Shirley Riley's Social Constructivist Therapy

Throughout history there have been countless souls who were willing to challenge the norm of their everyday life. These individuals work towards change, help those around them, and strive for a better tomorrow. One individual who has been recognized as such was Shirley Riley. Riley was a prominent art therapist during her lifetime. This paper will discuss Riley’s professional career as well as her personal and fairly private life.

Riley was born in 1921 and unfortunately passed away on September 14, 2004. Riley left behind many colleagues who adored her, students she mentored, and a family she loved. Although there is little information on her life before becoming an art therapist, the following was know: Riley in total was married to W. Champ

The idea in constructivist therapy is to reconstruct how the client views their life. Through therapy individuals work towards developing new routines, strengthening relationships, and adopt a new way of looking at themselves. Furthermore, working through trauma has been successful with constructivist therapy. For trauma patients the sense of creating their own identity may help them move forward and better understand their views on the situation.

However, limitations have been identified while using social constructivism. “The theory of constructivism has been criticized for the idea that there is no one truth because all truths are equally valid. Constructivism has been considered to be somewhat at odds with the concept of the self as it is typically understood in psychology. Traditionally, psychology has focused on the individual, often minimizing the role of context and culture, but constructivism looks at the context in which the self exists and considers the self to be fluid and changing”

This approach she felt was prominent during the art making portion of the session. Besides from the art portion of a session, Riley believed the verbal component of art therapy was important. Riley explored the stigma surrounding art therapy and the client's verbal expressions. From the book, Integrative Approaches to Family Art Therapy (Riley & Malchiodi, 1994), Riley states: “Hearing client’s language does not negate the process of looking at the art product. It is a synthesis of two creative means of communication.” Joining these two stories was key in Riley’s