International Journal of Art Therapy
Formerly Inscape
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rart20
Exploring intimate partner violence survivors’
experiences with group art therapy
Michelle Skop, Olena Helen Darewych, Jennifer Root & Julie Mason
To cite this article: Michelle Skop, Olena Helen Darewych, Jennifer Root & Julie Mason (2022)
Exploring intimate partner violence survivors’ experiences with group art therapy, International
Journal of Art Therapy, 27:4, 159-168, DOI: 10.1080/17454832.2022.2124298
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2022.2124298
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa
UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY
2022, VOL. 27, NO. 4, 159–168
https://doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2022.2124298
RESEARCH PAPER
Exploring intimate partner violence survivors’ experiences with group art therapy
Michelle Skopa, Olena Helen Darewychb, Jennifer Roota and Julie Masona
a
Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, Canada; bDepartment of Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy, Martin Luther University
College, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada
ABSTRACT
ARTICLE HISTORY
Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the major health and human rights issues of
our time, affecting one in three women worldwide. Despite IPV’s prevalence, limited research
investigates the healing process for survivors or the efficacy of group art therapy (GAT). This study
is grounded by a person-centred approach to art therapy and an interpretive method, highlighting
the contextualised nature of reality and experience of social phenomena.
Aims: The aims of this community-based, qualitative study were to explore women IPV survivors’
experiences of GAT and better understand what aspects of GAT contribute to healing.
Methods: During 2018–2019, six women were interviewed about their experiences of participating in
a 12-week GAT program within a Canadian domestic violence prevention agency. The transcribed
interviews were analyzed with the method of thematic analysis.
Results: Four themes emerged from the analysis, and an overarching theme/pattern was identified
through interpretation of these themes. The overarching theme was transformative healing, which
women appeared to experience by creating connections in a safe space, using visual metaphors in
their art-pieces, reclaiming an empowered self, and building resilience.
Conclusion: This study found that GAT was experienced as providing a relational component to
healing and as fostering self-expression, inner and interpersonal growth, and confidence.
Implications: Art therapists and other mental health practitioners who support survivors may want
to consider the unique contributions of art making when designing interventions. Future research
should examine which arts-based interventions delivered in a group therapy context can promote
IPV survivors’ mental health and wellness.
Received 11 September 2021
Accepted 8 September 2022
KEYWORDS
Group art therapy; group
work; intimate partner
violence; women;
community; qualitative
research; thematic analysis;
arts-based research
Plain-language summary
This article shares information from a qualitative study about group art therapy (GAT) for women
survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). IPV affects one in three women worldwide, including 6–
8% of married/cohabiting women in Canada. Despite IPV’s prevalence, limited research investigates
the healing process for survivors or the benefits of GAT services and approaches. This study was
conducted in partnership with a non-profit organisation serving women survivors in a small
Southwestern Ontario municipality.
The aims of this study were to explore women IPV survivors’ experiences of GAT within a domestic
violence prevention agency, and better understand what aspects of the GAT process, if any,
contribute to healing. The study involved interviews and an arts-based research component with
six participants who completed the organisation’s 12-week GAT program. Researchers utilised
thematic analysis, a method of uncovering key themes across the interviews, to learn how
participants experienced the GAT program. Through the process of thematic analysis, the study
found that participants appeared to experience transformative healing by creating connections
with the therapists, peers, and art media in a safe space; using visual metaphors in their art-pieces
to symbolise their emotions and future possibilities; reclaiming an empowered self, which was
creative, playful, and hopeful; and building strength and resilience through the group process.
This study found that art therapy in a group context was experienced as providing a relational
component to healing and as fostering self-expression, inner and interpersonal growth, and increased
confidence. Art therapists and other mental health practitioners who support survivors may, therefore,
want to consider the unique contributions of art and art making when designing interventions. Future
research should examine which specific arts-based interventions delivered in a formal group therapy
context can promote mental health and wellness in individuals who have experienced IPV.
Introduction
This article shares information from
study about group art therapy (GAT)
of intimate partner violence (IPV). IPV
against women, men, non-binary, and
a community-based
for women survivors
is a form of violence
transgender persons.
IPV includes physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological
abuses and controlling behaviours by a current or former intimate partner (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). It is one of the major
health and human rights issues of our time (Crann & Barata,
2016; Tutty et al., 2016), affecting one in three women
CONTACT Michelle Skop
mskop@wlu.ca
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2022.2124298.
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/),
which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
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M. SKOP ET AL.
worldwide (World Health Organization & Human Reproduction Programme, 2019). Over the past 20 years, physical,
sexual, emotional, and financial abuses have impacted
between 6 and 8% of Canadian women in married/
common-law relationships (Statistics Canada, 2011). The
most severe form of violence results in an average of one
woman killed by her male partner every week (Canadian
Femicide Observatory for Justice & Accountability, 2019).
While the national prevalence rate of 6-8% is low compared
to global rates of IPV, ranging from 20 to 70% of women
reporting some form of harm from their current intimate
partner (Krug et al., 2002), the short-term and long-term outcomes of violence are similar for women everywhere. Physical
health consequences include chronic pain, pelvic pain, gastrointestinal problems, fibroids, migraines, and severe injuries
related to strangulation, blunt force trauma, weapon use, and
sexual assault (Coker et al., 2000; Sheridan & Nash, 2007).
