Topic: Case Study 2

Order Description A school social worker received a referral involving a nine year old boy. According to the school counselor, the boy's teacher has been concerned for some time about the boy's classroom behavior and academic performance. According to the teacher, the boy is difficult to control; he is often disruptive in class, treats other children aggressively, and is impulsive. The teacher also reported that the boy is struggling academically and is having difficulty in completing school based tasks in a timely manner. The boy also manifests some symptoms of depression. Without thinking of what possible diagnosis this boy might or might not have, what therapeutic modality/intervention might you utilize with this case? Use detailed information from what you have learned so far, as well as cite as least one other source. Also, please justify the intervention that you choose (explain in detail why you chose this intervention). This case was borrowed in part from "The Social Work Ethics Casebook" by Frederic Reamer What is Expressive Therapy? What is Expressive Therapy? The human mind is a very complex mechanism and is often difficult to control it. There are a lot of things that can influence our overall health through the mind, like stress, which is maybe one of the most widespread conditions over the world. Even if it’s considered to be a circumstance, an effect of the environment, many think of stress as a disease, because it weakens the immune system of the body and has also other negative effects. Often children manifest problematic behaviors as a reaction to some sort of stress in their lives. It is normally to be concerned with the things that happen to us in the day to day life, but sometimes we tend to think too much or too intensely of some issues and this prevents us from finding a solution to them. The best way in these situations is to try to get them out from our minds for a short period, so we can focus on them later on, when we are more able to see the big pictures and find a suitable solution. Children will not have the ability to reason and problem solve alone. Expressive therapy can be a helpful therapeutic tool to use to work with children in school settings to give children a hands-on approach to learn problem solving skills. Expressive therapy is considered by some an alternate medicine manifestation, but it is widely used in conventional therapeutic centers that deal with habit conditions. Some of these can be the drug or alcohol rehabilitation facilities. This therapy is focused directly on the mind and tries to shut down some logical centers of the brain through focusing more attention and increasing the usage of the creativity centers. This also allows the client to discover new things about themselves, things they might not have been aware of in the past. The expressive therapy can be seen as a mind healing alternative and has been included in many of the programs of medical facilities across the US. In many cases, identifying the problem itself is difficult and this requires some in-depth assessment. The tools of expressive therapy are generally artistic approaches, be it sculpture, music, painting, photography or music. If implemented correctly, one’s artistic manifestations during expressive therapy can open up the client's mind, therefore allowing the manipulation and education of the behavior. Another approach for the treatment of stress and stress related effects are the traditional psychiatric meetings, in which a special trained person (a shrink) tries to liaise with the patient in order to get him speak about his or her issues, what are the upsetting or disappointing things from his or her life. And this is not something easily achieved; it requires a lot of patience and candor from the doctor’s part in order to make the patient feel safe, respected and listened to, things that might have been missing from his or her life so far. All these are meant to make the patient reflect on their inner problems, but also to the symbols in their lives and, in many cases, they manage to confront their demons and find solutions by their own, which is the purpose of this therapy. Expressive Arts Therapy Expressive Arts Therapy The definitions of art therapy often vary due to its roots, both in psychotherapy and art. One of the two methods is making art and which is also, by itself, a therapy and the second is the relationship and the exchange that takes place between the art practicing client and the therapist. Along with the artistic manifestations of the client, the therapist symbolically interprets them and also tries to obtain the vision of the patient concerning them. Due to the good results it manages to achieve, art therapy as a profession for mental health is often used in a variety of client populations. Art therapy has a very broad specter of clients who can get treated, no matter the age or the disorders they might have, from children to old people, from single individuals to couples and groups. The psychotherapeutic skills help art therapists design a session pattern and method in order to obtain the best results possible, given the fact that these are different from patient to patient, function to their needs and problems. By applying the creative process, the therapists manage to increase the level of insight in their patients, their power to cope with stress and get over traumatic experiences, as well as to improve the memory and cognitive abilities. All these goals, once achieved, help the individual act better in interpersonal relationships and to increase the self esteem and the level of personal fulfillment. The main goal of the art therapy is, without any doubt, healing the client and its big advantage is the wide range of cases in which it can be applied, from patients with mental, physical and emotional problems, disorders and diseases. Any type of art can be engaged in almost any therapy: sculpting, painting, photography and drawing. All these have proven to be very efficient. Even at a young age, art therapy can be beneficial. A large part of a child's development is being able to be creative and learn how to express themselves. Art therapy gives children the opportunity to do both in a safe environment. Some common art therapy goals for young children are sensory awareness and integration, problem-solving skills, identification and expression of feelings, and increased self-esteem. Here are a few examples of how to these apply common goals to art therapy interventions. ? Sensory awareness and integration – Art therapy can be helpful for children with sensory issues. One way to work with children on this is to create a sensory collage. By using different types of fabrics, textures, colors, and paper to create a collage, a child can be introduced to sensory objects in a safe environment. ? Problem solving skills - Developing problem solving skills for young children can increase their ability to come up solutions and positive behavior choices. One way to use art therapy for problem solving is to present a child with the problem and have them draw solutions to the problem. This gives them a visual representation of what they can do and may give them a better understanding of how to solve problems in the