Making Art for Professional Processing

Although art therapists readily recognize the value of artmaking for their clients and for themselves, do they utilize its potentialities for professional self-processing? In the hope of encouraging art therapists to use this valuable resource, this paper presents examples of art expressions for professional processing by many art therapists working with various populations in different kinds of settings. In addition to spontaneous responses to strong feelings aroused by clients, systematic procedures are illustrated that were designed to deal with specific difficult reactions. Examples include identification and shock in work with adolescents; grief over dying children; dehumanization of developmentally delayed clients; dream work; exploration of racial prejudice; work with sexual abuse; poetry combined with art; utilizing clients' themes, symbols, styles, and materials; and selection of media to enhance particular ways of processing.