Psychological and emotional health consequences include
anxiety, depression, fear, post-traumatic stress disorder, and
decreased self-esteem and life satisfaction (Stith et al., 2004;
Zlotnick et al., 2006).
Therapists who work with women survivors of IPV and
other forms of domestic violence establish supportive
spaces and administer creative strategies that enable individuals to heal from their abusive experiences, focus on their
present and future lives, and learn new skills (Binkley, 2013).
Women IPV survivors have reported a preference for interacting with therapists who are caring, active listeners, knowledgeable, non-judgemental, and open to sharing feelings
(Battaglia et al., 2003). Often, therapists put into practice
these supportive characteristics through various talk-based
therapeutic approaches. Studies have reported positive
impacts of talk-based group therapy processes for survivors,
including re-establishing safety and personal space (Allen &
Wozniak, 2010), building trust and support networks
(Larance & Porter, 2004), restoring hope (Santos et al.,
2017), increasing self-esteem (Tutty et al., 2016), and
gaining control over their participation in group sessions
(Preston, 2002). In Allen and Wozniak’s (2010) study, women
survivors of domestic violence constructed the following
themes that were representative of healing: creative safe
places, establishing autonomy, taking pride in appearance,
reclamation of self, developing inner peace, and rejoining
the community.
Research, however, suggests that talk-based therapy may
not always be suitable for women IPV survivors who have
difficulty verbalising their feelings because of past abusive
and traumatic experiences (Binkley, 2013). Specifically,
trauma affects the way experiences are cognitively and
emotionally processed and organised (Buschel & Madsen,
2006), and has been described as ‘speechless terror’ (van
der Kolk, 1996, p. 23), whereby feelings are stored in ways
that language cannot access them.
Art therapy is one therapeutic approach that appears to
enable IPV survivors to undergo growth, self-discovery, and
symbolic healing both verbally and through creative processes (Binkley, 2013; Malchiodi, 2012). Through these processes, women survivors of domestic violence externalise
current positive and negative feelings, regulate emotions
and behaviours, enhance self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and
gain awareness of other healthy self-aspects beyond their
survivor self-aspects (Buschel & Madsen, 2006; Cardinal,
2014; Ikonomopoulos et al., 2017; Rankin & Taucher, 2003;
Thomson, 2012). Art therapy can also assist with the recognition of feelings among women art therapy participants
living in domestic violence shelters (Malchiodi & Miller,
2003).
Art therapists working with women survivors of IPV and
other domestic violence in non-profit community support
agencies and shelters tend to facilitate therapeutic groups
rather than individual sessions. For example, Bird’s (2018)
arts-based participatory study concluded that through
visual image creation within group settings, women survivors of domestic violence can be empowered to represent
their thoughts, feelings, and responses about their experiences of abuse. Although this and other studies have
found group art therapy (GAT) to be a beneficial treatment
approach for IPV survivors, there is a knowledge gap
regarding suitable GAT frameworks for supporting the
physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being of
survivors, and the therapeutic process of healing for this
population.
Aims of present study
The aims of this community-based, qualitative study were to
explore women IPV survivors’ experiences of GAT and better
understand what aspects of the group process, if any, contribute to healing. This study is one of the first in Canada to have
invited women IPV survivors during an interview to verbally
share their experiences of GAT. The research question for
this study was: How do women IPV survivors experience art
therapy within a group context?
Methods
Participants
Using convenience sampling, six (N = 6) women IPV survivors,
who completed at least one 12-week GAT program at a domestic violence prevention centre between 2015 and 2019, volunteered to participate in the study. The research team
recruited participants from three GAT programs (fall 2018,
winter 2019, and spring 2019). Three women completed the
fall 2018 group, five completed the winter 2018 group, and
four completed the spring 2019 group. Out of these 12
women, five (42%) volunteered to participate in the study.
Women, who had completed GAT prior to 2018, were also
recruited via informational posters displayed in the agency’s
waiting room and on their website and social media feeds.
This strategy resulted in recruitment of a sixth study participant who had completed a GAT program in 2015. Participants’ self-identified as women between the ages of 34 and
65, reported having between one and four children, and
defined their current relationship status as single, divorced,
separated, or married.
Placement of study
This study was conducted with Nova Vita Domestic Violence
Prevention Services (Nova Vita), a non-profit organisation
founded in 1983 and located in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
Nova Vita provides residential services, crisis intervention,
safety planning, transitional support, court support, system
navigation, and counselling services for women and children
who experience homelessness and abuse. Since 2012, Nova
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY
Vita has offered a structured GAT program for women healing
from IPV. The program is offered one to three times per year
and is co-facilitated by the same art therapist and a community counsellor. The groups are theme-based and are
grounded in a client centred approach (Rogers, 1993) and
in philosophical concepts from anthroposophy (Bar-Sela
et al., 2007; Hamre et al., 2007). Each group runs for 12
weeks and involves three art media: watercolour, charcoal,
and clay (see supplementary materials 1 – TIDieR checklist
for GAT interventions). The primary objectives of the
program are to help group members develop self-awareness,
identify their strengths, support fellow group members, as
well as focus on their present emotions, capacities, and
needs, rather than on past experiences of abuse.