future. ? Exploring feelings - Sometimes young children have a difficult time communicating their feelings. One art therapy intervention could be to draw all their different feelings and then have a discussion on when they experience each feeling. This may help children to externalize their feelings and understand what triggers their feelings. ? Increased self-esteem – At a very young age, children start to develop self-esteem. Learning a new skill can help to increase their self-esteem and feel more confident. An art therapy intervention could be to teach them a new art skill, like introducing them to a new art medium. While this may seem intimidating at first for the child, the child’s ability to develop a new skill will help their self-identity and self-esteem. Children are never too young to be creative. It is important that their creativity is fostered in a way that is beneficial to them. Art therapy is just one way that children can be creative while gaining the skills that can help them in their development. Colors and meanings in expressive art therapy with children https://youtu.be/0jdc_PEWP9I https://youtu.be/0jdc_PEWP9I Expressive Therapy Techniques Expressive Therapy Techniques There are a number of situations in which our own mind becomes some sort of enemy, generating a various number of attempts against our own health. When things we are confronted with daily in our environment start to pile up, stress is also gathered and this is a very dangerous enemy for the health of our mind and body, because it weakens a great deal the immune system and facilitates the exposure to a number of illnesses and diseases. There are a number of solutions to this, but the most accessible one is, in fact, setting your mind free from all the things to which it is almost permanently connected. Getting too drawn in problems and constant thinking and over thinking them can lead us to overlooking aspects of ourselves as persons, can prevent us from identifying some problems about ourselves and, of course, finding solutions to them. Children do not have the ability typically to identify their problems, nor logically determine how to resolve those problems. The way in which expressive therapy works, is that it basically helps to shutdown the nervous centers in one’s brain in order to stop the logical processing and emphasizes the expression of creativity in various forms. Some of these forms may be known to the subject, while others can be just discovered. Art is usual a very comfortable domain of helping the creativity flows to be expressed. Be it music, writing or drawing, a person is able to express himself or herself, while their works can provide some feedback about themselves and open doors to new or forgotten aspects from the inside. This also helps the therapists to get to the bottom of some potential stress caused issues, such as the abuse of alcohol and drugs, or negative behaviors, things that some people might see as ways of escaping their own routines and daily problems. Through artistic expression, the focus is shifted so that the client has an outlet for sharing what is troubling them, and they then can begin to devise solutions to resolve the problem. Expressive therapy, unlike the traditional talk therapy, in which the patient is encouraged to open up and speak about his or her problems, manages to go deeper and make the client feel and become aware of his or her problems through the expressive manifestations and, at some point in the near or farther future, they will be able to face them and even solve them for good. The client is even more likely to find solutions to issues that have a much greater importance to him or her than it could have for anybody else, even for the therapist himself or herself. Expressive Writing in Expressive Arts Therapy Expressive Writing in Expressive Arts Therapy A form of expressive therapy is writing therapy. This bases its practice on the idea that gradually writing his or her feelings, a client can show improvement in dealing with emotional trauma, by simply processing the words he or she wrote and becoming aware of its meanings. This therapy can be applied both to a single individual, as well as to groups. In writing therapy, the therapy is usually put into practice by a social worker or a counselor who use writing therapy with students in an attempt to improve their self development and self awareness. The online method for putting this therapy into practice is used when the client does not want to be personally known, at least not yet and this allows him to keep his identity hidden and get rid of any anxiety that would prevent him or her from disclosing private thoughts and feelings. Like many other therapies, this one is also able to be applied in different cases of illnesses like abuse, desertion or bereavement. Some therapeutic sessions are similar to classes and the patient is asked to write on a specific subject chosen by the therapist. Some of these subjects can be writing letters without actually sending them, addressed either to live or dead individuals and getting imagined replies from them. The need for alternatives to the drug based therapies, as well as the goal of achieving best results in the shortest period possible, have made a lot of investments from the governmental agencies and insurance companies be made in cognitive therapy (implicitly the writing therapy), rather than psychoanalysis which is a longer, slower process. Maybe the oldest a simplest form of self-therapy is the keeping of a journal or diary, which helps the client to better deal with the reoccurring stress and frustration caused by all type of events and also to express in written his or her own feelings and thoughts. The idea of a person writing about his thoughts and feelings and then reading them written in his or her own words can actually help a lot in dissipating the tension and makes one more aware of his or her problems. In the school setting, social workers can have children or assist children in writing stories that express whatever difficulty they are going through as well. Sometimes, you can give the child time to write a story and then the social worker will read the story to interpret the meaning for the child. This helps to identify what is the foundation of the issue of concern through the child's eyes. Then you can begin to assist the child in learning coping skills to address the issue and alleviate any anxiety or stress that the child is experiencing. Expressive Therapy Activities Expressive Therapy Activities Here are some websites with free resources and activities for using expressive therapy: This website has printable worksheets you can download and use: http://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-worksheets/art/none This website has 100 activities for expressive therapy and is organized by issue of concern: http://intuitivecreativity.typepad.com/expressiveartinspirations/100-art-therapy-exercises.html (Links to an external site.) Here are some videos that show some expressive art therapy techniques and activities: https://youtu.be/5w-9yUsCksc This website has a variety of resources and expressive art therapy activities you can use: http://my-monster-has-a-name.com/resources/art-therapy/ (Links to an external site.)