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Suzan Watkinson

Utilizing Creative Arts Therapies in a Children’s Hospital

Creative arts provide an excellent medium to facilitate communication, express thoughts and explore feelings.  As clients participates in a therapeutic activity, they are able to become more aware of their inner strength, power, and feelings (McMahon, Paisley & Skudrzyk, 2018). By helping hurting families tell their stories of identity, human services professions can utilize art to provide an outlet to facilitate exploration of thoughts and worries.

The process of facilitating self-expression begins with establishing a trusting relationship with the patient and their family.  As a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS), I work with hospitalized children to minimize their stress and maximize their coping with whatever medical trauma or illness they are experiencing.  Often, I incorporate creative arts therapies to provide therapeutic expressions as they process their fears and worries over their healthcare experience.

Providing a non-verbal activity to facilitate communication is vital to the healing process. Perhaps the child experienced a traumatic automobile accident in which they lost a parent, or a limb, or both.  The immensity of such trauma is unfathomable. As a CCLS, it is my job to come alongside the child and help them process and heal from the inconceivable.  Providing creative arts activates is especially helpful when a child is unable to communicate through language, whether it be due to disability, impairment, or speaking a non-English language (McMahon, Paisley & Skudrzyk, 2018).

Sometimes, children are afraid to communicate with their parents or healthcare providers. An excellent therapeutic activity involves creating worry monsters out of tissue boxes, construction paper, and glue to facilitate exploration of anxieties and fears. Placing the completed worry monster in their hospital room, the child is empowered with coping and resiliency by feeding their concerns to the worry monster, who eats their troubles away. Although I am not allowed to share Scripture verses with my patients, I can use this medium to impart the Biblical message of hope, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV).

Families need time to process traumatic or life-changing events, and often need helping professionals, such as Child Life Specialists, to advocate on their behalf, so that they may be granted the freedom to carry out their spiritual rituals or ceremonies within the hospital (McMahon, Paisley & Skudrzyk, 2018). We must recognize and provide an opportunity for families to have freedom of religious and cultural expression within the walls of the hospital, as a sign of respect and acceptance for their beliefs. By recognizing and identifying the influence of family traditions, and communicating with children on a developmentally-appropriate level utilizing creative arts mediums, we can promote an atmosphere of hope, safety, acceptance, and healing.

Reference

McMahon, H. G., Paisley, P. O., & Skudrzyk, B. (2018). Individuals and families of European descent. In D. G. Hays, & B. T. Erford (Eds.), Developing multicultural counseling competence: A systems approach (3rd ed.) (pp. 431-470). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.