Research design
The qualitative study utilised a community-based research
(CBR) design, which values collaboration with non-academic
stakeholders, power sharing, interdisciplinary knowledge,
and community change processes (Goodman et al., 2017;
Leavy, 2017). The CBR design enabled the academic researchers to work closely with Nova Vita to design the study, recruit
participants, discuss project updates, and plan knowledge
mobilisation strategies. The research team was comprised
of Registered Social Workers (first, third, and fourth authors)
and a Registered Art Therapist (second author). These
researchers were not involved in the GAT interventions.
As a theoretical framework, the study was grounded by a
person-centred approach to art therapy (Rogers, 1993) and by
an interpretive method, which highlights the contextualised
nature of reality and the experience of social phenomena
(Leavy, 2017). As Green and Thorogood (2018) explained,
‘The aim of interpretive research is an understanding of the
world from the point of view of participants in it, rather
than an explanation of the world’ (p. 13). This theoretical framework was well suited for exploring how women IPV survivors understood and interpreted their GAT experiences, since
it privileged their subjective experiences over the academic
expertise of the researchers and the professional knowledge
of Nova Vita staff.
Instrument
A semi-structured interview guide (see supplementary
materials 2 for interview questions) was designed by the
research team for this study. The interview questions provided an opportunity for participants to verbally identify
their GAT experiences at Nova Vita and future service
needs. The interview guide also included an arts-based component: participants were invited to create a drawing depicting their GAT experiences towards the end of the interview.
Procedures
Following project approval by Wilfrid Laurier University’s
research ethics board, study recruitment flyers were posted
on the agency’s information boards and social media
accounts. In-person recruitment was also conducted during
the fall 2018, winter 2019, and spring 2019 groups. The
research assistant (fourth author) contacted interested participants by phone to discuss the study and schedule interview dates and times that worked best for participants’
161
schedules. Participants selected whether they preferred to
be interviewed in a private room at Nova Vita or at the university. Each participant attended a single, 90-minute, face-toface, individual interview facilitated by the research assistant
who was trained in conducting interviews. As an incentive,
participants received a $20 gift card and childcare for interview attendance.
The interviews were audio-recorded with participants’
informed consent. Each participant completed a form
asking their age, gender, relationship status, number of children, and year they participated in the GAT program. Participants were then asked a series of questions from the
interview guide about their GAT experiences. Responses
were often probed through follow-up prompting questions
to gain greater detail. Near the end of the interviews, participants were invited to draw a picture depicting their GAT
experience. The instruction was: ‘Using shapes, figures, and/
or colours, draw a picture symbolically depicting your experience of the group art therapy’. Once the drawings were completed, participants were asked to verbally share the stories
captured by the drawing. After each interview, the research
assistant wrote memos capturing key themes reflections,
and impressions.
The demographic information forms, signed consent
forms, audio interview recordings, post-interview memos,
and drawings comprised the research data. The de-identified
audio interview recordings were professionally transcribed
and then reviewed by the first and fourth authors to ensure
accuracy and remove all identifying information. Participants
had the option of keeping their original drawings, giving their
drawings to the research team, or having them returned later.
With participant consent, all drawings were photographed for
the purpose of data analysis and knowledge translation. All
data collection occurred between September 2018 and
December 2019.
Data analysis
The in-depth interview data was used to explore and understand how participants experienced GAT. A thematic analysis
(Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyze the interview data
and the narratives associated with each drawing. Thematic
analysis permits researchers to identify patterns and themes
related to the research question and provide thick description, which is a richly detailed account of the social phenomena being investigated (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Thematic
analysis aligns with a variety of theoretical frameworks
(Braun & Clarke, 2006); for the purpose of this study, thematic
analysis was applied within an interpretive and personcentred paradigm. An inductive and semantic form of thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was applied to identify
and describe themes within and across participants’ narratives. There was also a latent (interpretive) and theoretical
component of data analysis; during the final stage of
coding, an overarching theme was created through an interpretive process of analysis.
To begin the analysis, the first and fourth authors became
familiar with the data through multiple readings of the transcripts and listening to the digital recordings of the interviews.
The transcripts were then uploaded into NVivo (version 11), a
computer software program for qualitative data analysis developed by the company QSR International. This software was
selected because the researchers’ university has a program
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licence and was used to facilitate initial coding of the interview
data and to create the first theme-based codebook (a system
for organising, representing, and defining the relationships
across themes and subthemes). To establish interrater
reliability, both the first and fourth authors open-coded the
first few transcripts independently, and then met to discuss
impressions of these codes, review the data extracts supporting each code, and develop the initial codebook. The fourth
author continued the coding of all transcripts, generating
further codes and expanding the codebook. After the transcripts were coded, the first and fourth authors identified
and analyzed the themes and patterns across the initial
codes and defined these themes.
