Stefanie Munro, BA, BEd
Regina, SK

Stefanie is an artist, a writer, and an art therapy student at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute. She is interested in discovering how creativity can be a pathway to healing trauma, treating depression, and preventing burnout.

The value of art therapy

As a distance student currently studying art therapy at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute (KATI) in Nelson, B.C., I have been significantly impacted by the use of metaphor. Monica Carpendale, Professor Emeritus at KATI, has given the distance cohort the name Rhizome, a metaphor linking us to rhizome roots that grow under the soil and emerge in different places. As we head into the cold months of winter, where much of the land is frozen, I feel connection to B.C.’s mountain streams that slow but never freeze solid. There may be layers of ice on the surface, but there is movement and life underneath.

As I slowly chip away at the solid layers of my defense mechanisms and face my trauma history, I uncover hope and vitality. I rediscover creativity and aspects of my imagination long dormant. A profound learning that is coming forth through creating art is the substantial rigidity of my defensive armour. I am a highly visual learner, and the dimension art adds to my healing and educational journey is spacious and deep as the unconscious becomes conscious.

There is an earnest sincerity in beginning; it takes a single, tiny step to begin, and momentum begins and soon gains occur. We learn, grow, stumble, and repeat to find deeper meanings in ourselves and in the world around us. There are no right or wrong answers; there are only layers, interpretations, and choices. Art bores into the solidified layers of our defenses to show us who we are and who we can become.

The value of the therapist

In art therapy work, the value of quality therapeutic presence and the language a therapist uses is vital to the healing process. Language is to the therapist what the scalpel is to the surgeon (Yalom, 1995). Just as a patient trusts their surgeon to be supremely knowledgeable as they cut, so too a client must trust their therapist to tread with the utmost care through difficult, mysterious terrain. Tending to our inner landscapes and healing of the soul is tender, complex, labyrinthine labour. Authentic relationships hold significant importance to our ability to understand and communicate with each other and ourselves.

I witness the exemplary work put forth by my instructors and supervisors at KATI, and I know quality service is being offered across Canada by CATA members. Daring leaders lead from the heart, not the hurt; daring leaders have overcome traumatic experiences and may be in the midst of deep struggle, but it’s what is done with that hurt that matters (Brown, 2018). A powerful example of leading from the heart was Tarana Burke’s (a sexual assault survivor and founder of the Me Too movement) response to Harvey Weinstein’s arrest. Instead of celebrating his arrest, Tarana said, “it’s not about taking down powerful men. Me Too is a global community of survivors. It’s a mechanism for action, for empowerment through empathy” (Lafayette, 2018). We all stand in need of wholehearted compassion. In art therapy, daring leadership looks like empathy without an agenda, compassion, honesty, and safety. The art created is a beautiful, therapeutic partner that supports the brave souls that engage. To the therapists who dare to lead greatly, and to the students who dare to heal and learn, thank you. As we step into the waters of 2023, may they bring movement, clarity, and inspiration.

References

Brown, B. (2018). Dare to Lead. Vermilion.

Lafayette (2018). Inspiring quotes from the founder of Me Too. September 19, 2018. https://news.lafayette.edu/2018/09/19/inspiring-quotes-from-founder-of-me-too/

Yalom, I. D. (1985). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy. (3rd Ed.). New York: Basic Books.