blend, Renewing Blend, Basil, and Lemongrass. Create a diffuser or roller blend to assist in processing trauma, loss and grief, and emotional pain during transitional phases that are causing heightened stress, anxiousness, and restlessness. Essential oils can be an effective tool to help in releasing a multitude of heavy emotions allowing one to move forward in life.
Art therapy interventions. Art therapy is a beneficial treatment for children struggling with the loss of a loved one and other crises that are affecting the individual’s everyday life. Children are free to explore their inner feelings in a nonjudgmental environment accompanied by an art therapist. An art therapist provides children with art supplies and knowledge of how different media are used while guiding them through the creative process allowing them to make sense of their experiences and further process loss and grief and empower them to be in control of their healing journey. Art therapy can teach children to communicate thoughts and emotions not easily vocalized using various art materials to visually move the trauma out of their body.
When selecting art supplies to use with children after complex emergencies, one must be aware of the various metaphors inherent in the materials. Drawing materials can be offered to children to allow for control while depicting their story. Paint is more often used to increase an individual’s free flowing expression of emotions. The therapist must critically think about the individual’s abilities and state of mind when offering paint. For example, when watercolors are applied in too many layers they will turn the image brown and green and can ruin the paper. To some children trying to overcome intense emotions from a flood or hurricane in which too much water ruined their home or possessions this could be reflected within their image causing further distress. On the other hand, watercolors could also allow the individual to use water to make an image of something they are very proud. With the guidance of an art therapist, when a child is ready to explore deeper the water that ruined their home they can begin to add layers with acrylic paints, magazine clippings, and collage papers to mimic the rebuilding process after the devastation.
Collage materials are another valuable material to offer children after a disaster because they provide images readily available for children to gravitate towards helping to depict their inner story and they are easy to work with offering the child a sense of mastery. Later on children can be offered three-dimensional materials such as Model Magic to begin reconstructing their environments. Art therapist might also choose to have more direction within the therapy sessions. A variety of directives have been used with this population and all act as a beneficial part of the healing process. Some of the directives include, creating murals, feeling maps, memory boxes, paper Mache expression masks, and self-portraits of the individual before, during, and now.
Every child has their own unique way to cope with loss and grief. Some children do not express emotions, some act out or regress in their natural behavior, and others become anxious. After experiencing trauma, it is important to allow the child to tell their story and also identify their own personal losses and feelings surrounding the situation. Art therapy can be a beneficial way for children to express their thoughts and emotions following disaster or crisis situations. Some children use art to tell stories and recreate images of the disaster they experienced, while others choose to use art as catharsis and relaxation. Whichever way a child chooses to use art, creating inherently allows the individual to become an active participant in their healing process.
My go to trauma essential oil recipes.
“I am Comforted” 10 ml Child Essential Oil Roller Blend: 4 drops Steadying Blend, 2 drops Juniper Berry, 2 drops Siberian Fir, 1 drops Cedarwood, 2 drops Lavender and top with carrier oil of your choice.
“I am Releasing” 10 ml Childhood Trauma Essential Oil Roller Blend: 3 drops Helichrysum, 3 drops Frankincense, 3 drops Melissa, 2 drops Reassuring Blend, 2 drops Renewing Blend and top with carrier oil of your choice (to make for an adult, just double the drops of each oil).
Kayla Helenske, MA, LMHC, ATR supports individuals in moving forward and growing healthier relationships with themselves and others through holistic and creative processes. For over 15 years, Helenske has been intertwining her desire to create, heal, and build community through her own art process, teaching art, facilitating art therapy groups and meeting with individual clients and families. Helenske is a Registered Art Therapist and Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Art Teacher, Holistic Educator and Empowerment Coach. Helenske earned her Master of Arts Degree in Psychology with a specialization in Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Antioch University Seattle. Upon graduation, Helenske opened an art and wellness studio called, Circle of Art Studios in Seattle where she ran her art therapy practice and facilitated art classes for kids and adults. Now the founder and CEO of Expressive Journeys and creator of Revitalized Motherhood Method she works fully online supporting moms and families to reduce stress, restore self-love and grasp in their dreams.
Grab my [FREE GUIDE] Emotional Empowerment For Kids and Teens here