The next step involved the second and third authors
reviewing and refining the initial themes by independently
analyzing the interview data. The second author analyzed
the data through an art therapy lens (e.g. by exploring
themes related to participants’ experiences of specific art
media) and a group psychotherapy lens (e.g. by exploring
themes about group dynamics) while the third author analyzed the data from an IPV lens (e.g. by exploring themes
related to IPV within the group context). Subsequently, all
research team members met together three times to
discuss the developing distinct themes (i.e. non-overlapping
and presented across all six participants) and saturated
themes (i.e. themes that were repeated across participants).
During the final meeting, the established themes were
given a name and an overarching theme was interpreted
based on the process of data analysis combined with relevant
literature on art therapy and IPV. The involvement of all
researchers in the process helped enhance the reliability of
the identified themes. The researchers shared the themes
with Nova Vita to ensure ongoing communication with the
community partner.
Results
and quiet room, which participants found to be safe, comfortable, and peaceful. P5 explained,
that was such a plus to be in an atmosphere that’s totally different
from your atmosphere at home … being in a sort of an emotionally turmoil atmosphere at home and then to be in a place where
you feel this sense of peace.
By contrasting the ‘atmosphere’ of her home to the art room,
P5 illuminates the qualities needed in a therapeutic environment for emotions to be expressed and one to feel sheltered.
Connection to the therapists
The experience of connecting to a peaceful and safe space
not only pertained to the physical environment, but also to
the containing structure of the GAT sessions and the therapists’ facilitation. All six participants shared their experiences
of connecting with the authentic, non-judgemental, and participatory therapists who guided them on their healing journeys. P3 stated:
There’s a gentleness about how they approach it [GAT facilitation]
… no right or wrong, it was just what it was and however you
wanted to express … I think them doing it with us was different
than having somebody walking around and saying, ‘Oh, you
know, oh’, so they were a part of us, they weren’t above or
below us … maybe a good word is ‘guidance’.
P3’s statements highlight how the therapists’ group facilitation strategies, including taking on the role of guides and
creating art alongside group members, fostered connection
through a collaborative approach. By means of these strategies, the therapists were modelling the sharing of power,
control, and vulnerability within the group.
Connection to fellow group members
In addition to connection with the therapists, all participants
described how connecting with their fellow group members
enabled them to gain a sense of commonality. As P6
explained:
All six participants completed their interview within the 90minute timeframe; five participants chose to complete a
drawing at the end of their interview. Four descriptive
themes emerged from the thematic analysis relative to how
participants made meaning of their GAT experiences: creating
connections, using visual metaphors, reclaiming the empowered self, and building resilience (see supplementary
materials 3 for an overview of themes with key quotes). For
readability, non-content words and hesitations (e.g. ‘um’,
‘like’) were removed, and lengthy quotations shortened. To
ensure anonymity, the researchers replaced participant
names with numbers (e.g. P1) and removed identifying information from quotations.
All participants described the experience of social support
within the groups. As P4 explained, ‘we provided a lot of
support to each other within group, too. So, there was a lot
of breaking down and crying, and upset and frustration, but
it was very helpful’. P4’s quotation highlights the power of
sharing feelings when group members experience trust,
belonging, and safety.
Theme 1: creating connections in a safe space
Connection to the art media
This theme includes sub-themes to highlight how study participants created connections to the art therapy space, therapists, fellow group members, and art media; participants also
requested opportunities to participate in further GAT programming to foster ongoing connections within the self
and with each other.
Connection to the space
All six participants shared their experiences of creating connections to the space. GAT at Nova Vita occurred in a small
We’re all different, but we’re the same, and seeing that likeness
and that sameness, we probably went in there thinking that I’m
going to be with these people, they don’t know me, they don’t
know what I’ve gone through … - yes, they do. Just different
words, different stories, but the connection is there … when
they share their story and I’m like ‘Me, too!’
Participants not only connected with each other, but also
connected with a variety of sensory-stimulating art media
to express their positive and negative emotions through creative means. P5 addressed the power of art making to facilitate
self-expression:
With art therapy, it was hands-on where you can physically get
some release from the emotions that you’re feeling inside. I
mean, in the other [talk-based] groups, emotions come out with
the listening and the talking, and then the crying or the laughing
comes out, right? … But with art therapy, you have an actual
physical something, like the clay, to actually hang onto and to
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY
squish and tear apart and to roll, and you’re physically feeling
those negative emotions to come out to the clay. Like, you’re
kind of releasing them into the clay. I really love the clay part of
it, that was my highlight.
This quote highlighted how the use of clay was an actionoriented, kinesthetic, and embodied experience, which
differed from the processing of emotions in talk-based
groups.
Three participants also expressed how art served as an
entry point for accessing memories about their childhoods,
families, and experiences of abuse, allowing for new understandings of past experiences. P1, for instance, described:
… the very first sculpture we did on our own, which would have
been the second week, ended up being that … little person inside
the heart thing … I’ve seen this little girl running around inside of
me for a while, but I haven’t fully understood who she is. It’s been
more recent that I know that she is me … And I realized that it was
about maybe not so much giving me voice as she needs to be
heard. And so that’s kind of where I’m at right now. But the art
therapy part was in, in exploring her and what had happened,
and bringing truth to it.
