Brittany Johnson
Recr 320: Facilitations
November 13th, 2013
Expressive Arts Session: Bibliotherapy
“Art washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life.”
Rules:
 Be respectful when others are talking
 Please do not speak over others
 Do not put down anyone’s ideas they share
 Everything we share in our session must stay in our session
What is Expressive Art Therapy?
 Expressive arts therapy uses various arts—movement, drawing, painting, sculpting,
music, writing, sound, and improvisation—in a supportive setting to facilitate growth and
healing. It is a process of discovering ourselves through any art form that comes from an
emotional depth. It is not creating a "pretty" picture. It is not a dance ready for the stage.
It is not a poem written and rewritten to perfection. It is simply reflecting your emotions
in art form.
 It encourages people to express and understand emotions through artistic expression and
through a creative process.
Different Types of Expressive Arts:
 Music Therapy – utilization of music by listening or creating it. Known to alleviate pain
and becomes more relatable to someone who may not be able to express their feelings
easily.
 Art Therapy – Can be used with any art materials. Helps with self-disclosure; a nonverbal
way to work through emotions.
 Drama Therapy - Intentional use of drama and/or theater processes to achieve therapeutic
goals. Can include telling feelings, stories, interpersonal relationships, and help problem
solve.
 Psychodrama- a form of psychotherapy in which patients act out events from the past
 Bibliotherapy/Poetry Therapy – An expressive therapy that uses an individual’s
relationship to the content of books, poetry, and other written words.
 Phototherapy – the use of light in the treatment of a physical or mental illness.
Warm up:
 Once bitten, twice shy.
 Every slip is not a fall.
 You can’t hatch chickens from fried eggs.
 When you are among the blind, shut your eyes.
Activity:
 Design a postcard you will never send out to someone you have been upset or angry with
for a while saying something you have been wanting to tell them or explain something
you have always wanted to tell them but have not had the courage to.
Next Session:
 Monday November 18th, 2013 at 3:45 pm. Thank you all for coming!
Brittany Johnson
Recr 320: Facilitations
11/13/2013
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Rules:
Be respectful when others are talking
Please do not speak over others
Do not put down anyone’s ideas they share
Everything we share in our session must stay in our session
What is Expressive Art Therapy?
Does anyone know what expressive art therapy is?
Expressive arts therapy uses various arts—movement, drawing, painting, sculpting,
music, writing, sound, and improvisation—in a supportive setting to facilitate growth and
healing. It is a process of discovering ourselves through any art form that comes from an
emotional depth. It is not creating a "pretty" picture. It is not a dance ready for the stage.
It is not a poem written and rewritten to perfection. It is simply reflecting your emotions
in art form.
It encourages people to express and understand emotions through artistic expression and
through a creative process.
Has it impacted your life in anyway?
Reflect on the quote at the top of your paper and think about what it means as we go
through this session. “Art washes away from the soul, dust from everyday life.” Anyone
have a guess to what it means? It means art is used to deal with things such as stress,
trauma, or unhappiness.
Different Types of Expressive Arts:
Music Therapy – utilization of music by listening or creating it. Known to alleviate pain
and becomes more relatable to someone who may not be able to express their feelings
easily.
Art Therapy – Can be used with any art materials. Helps with self-disclosure; a nonverbal
way to work through emotions.
Drama Therapy - Intentional use of drama and/or theater processes to achieve therapeutic
goals. Can include telling feelings, stories, interpersonal relationships, and help problem
solve.
Psychodrama- a form of psychotherapy in which patients act out events from the past
Bibliotherapy/Poetry Therapy – An expressive therapy that uses an individual’s
relationship to the content of books, poetry, and other written words.
Phototherapy – the use of light in the treatment of a physical or mental illness.
We are going to be doing a creative writing assignment or bibliotherapy. The important
thing to know about bibliotherapy is there is no right or wrong answer it is truly how you
interpret the literature.
Warm up:
We are going to do a little warm up to get our expressiveness flowing. Listed are some
statements we are going to discuss the meanings of.
Brittany Johnson
Recr 320: Facilitations
11/13/2013
•
Once bitten, twice shy. (fear) What do you think that means? One who had an
unpleasant experience induces caution. Have any of you had an unpleasant experience
that has made you hesitant?
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Every slip is not a fall. (relapse) What do you think this statement means? Every
time you fail at something or fall down does not mean that you will not get back up or
succeed.
•
You can’t hatch chickens from fried eggs. (past) Does anyone have a guess to
what it means to our own lives? You can’t move forward if you are still holding onto the
past.
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When you are among the blind, shut your eyes. (empathetic feelings) Any ideas to
what this means? It means that sometimes we are so quick to judge and make
assumptions that we need to put ourselves in others worlds to get a better understanding
of things. Can anyone give me an example of something that happened to them?
Activity:
•
Design a postcard you will never send out to someone you have been upset or
angry with for a while saying something you have been wanting to tell them or explain
something you have always wanted to tell them but have not had the courage to.
Debriefing:
1. What was your first impulse when you knew you had to really dig deep in this
activity? How do you feel after?
2. How did it make you guys feel to write out something you have always wanted to
say? Did you find it easy or hard?
3. Do you think writing it out could maybe get you to confront that person about it now
that you know exactly what you want to say?
4. Do you thinking writing is an effective way of expressing feelings and emotions or do
you have another way you would have preferred?
5. Do you think using expressive arts will better help us control our emotions and
feelings?
Expressive arts is important to everyone’s lives because it allows us to escape from
reality and confrontation and expressive the emotions and feelings we are bottling up and
portraying them in a masterpiece!
Next Session:
•
Monday November 18th, 2013 at 3:45 pm. Thank you all for coming!