The process of creating art is an endeavor that evokes creativity, problem solving, and self-expression. The process of creating art is also healing and comforting, making the field of art therapy necessary. Art therapy successfully combines artistic creation and reflection in a way that helps a variety of populations heal, grow, and see their world in a new and positive perspective. This semester at Adrian College, I was extremely fortunate to delve into the field of art therapy with an internship opportunity to personally witness the effects of art therapy on a wide range of populations. Internship sites took place at: Lenawee Medical, a long-term care facility for seniors; the Maurice Spears Campus, a detention and treatment center for troubled youth; and for one session, Catherine Cobb, a shelter for victims of domestic violence. Through this art therapy internship, I was able to learn more about the field, including how to handle difficult situations, appropriately assign activities to specific groups, and actively engage others in a satisfying artistic experience. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay My semester began with art therapist Shannon Miller at Lenawee Medical Care Center with elderly patients. The patients at Lenawee Medical positively surprised me and were excited that we visited them every week to create art with them. The main change I saw in older people was their desire to produce art and be creative. At first, many patients were hesitant to begin the assigned activities and expressed statements regarding their lack of artistic skills. However, as the weeks went by, the patients began to open up and lose their “non-artistic” attitude. I noticed that we had more success with older people in activities that were more structured and had a satisfactory end result. When our activities were more “imaginative,” older people often became confused and quickly lost concentration. By having a defined structure for a session, seniors were able to focus on the steps they needed to take to achieve the finished product. Although the activities had guidelines to help them, seniors had complete control over color, image, and other personal choices. I believe older adults benefited from the combination of structure and self-expression because it helped them focus on a task, but also gave them a sense of control that patients often lack due to stage of their life. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for patients at Lenawee Medical to live in a hospital-like environment, to be away from their families and the homes they grew up in, and to perform other daily tasks. that they once did alone. One activity I particularly enjoyed working with patients at Lenawee Medical was creating a “fall tree” group. The patients each created a tree branch from crumpled newspapers and coffee filter “leaves.” After patients created a branch with colorful leaves, they were able to write their favorite fall memory on the piece. This project sparked a lot of reminiscences among the patients and also sparked a group connection around the memories they shared. Reminiscence is important in this population, becauseMany patients suffer from dementia, Alzheimer's disease or another type of memory loss. Eventually, the branches were gathered onto a large tree trunk and the tree was displayed in their shared living room. Even after the session ended, the tree served as a reminder of the group's unity and also inspired other patients' favorite fall memories. Shannon Miller said that one of the most important goals to focus on in art therapy is to still make the impacts of the session last even after the session has ended; I believe this activity was able to successfully benefit patients long after we left the building. Perhaps the most useful lesson I learned at Lenawee Medical is how certain materials and tools affect patients' moods. Messy art materials such as oil pastels and chalk pastels made patients more concerned about getting their fingers and clothes dirty and distracted their attention from creating art. Controllable and clean materials such as markers, colored pencils and coloring sticks were favored more; they were also easier to use for patients who had difficulty with fine motor movements. Additionally, I learned that bright colors work best with this population because many older patients have vision problems and can see bright colors better. Overall, I learned to judge situations appropriately, when to help a patient with their art creation (like cutting paper) and when to let them create on their own. The second half of the semester took place at the Maurice Spears Campus with Erin Nicol. , creating art with young people in difficulty. Maurice Spears is divided into two units, male and female, and I was very fascinated to see how different genders would respond to art therapy. Overall, the boys and girls unit benefited immensely from art therapy and I was amazed at their personal transformations from the beginning to the end of the semester. At the start of the semester, we unexpectedly arranged an art therapy session with the girls' unit on a Saturday when we learned the boys were away for the day. The session focused on the girls making an “inside-out” mask; externally, the mask was meant to reflect how others perceived the individual; on the inside, the mask is meant to show what the individual really feels “inside.” We had never worked with the girls' unit before, so it was interesting to hear their first reaction to art therapy. My strongest memory was of my interactions with Megan, a girl I had tried to connect with to inspire conversation and thought about the project. Immediately, Megan stopped when I tried to talk to her, she made it clear to me that she hated the project and didn't want to express her feelings. During the group discussion during the mask treatment, Megan was still “sulky” and not very expressive. When I returned for the second half of the semester to work with the girls on Thursday evenings, I recognized Megan, but something had changed; she was open, expressive and actively created art without fighting! The girls had only been experiencing art therapy for a short time with the other placement group, but it was obvious how much it had already benefited them! While working with the boys unit, I noticed similar changes during the internship. . The boys became more expressive over time, thought more deeply about their own lives, and were always trying to think of new projects to do.in the future. My favorite experience with the boys happened during the session where they were asked to create a “self symbol” using magazine pictures, paper and markers. I sat next to a boy who seemed frustrated and wasn't working on his project. I tried to spark a conversation and asked him what he was going to include in his personal symbol; he replied, “I’m really not in the mood for that” and refused to look me in the eye. I guess he was hoping I would leave him alone, but I stayed and started looking through magazines, asking him if he liked certain pictures. After a few minutes his bad attitude changed and he accepted my help; together we worked to find images he liked. The boy created a collage consisting of animal images, because he missed his own pets and expressed the good feelings he got from caring for another living creature. This young man tested my patience, but I found that sometimes all it takes is just a little encouragement to get patients to participate and release emotions that need to be left behind. Overall, I feel like a young Maurice Spears. Benefited enormously from art therapy. Through our various projects of self-reflection (i.e. self-symbolism, three-view self-portrait) and group unity (i.e. building a bridge, creating a turkey, broken squares), patients were able to learn more about themselves and how to also successfully connect their personalities in a larger group collaboration. I have high expectations for Maurice Spears' young people and hope that the lessons they learned in art therapy stay with them for a lifetime. Only through the patients' artistic works was I able to capture the traumatic and heartbreaking experiences these young people faced. However, every time I left campus, I felt exceptionally inspired and happy because the boys and girls were laughing, smiling, and always looking forward to our next art therapy session. Another experience I had this semester was at the Catherine Cobb Domestic Violence Shelter. with the Art Therapy Club. During our session at Catherine Cobb, we used Crayola Model Magic clay with children ages nine months to fourteen years old to create any object they wanted. Our stay at Catherine Cobb lasted a brief hour; however, we were able to learn a lot from these children just by how they interacted with the clay. At first, the children were hesitant to start creating, but once they started creating, they aggressively hit the clay with force. didn't expect it. Children hit the clay with their fists, their arms, their feet and even their heads. The children didn't seem interested in creating an object with their clay, and if they did, they would quickly destroy it. The aggressive behavior I witnessed in these young children hinted at the possibility that they may have needed a quick release of harmful emotions pent up inside themselves. I also noticed that the children were more focused on making an impression and connecting with us than on making a clay object. They bonded extremely quickly and begged us not to leave once the session was over. It is evident that these children have difficulty establishing boundaries and appropriate relationships with others. I would like to see the Art Therapy Club return to Catherine Cobb in the near future because I believe these children needed more of an art therapy experience to.