163
Whereas P1 used hearts to reflect on her ongoing healing
process, P2 used an art creation to project a future aspiration.
Specifically, a horse sculpture she made from clay indirectly
represented her dream of one day living in the countryside:
I did a horse with the clay, which I thought after I started, what
have I got myself into, because they were talking about what
you want, like … so when retiring, my husband and I dream if
we could just find a little place in the country … and have a
couple of horses … that was kind of my dream. So, I did a horse
with the clay.
While P2’s work symbolised a future dream, P4 used art
creation to externalise negative emotions in a healthy and
restorative way:
When we painted red that day, I was just so frustrated with everything that was happening that I ended up painting a volcano, like,
erupting, because I just felt like I just needed to get it all out, and
once I had done that painting, I felt better … It helps with the
emotions, just getting them out, even [if] it’s like on a paper …
sometimes you don’t have the words to say, but that picture
can say it all.
P5 drew a cross to represent her faith and realised her
need to lean on faith to move forward with her life:
Opportunities for further connection
By developing connections to the art therapy space, therapists, group members, and art media, participants experienced meaningful connections and insights within
themselves. These experiences were so profound that five
participants shared their desire to have more than 12 sessions
within the existing GAT program, as well as opportunities to
participate in future GAT programs. For example, P6 stated:
‘ … I didn’t want it to be over, because I felt there was so
much more greatness to come out of us, that we, as
women there, didn’t realise we had’. P6 is speaking to the
importance of having further sessions for group members
to fully uncover and realise their strengths and capacity for
‘greatness’ together. In comparison, P2 wanted to maintain
connections with her peers, joking about continuing the
group on an informal basis: ‘I wanted it to go longer and I
want to know whose house we’re going to [chuckle]’.
In addition to attending more sessions within the same
group, P1 wanted the opportunity to attend further
programs:
I would love to take it again because … it’s a living thing that’s
happening inside of you and so that process is ongoing even
after the 12 weeks … it would be nice to have that group
setting again to continue that process from where I’m at now.
This quote highlights the value of providing further GAT programming so that participants can return to the process at
different moments in time and stages of their life journeys.
Theme 2: using visual metaphors in their art-pieces
Participants emphasised how they used visual metaphors in
their art-pieces and how each metaphor indirectly embodied
and projected outward a personal viewpoint. Participants
used metaphors to signify the: healing process (P1), power
of future dreams and desires (P2 and P3), expression of negative emotions (P4), belief in faith (P5), and experience of
abuse (P6). P1, for example, explained how the hearts in her
drawing represented the healing process: ‘To me, it was like
what healing and wholeness looks like, and it was like all
those little hearts joined together to make one big heart’.
My last picture was a cross, and I realized for myself … that’s who
I needed to lean on, that no matter how bad things were going to
get … that I had to lean on the Lord in order to get through it,
and that’s exactly what I did … Cause I realized where my Christianity was and how far I was falling from it, and they helped me to
bring it back to the cross. So that’s pretty amazing for me.
Lastly, P6 created a brain to represent being in a controlling relationship and the process of internalising negatives
beliefs about herself:
I looked and I’m like, ‘It looks like a brain’ … the reason I think I
picked a brain subconsciously, totally out of my conscious thinking, was because my mind was so controlled through all my
abuse, and what was taken away from me was the love for self,
and, like … “You’re stupid, you just—” BAM! ‘You’re stupid.
You’re ugly. You’re this’. So, I was able to see, without saying it
and without anybody questioning me, what happened to
myself in that relationship.
Though the symbols and images created were diverse, what
unites each of the above responses is that, in each case, the
GAT participant used an artistic metaphor to communicate
an emotion, engage in meaning-making, and either gain
new understandings of lived experiences or explore future
life possibilities.
Theme 3: reclaiming the empowered self
Through GAT, participants reclaimed aspects of themselves
which had been silenced and supressed through the experience of abuse. These self-aspects included autonomy, creativity, confidence, peace, happiness, hope, playfulness, and
survivorship. This process of reclamation involved integrating
past with present, a resumption of past interests, and accepting one’s self as a work-in-progress. The autonomous, creative, and confident self-aspect was expressed by P4:
It [GAT] built my self-esteem a little bit … realizing that I can do
something, that I don’t need somebody else to help me with anything. I was once able to do things by myself. I still can. I was told
that I wasn’t going anywhere, that I wasn’t going to have anything
or anybody, but it turns out, I’ve met so many people through all
these groups that I’ve got a good support system to help me, and I
realize that I can do things, I can go into groups and create something, I can make art that is … is beautiful in the end, even after
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M. SKOP ET AL.
everything that I’ve been through, that there’s still a lot left … It
made me a lot more confident …
I learned that nothing is impossible, that no matter what you’re
going through in life, just to hang in there, keep going, don’t
hold everything in, find someone, find some sort of support
that will help you walk through it all. Don’t do it alone.
Three participants also identified how GAT led to a peaceful and happier sense of self. After the program, P5 expressed
feeling, ‘so much more joyous. So much happier. I’ve learned
not to fuel the fire’. P3 also described the journey of finding
peace within herself.
