Art Therapy in Group Setting

A picture is worth a thousand words, art can have the same effect. Art can often give meaning to the words we choose. Art can also give a voice to the words we can find to describe what we feel or think. As a drug and alcohol counselor, our clients will often at times not be able to put words to what they are feeling or thinking. Sometime clients may also need to be able to just stop to experience what they are feeling rather than over thinking and explaining their life. Art therapy techniques can elevate such obstacles in chemical dependency treatment for clients.
Art therapy has many benefits for clients and counselors. Art can be an alternative path for communications. When a client are not able to connect to others or in the traditional sense talk about what is going on, art mediums can offer a way make a connection to the group and/or counselor by expressing themselves in a different manner (Bryant, 2011). Additionally, art can be beneficial in self-exploration and self-expression for clients within group therapy (Bryant, 2011). For substance abuse clients, self-exploration and self-expression is often riddled with anxiety and fear. Fear and anxiety that arises is sometimes linked to using their drug of choice due to difficult affects that accompany memories, events, or thoughts that they will be dealing with and overcoming. Art can help clients deal with such emotions safely and in a manner that they may be more comfortable participating in rather than having to just share vocally. In a study done by Zipora Shechtman and Ofra Perl-dekel, patients preferred art therapy to verbal therapy in a group setting (Shechtman and Perl-dekel, 2000). Substance abuse clients experience more hope through art processing than...

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...f choice. Alternative activities can mean the difference between life and death for a recovery addict or alcoholic.
In conclusion, art therapy has many different aspects that can be beneficial to clients when implemented into a substance abuse treatment program. The benefits that develop can be influences to substance abuse clients as well the counselor. Art therapy techniques offer something unique to each individual and also to the group process. Additionally, art therapy can be implement individual but does have a great effect within group therapy. Effects such as group cohesion, group processing, connectedness, relapse prevention, and instillation of hope are useful to substance abuse clients. Art therapy is just one more helpful tool that counselors can use to assist their clients in finding a better, healthier life without the use of alcohol or drugs.