Paper and Panel Presentations

How can we support children growing up and living through the lasting period of pandemic stress? The session will cover practical experience and results of group work with children based on an art therapy program with elements of play therapy. The speaker will share her experience of group work with children showing  symptoms of increased stress during the pandemic and will talk about how group art therapy can prevent the progression of negative stress effects and increase emotional stability in children.

This presentation highlights the creative process and products of an art therapy peer-support group of grief and bereavement clinicians that took place during the pandemic. Presenters examine thematic trajectories expressed and explored in the group through the lens of meaning reconstruction and restorative retelling, and share lessons learned that informed their practices with youth and families. 

In this presentation, humanistic principles are emphasized within an adaptive approach to personality development.  Additionally, the possibilities of using art therapeutic technologies based on the potential of the sociocultural and natural environment to overcome stressful conditions will be examined. Both the theoretical substantiation of the indicated problems and therapeutic case examples will be highlighted.

The experience of using polymodal art therapy in the practice of distance counseling is presented. Examples are given for the use of art therapy during the Covid -19 pandemic and during the transition to pandemic recovery. Finally, the practice of using polymodal art therapy in individual and group work with family members will be demonstrated.

This paper will present clinical art therapy considerations for interventions from an innovative community workshop offered in Latin America by art therapy students from Mexico, Israel, and the U.S. Three Art Therapy directors of a collaborative international summer program will discuss how art therapy students were brought together to offer community interventions for various communities / foci in Latin America, offering a place to reflect on Covid-19 experiences, exploring cultural consideration of the pandemic and considering the ways art therapy can transcend barriers of physical space and times to serve communities worldwide.

This panel presentation on short stories of virtual healing and maintaining connection to clients through art therapy during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The authors promote coping skills and resiliency while maintaining self care working from home. Working with families and children as well as different community settings struggling through the pandemic.

This paper will provide arts-based research results on the experiences and resources of family resilience among English-speaking Caribbean families before and since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Art materials, images, and cultural considerations will highlight clinical interventions. Therapeutic interventions will explore strengths-based family art therapy approaches for Caribbean families.