Finally, participants’ resilience was highlighted through
their realisation of their own capacities and strengths. As P6
stated:
… what makes it meaningful is kind of seeing where it takes you,
what it reminds you of, what you might feel like if you got there,
how would that change your life, what can I do … where I live,
what can I do here to kind of evoke some of that peace inside
of myself … So that’s a bit of a work in progress … I’m trying to
find more peace inside of myself that’s realistic and here and
present.
We came out more empowered. I think that we came out knowing
where we wanted to go next in our next step of recovery and our
journeys, because we went down a path we would have never
known. That was part of it. It could have been something we’d
been resisting or just unaware, or sometimes I think I look at it
and think it was maybe a lot of avoidance because we didn’t
know how to deal with it, express it.
In addition to peace and happiness, two participants
expressed the budding of a hopeful self. As P2 explained,
the program:
… changed me that I have a little bit more hope now … I did
have hope before, but … When you see it on paper or when
you see it in clay, it’s an object that you can see … It gave me
more hope that I can get out of this. I mean, I’ll always have
this, but I can get better, feel better, feel, be more … me, and
live a happy life …
The GAT process also supported participants in reclaiming
their playful self-aspects in their relationships and daily lives.
As P2 noted in reflecting on her renewed sense of playfulness:
[P]roof was even playing with my granddaughter. Now we’re right
into the Play-Doh and the painting … I definitely took all that
away with me … Now I’m colouring again, too, so it kind of
sparks that again at home. So usually at night I colour and
meditate …
Finally, through the therapeutic group process, several
participants redefined themselves and reclaimed their identities as survivors specifically. P6, for example, stated:
it was in conjunction with other forms of therapy, the art therapy
and … those groups that were around during my consultations
with the social workers [that was when] my label for myself
changed from a victim to survivor. I stopped seeing myself as a
victim because if I was there to talk about it [abuse] and deal
with it and belong to these groups and everything … I definitely
was a survivor. But … the programs that I was able to go through
changed that way of thinking.
Theme 4: building resilience
The final theme identified in the study centres on participants’ building of resilience through the GAT process. Most
saliently, four participants expressed resilience through
their determination to work through their past relationships
and experiences of abuse. As P4 explained:
There’s a lot of things that I didn’t realize that came up, and it’s
helped me to deal with that, to be able to move forward and
find my new life, and different things about the relationship
that I was in that I didn’t even realize.
As P4’s experience highlights, GAT fostered an inner process
of growth and change of which participants may not have
been fully aware at the time.
Participants also demonstrated resilience through their
drive to connect with others along their transformative journeys. P5, for instance, described the importance of social
support in helping to sustain hope and forward movement:
P6’s quotation underscores both the growth that occurred
through the ‘path’ of GAT and that the outcome of this
process was self-empowerment.
Overarching theme: transformative healing
During the thematic analysis, the overarching theme and
pattern of transformative healing developed from the analysis
and interpretation of the four themes. Transformative healing
refers to how participants appeared to experience the culmination of the GAT process as a personal journey of growth and
change by creating meaningful connections in a safe space,
using visual metaphors within their artwork, reclaiming an
empowered self, and building resilience. P2 shared her experience of transformative healing through art therapy: ‘I think it’s
very healing, because you dig up things, and you have
emotions that just come out with doing that art activity that
you, you’re like, Wow!’ Later in the interview, P2 described that:
… I’m on a journey right now. Who really am I? I’ve been the
people pleaser, the person everybody else wanted me to be.
Who am I? Well, I like, I like doing art … I’ve learned that art can
be therapeutic.
In comparison, P3 reconceptualised her vision of what she
wanted in life:
… through talk therapy, through the art … I know what I don’t
want in my life … Despite the fears of being alone, I don’t want
to be verbally abused like that again. I want to be kinder to
myself … I’m trying hard to take myself to a better place with
where I am …
This theme of transformative healing was most clearly illuminated in P5’s drawing of her change process and release of
negative emotions, which she created at the end of the
research interview (Figure 1).
P5 shared with the interviewer the meaning of her
drawing:
I put the sunshine in my painting because it brings a ray of sunshine
to all the hurt and darkness that I was feeling, that’s what the art
therapy brought me, sunshine, and I did a train, sort of the process
of what I went through in art therapy, and I put clay, because it
was the first [material used], and to me it was the engine of the
train, and this engine gave me the release that I need while
working with the clay, and I put this chimney, so I put the smoke
going up the chimney, so that’s all my negative feelings going out
from me in this little train and the engine. So that’s what those are.
The four emergent themes and overarching theme, in
combination, provide a conceptual framework for art therapists working with this clinical population. Figure 2 displays
the novel conceptual framework for transformative healing.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY
165
Figure 1.
Discussion
The study’s research question explored how women IPV survivors experience art therapy within a group context.
Through creating connections (Theme 1) participants were
able to voice their feelings of trust, safety, and belonging in
the group setting; realise that their experiences were
shared by fellow group members; and explore past and
present feelings within the group. The GAT facilitators fostered this connection and community by creating art
together with participants, and thereby modelling the
sharing of power and voicing of experiencing. This finding
supports the suggestions that art therapy within a group
context provides a safe and secure space for women survivors
of violence to creatively and verbally externalise positive and
Figure 2.
negative feelings, and gain awareness of other healthy selfaspects (Ikonomopoulos et al., 2017; Thomson, 2012).
