A Holistic Art Therapist’s Guide to Helping Children during Uncertain Times

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has raised a variety of questions and concerns for parents and caregivers regarding how to support their children physically and emotionally. 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 the outbreak.

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. During individual sessions 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 during uncertain times such as a viral outbreak, it is important to identify the actual emotions the child is experiencing. There are many different kinds of emotions that can accompany a complex emergency such as the child’s sense of safety and security at home, school, around the neighborhood, daily rituals being interrupted, or the death of a loved one. The child might be processing family stress due to the potential loss of their incomes, fears of empty supermarket shelves as people prepare for the worst-case scenarios.

Like adults, children also experience and process loss stress 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 fears through dreams 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 stressful experiences a child might become withdrawn, angry, depressed, anxious, insubordinate, restless, or regress amongst other behavioral changes. 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. Creating 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, one must be empathetic and listen to the child, while also encouraging them to tell the story of what is happening from their perspective. This allows the child to choose the pace while exploring the thoughts and feelings surrounding the current situation. 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 their everyday life.

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 from 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.

Collage materials are another valuable material to offer children 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 stress. Some children do not express emotions, some act out or regress in their natural behavior, and others become anxious. 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 crisis situations. Some children use art to tell stories and recreate images of their experience, 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).

Health & Happiness.

Kayla

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Kayla Helenske, MA, LMHC, ATR

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Emotional Regulation for Preteens with Anxiety

A Holistic Art Therapist’s Guide to Helping Children during Uncertain Times

Kayla Helenske, LMHC, LPC, ATR