Art therapy a medium of few words
FAIRFIELD — Instead of looking on in horror as Jessica slathering immensely dark blue paint on a near-new yellow wall, Danielle Brunswick urged her on.
Brunswick mainly wanted Jessica to put on a paint smock to protect the white sweatshirt she was wearing — forget protecting the wall.
“No, I don’t want to wear that,” Jessica said again as Brunswick tried several alternative tactics to get the 14-year-old to put on the paint-splattered smock.
Editor’s note: First names only are used for the children in Aldea Children and Family Services’ art therapy program to protect their privacy — a policy of Aldea.
The camaraderie, trust and friendship between Brunswick, an art therapist, and Jessica, her client, was obvious as the two worked on a beach-scene mural that was a focal point in the client area of the Aldea counseling offices in Fairfield.
“I love art,” said the teen with a quick grin as she explained that the time she’s in art therapy goes by quickly. ”Sometimes we’re doing something and it’s ‘oops, time to go, good-bye.’ ”
Jessica is in the group with two other teens as part of an art therapy program that allows children to express themselves through artwork instead of traditional “talk” counseling.
Art therapy, in addition to many other goals, works to improve communication skills, self-esteem, social interaction among peers and develop increased participation and attention spans.
Artwork from many of Aldea’s children is available to the general public through an award-winning calendar the nonprofit puts out annually. It’s been voted the best nonprofit calendar in the country for the last 12 out of 13 years through the National Calendar Awards.
“(Art therapy) gives the kids another way to express themselves,” said Al Friedman, an art therapist who works with Aldea in the Napa school system. “Kids are not always comfortable talking about their feelings.”
In addition to the art therapy program in Solano and Napa counties, the nonprofit Aldea also offers a gamut of services for young people with serious social, mental and behavioral difficulties. It offers programs that range from psychiatric care, foster care, residential treatment programs, parental advocacy and supported living services for developmentally disabled adults.
While the Solano and Napa programs are under the same administrative umbrella, the programs offered and the requirements differ for the two counties. In Napa County, Aldea operates art therapy in residential facilities and in conjunction with the school system, which is where Friedman is located. In Solano County, where Brunswick is located, the outpatient counseling, art therapy and other offerings are located in Aldea’s counseling center on Chadbourne Road.
Fairfield’s office receives referrals from a variety of organizations such as Solano County Mental Health Services and Child Haven, in addition to walk-ins. The clients need to be on MediCal to receive services and between the ages of 4 and 18.
Friedman, who has worked as an art therapist for Aldea for 13 years, can learn a lot about a child from a drawing, he said. When Friedman begins working with a child, he’ll ask them to do a series of drawings such as family life, a house picture and picture of a person. He looks for such things as missing limbs, who is isolated away from family members in the picture, how big or small the picture is. Is there a lot of color? Is it done in pencil and does the child insist on using a ruler?
For example, Friedman said that children who are depressed and have low self-esteem will typically draw pictures that are “very small, very controlled.”
“You get a quick idea of a child’s personality by looking at the pictures and the art materials,” he said.
The mural Jessica is working on with the other teens depicts a calm beach scene — sand, sun, palm trees, a tiny turtle and a huge dolphin.
Tracy Lacey, the program director in Fairfield, joked that she was going to pull up a beach chair and enjoy the ambience. She pitched in recently to help paint some of the palm trees as Brunswick mixed paints and Jessica put some touches on the dolphin that was originally a bluish color, but the teens elected to change the color to gray.
The project is a “community” project, so other children involved with Aldea can also participate. The teens are using the art to communicate — they also have to learn to iron out conflicts, make decisions, settle differences of artistic opinion and follow rules such as not getting paint all over the place, Brunswick said.
“The goal of this mural is for clients to have some way to mark their territory here at Aldea,” she said. “Right here when they come in, they’ll know they’re a part of this place.”
The prominent location also allows them to work on social skills while interacting with others as they walk by the busy hallway.
The calendar, which is sold internationally, gives Aldea children yet another public outlet for their art. It’s in its 13th year at Aldea. It’s a project that Friedman brought with him when he left the employ of the children’s program at Napa State Hospital for Aldea.
The calendar, which includes wall and engagement styles plus note cards, offers photos of a variety of art styles such as three-dimensional fabric and clay, tempera and oil. Some have bright colors with whimsical designs. Others depict something maybe darker in nature.
While Friedman works with the children to pick the artwork that will go in the calendar, he said that some need to be edited.
“Sometimes the images they produce are quite disturbing or embarrassing to their families,” Friedman said. “We offer the kids a lot of free expression.”
The calendar is one of Aldea’s big fundraisers. It is available through the online company Amazon as well as from Aldea’s website, http://aldeainc.org. For more information or to order by phone, call Friedman at 224-8299.
Reach Susan Winlow at 427-6955 or swinlow@dailyrepublic.net.
Short URL: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/?p=97668
Posted by Susan Winlow
on Oct 23 2011.
Last Login: Tue 21 Feb 2012 01:15:51 AM UTC
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