In addition to the importance of creating connections
(Theme 1), this study reveals how participants during GAT
sessions, used visual metaphors within their artwork to
express feelings, make meaning of their experiences, and
explore future possibilities (Theme 2). According to art therapist Moon (2009), visual metaphors are vessels that carry the
creator’s personal internal and external information hidden in
symbolic form. This theme of use of visual metaphors illuminates the rich interplay among cognitive conceptualisation,
art making, and words in expressing the nuances of lived
experiences. This finding supports Cardinal’s (2014) viewpoint
that visual metaphors within artwork can facilitate enhanced
self-awareness and self-expression in women IPV survivors. in
their arts-based research study, McGarry and Bowden (2017)
also found that older adult women IPV survivors’ use of metaphors in their creative expression helped them engage with,
contextualise, and express their complex feelings and
experiences.
Few studies explore the use of metaphor within the group
context. For example, Buday (2019) found that women living
with cancer, who participated in a single art therapy workshop, used metaphor and common symbols to express their
illness journeys. One of the novel contributions of this IPV
study is that it sheds light on the diversity of ways that participants use metaphor to express emotions and future possibilities over the course of multiple GAT sessions. Future studies
could examine how the context of the group (e.g. facilitation,
group dynamics, etc.) supports the use and expression of
metaphor during the process of artmaking.
The third finding of this study (Theme 3) was that GAT
helped participants reclaim their empowered selves, which
were hopeful, creative, and playful. One participant discussed
how her ability to belong to a group and deal with her experiences of abuse helped her to redefine herself as a survivor
rather than a victim. This sense of belonging highlights the
166
M. SKOP ET AL.
efficacy of the GAT process given that an overall program
objective is for women to support one another. Reclaiming
the self also points to the process of having one’s identity
and strengths recognised and validated by the group; the
empowered self has the space and freedom to come alive
through play and creativity when it is affirmed by supportive
others. This finding is also reflected in existing literature on
positive impacts of group therapy for women IPV survivors
around restoring hope (Santos et al., 2017) and reclamation
of self (Allen & Wozniak, 2010).
The fourth finding of this study (Theme 4) was that participants reported GAT as fostering strengths and resilience
in women IPV survivors. Resilience is a concept describing
the moderation of the negative effects of stress (Wagnild
& Young, 1993), and a process that involves an individual’s
ability to consciously ‘move forward in an insightful integrated positive manner as a result of lessons learned from
an adverse experience’ (Southwick et al., 2014, p. 4). This
conceptualisation of resilience is represented in the data,
specifically in a participant’s discussion of how GAT helped
her to process experiences of IPV and ‘move forward and
find my new life’. This finding of resilience sheds light on
how participants experienced the GAT process as one of
forward movement propelled by the safety and social
support of the group.
As previously discussed, participants’ resilience was highlighted through their realisation of their own capacities and
strengths. For example, participant 6 discussed developing
new insights about feelings and situations ‘… we’d been
resisting or just unaware …’ These new realisations are fostered through the group process; members contribute fresh
perspectives and analyses about their peers’ artwork,
thereby challenging them to view experiences from different
angles. This finding contributes to the qualitative scholarship,
as there was limited focus on resilience in either the IPV or art
therapy literature reviewed for this study. This points to the
need for further empirical research on how GAT can help
women build or rediscover resilience following IPV.
The overarching theme of transformative healing developed from the four emergent themes. For study participants,
the GAT experience appeared to be a transformative one.
Healing, growth, and change appeared to transpire when
women IPV survivors: (1) created meaningful connections in
a safe space with participatory therapists, individuals with
shared lived experiences, and a variety of expressive art
media; (2) used visual metaphors within their artwork to
project outward personal viewpoints, dreams, desires, memories, positive and negative emotions, beliefs, and values; (3)
reclaimed the empowered self that is autonomous, creative,
confident, happy, peaceful, hopeful, and playful; and (4) built
resilience by working through past traumatic relationships
and memories, cognitively envisioning a better future self,
and gaining the strength to move toward that self. This conceptualisation of transformative healing fits with Wendler’s
(1996) definition of healing as ‘an experiential, energy-requiring process in which space is created through a caring relationship in a process of expanding consciousness and results in a
sense of wholeness, integration, balance and transformation
and which can never be fully known’ (p. 841). The four emergent themes and overarching theme, in combination,
provide a conceptual framework for art therapists to work
with when constructing a clinical group treatment plan that
supports the healing of women survivors (see Figure 2).
Limitations of study and future implications
Limitations of this study should be noted. First, the small
sample size reflected challenges in recruiting individuals
from vulnerable populations to participate in the research
(Dutton et al., 2003). To extend the sample size, it is recommended that future studies of IPV survivors’ experiences
with GAT recruit from multiple community-based agencies.
