The Art of Healing Loss
Applying Expressive Arts and Mindfulness in a Veteran Healthcare Setting
An Exclusive Research Opportunity for 20 Committed Professionals
Dedicated to Making a Difference in the Lives of our Veteran Population
Brought to you by the Center for Health and Learning
Funded by the
Society for the Arts in Healthcare/Johnson & Johnson Foundation
and the Educational Foundation of America
REGISTER HERE
Before registering, please read all of the information above and be prepared to sign and fax or mail back the Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement.
Developed by Dr. Anne Black in conjunction with the Center for Health and Learning's JoEllen Tarallo-Falk, The Art of Healing Loss (AHL) introduces a complementary approach to healing grief that increases the treatment options for mental health providers and spiritual counselors working with veterans. Drawing on a set of tools and techniques uniquely designed to help a person access and express painful feelings, AHL recognizes the power of the expressive arts to support veteran populations dealing with trauma and loss.
Background
While there is clinical consensus that the use of creative arts may be helpful as an adjunct treatment of PTSD, there is currently insufficient evidence to differentiate the impact of creative therapies on PTSD, co-morbid disorders or associated symptoms (Effective Treatments for PTSD Vol.2, Foa, Keane, Friedman and Cohen (eds), 2009.) According to Matthew Friedman, Executive Director of the National PTSD Center, it is crucial for organizations and institutions to engage in the design, development and testing of creative arts therapy as a specific treatment for PTSD.
The Center for Health and Learning will recruit and train mental health providers and spiritual counselors working with veterans to deliver the Art of Healing Loss. By replicating the AHL model in a veteran setting and participating in specific evaluation activities, these professionals will contribute to the emerging model of the expressive arts as a therapeutic experience for veterans and help to provide a scientific basis for measuring the impact of that experience.
In brief, the three stages to the program are:
- In two separate trainings, two cohorts of 20 mental health providers receive training in the AHL model
- The providers implement the AHL model with veterans in their healthcare settings
- The content and results of the program are disseminated through a program manual, a veteran art exhibit and the evaluation findings, hospice workers
Peer Reviews
When asked to comment on CHL’s proposal, Natalie Rogers, expressive arts therapist and daughter of psychologist Carl Rogers, said: “I am excited by the prospect of finding ways to offer the expressive arts methods to professionals who will in turn be able to facilitate this process with veterans. The non-verbal, right brain functions for mind/body/spirit healing is timely and necessary in the field of trauma, PTSD and grief and loss.” Natalie Rogers now serves on the Advisory Board for this project.
Another member of the Advisory Board, a Marine who served in Vietnam, Joe Doyle commented, ”I believe the best way to reach veterans is through those who are currently working with veterans. I cannot emphasize strongly enough the need for therapists to be aware that the traditional healing methods of 15 minutes of psychotherapy and a prescription for a few days of ‘feel good’ are a disservice to those who suffer the after effects of service. I did a presentation to a pain control group for disabled veterans at the American Lake Veterans Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. It was apparent to me that the people who really needed to be aware of alternative treatment techniques were the therapists. Consciousness on their part will trickle down to the vets at first, and then will become a downpour.”
Target Audience
- Psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, art therapists and chaplains working in the VA hospital setting
- Trained licensed professionals with experience working with veterans in other healthcare settings (hospitals, mental health agencies, substance abuse programs)
- Trained professionals interested in gaining techniques to work with veterans in tandem with a licensed professional
Program Description
The Art of Healing Loss Model is a partially structured, six-session, multi-modal expressive arts approach to resolving grief that can be used by art and non-art therapists to treat PTSD in veterans of any theater. Components of the model are based on the HEALS model (Black and Simpson, 2004) and on research literature findings with reference to helping the client reconstruct meaning, strengthen resiliency skills and build social and emotional literacy. Guided introspection, which takes place in a safe, aesthetically prepared environment, links the expressive arts of movement, drawing, sound and writing to the mindfulness techniques of muscle relaxation, breathing/presence awareness, body scanning, and witnessing/self-inquiry. Clients are encouraged to identify the creative art modalities best suited to their own learning/healing styles and to use those modalities during times of loss or stress.
Program Objectives
- Determine the efficacy of training mental health providers to apply the AHL process to healing veteran grief/trauma
- Motivate mental health providers to use the AHL techniques, skills and resources in their practice
- Bring the Art of Healing Loss expressive arts into the VA hospital setting
- Demonstrate the content and impact of the program by, with authorization, displaying the resulting artwork at the VA hospital and/or on a website
- Make a contribution to the fields of Expressive Arts Therapy, bereavement and trauma research and publish research findings
Participant Objectives
The training participants (mental health providers and spiritual counselors) will learn and then teach:
- How to use movement, drawing and writing in the expression of grief reactions such as: sadness, anger, resentment, relief, love, acceptance, commemoration, re-storying and forgiveness
- Creative, constructive ways to manage feelings and stress
- Skills for managing future losses
- Increased understanding of the grieving process
- Body scanning
- Presence process with breathing
- The benefits of tuning in and trusting intuitions
- The ability to practice response art while others are creating (and sharing or not sharing in the session)
- Gaining an understanding of one’s individual learning/healing creative modality style
- If needed, greater acceptance of one’s own creative process
- The wisdom of valuing the process more than the product
Training Participants: Incentives and Commitment
Everyone who participates in the training must commit to using the model in a healthcare setting.
We are offering the following incentives:
- CEUs (pending in some cases) from:
Vermont Alcohol and Drug Abuse Certification Board
Vermont Board of Allied Mental Health Practitioners
National Board for Certified Counselors
Vermont Board of Psychological Examiners
National Association of Social Workers of Vermont
- Ongoing technical assistance as needed from the Program Consultant
- A resource manual
- A curriculum kit
- A marketing tool kit for implementation of the AHL program
- A $350 stipend for implementation of the AHL program and for submission of evaluation data
- Art of Healing Loss Manual and Program Implementation Materials
Each participant will be expected to:
- Pay $100 program fee
- Attend the two-day training
- Complete the Pre-Training Survey (on needs and demographics, background and previous experience)
- Implement the program with a minimum of five veterans and administer brief pre- and post-Training Assessments with the veterans
- Complete a six-month Post-Training Replication Survey on the application of the program to one’s setting
CHL reserves the right to screen and select participants based on their ability to perform program expectations.
Before registering, please read all of the information above and be prepared to sign and fax or mail back the Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement.
REGISTER HERE
(via the Center for Health and Learning website registration page)
October 19-20, 2010
8:30-4:30
Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, Vermont
Registration: $100
Stipend: $350
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October 19-20, 2010
8:30-4:30
Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, Vermont
Registration: $100
Stipend : $350
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