Second, the interviews were limited to face-to-face interviews, which may have limited GAT participants’ ability to
participate in the study. The authors therefore recommend
adding phone and online interviews to the research design
so potential participants have a range of options. During
the recruitment phase, researchers should discuss and
assess potential safety issues with participants before collaboratively deciding which mode of interview to conduct.
Third, recollections varied based on the amount of time
between program completion and study participation. For
example, one study participant, who completed the GAT
program five years prior to being interviewed, provided
more of an overview of the impact of GAT as compared to
five participants, who completed the program the month
before the research interviews, and recalled detailed
examples. However, the former participant did recall in
vivid detail how one of the art activities had a profound
impact on her life, thereby highlighting the longer-term
benefits of GAT. Fourth, given the single interview design,
participant perspectives of how art therapy has led to personal growth are limited to a fixed moment in time. The
authors suggest that future studies include a longitudinal
design to explore whether participants’ experiences of personal growth shift over time.
Despite these limitations, this study has found that art
therapy in a group context appears to provide an important
relational component to transformative healing, and that
creative and verbal processes together can foster selfexpression, inner and interpersonal growth, increased confidence, and skill building in women IPV survivors. The new
conceptual framework, which evolved from the study
findings, may assist art therapists employed in domestic violence agencies with the development and implementation of
GAT treatment plans and interventions to support survivors’
healing journey (see Figure 2). It is recommended that
future studies implement and evaluate this novel conceptual
framework for transformative healing in women IPV survivors
within GAT. While the rationale for using qualitative methods
in this study was to investigate women’s experiences of GAT
in an open-ended and in-depth manner, future studies could
use mixed methods or quantitative experimental designs. For
example, the authors suggest a future quantitative study,
involving a pre–post control group, to predict whether GAT
itself supports IPV survivors’ transformative healing or
whether there are other variables which impact this
process. A pre–post design could also be used to investigate
whether women’s perceptions of their strengths and resilience changed due to GAT participation. Researchers could
adopt a participatory action framework by involving former
service users in the planning and carrying out of future
studies about GAT interventions with women IPV survivors.
Although this study was completed prior to the onset of
COVID-19, the need for formal services to support survivors
is more important than ever. Journalists (e.g. CBC, 2021; The
Guardian, 2020) and researchers (Bradbury-Jones & Isham,
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY
2020; Campbell, 2020) have reported that the public health
measures meant to protect the public from the global pandemic have simultaneously led to increased rates of IPV.
Future studies could explore the impact of the pandemic
on arts-based therapeutic programming and supports for survivors, and potential adaptations of arts-based interventions
for virtual service delivery.
Conclusion
This community-partnered, qualitative study explored
women IPV survivors’ experiences of GAT within the
context of a domestic violence prevention agency in
Canada. The GAT experience appeared to be a transformative
healing process when participants: (1) created meaningful
connections in a safe space with participatory therapists, individuals with shared lived experiences, and a variety of expressive art media; (2) used visual metaphors within their artwork
to project outward personal viewpoints, dreams, memories,
emotions, and beliefs; (3) reclaimed the empowered self
that is autonomous, creative, confident, happy, peaceful,
hopeful, and playful; and (4) built resilience by working
through past traumatic relationships and memories, cognitively envisioning a better future self, and gaining the
strength to move toward that self. The new conceptual framework, which evolved from the study findings, may assist
art therapists employed in domestic violence agencies with
the development of GAT treatment plans to support survivors’ healing journey.
Overall, this study contributes new knowledge about how
GAT may be therapeutically beneficial for women IPV survivors and provides a conceptual framework for group treatment planning. It also demonstrates the importance of
university-community partnerships to ensure that research
is informed by the needs of agency programs, practitioners,
and service users.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the participants who volunteered to share their experiences, as well as art therapist Irena Zenewych and registered psychotherapist Ashley Davenport who co-facilitated the GAT sessions at
Nova Vita. The authors are grateful for the support of study collaborator,
Raghida Mazzawi, who initiated this community-partnered project and all
stakeholders at Nova Vita. This article draws on research supported by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This article draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council, Partnership Engagement Grant [grant
number 892-2018-0091].
Notes on contributors
Michelle Skop, PhD, RSW, is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social
Work at Wilfrid Laurier University. She researches: (a) the use of artsbased methodologies to explore the intersections of identity, health,
and wellness; and (b) the development, implementation, and evaluation
of innovative pedagogies and experiential learning processes.
167
Olena Darewych, PhD, RP, RCAT, is a Registered Psychotherapist in
Ontario, a Registered Canadian Art Therapist, and Adjunct Faculty at
Wilfrid Laurier University and Adler University. She is also a Past President
of the Canadian Art Therapy Association. Her current research and clinical
work centres on digital art therapy for adults with autism spectrum
disorder.
Jennifer Root, PhD, RSW, is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social
Work, Wilfrid Laurier University. She examines the impacts of and resistance to gender-based violence experienced by women, children, and
families, as well as sexual and sexualised violence experienced by students in post-secondary settings.
Julie Mason, RSW, who was the Research Assistant for this project, is a
Mental Health Counsellor with the Guelph Family Health Team, an artsbased researcher, and a community mental health educator and
therapist.
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