June 2023 - Sensory Board Therapeutic Art Making Intervention & Tips for Running (and Filling) Groups Using Creative Interventions
This month’s intervention is more geared towards in person work, but could potentially be adapted for telehealth with advanced planning. I recently ran a community group for parents with little ones (2-4 years old) and our topic was about helping them and their children utilizing grounding, even when they’re young! This activity can easily be adapted to utilize anything you (or your clients) have on hand, and it was such a hit with the parents and kiddos!
Please note, If you do take any photos of client’s art work, make sure you have a consent form signed for this. I have a Consent to Photograph Artwork Created in Therapy Sessions Form in my products if you need one for your practice. Even with therapeutic art making, it is ethically necessary to have this consent form signed. Also make sure to remove any identifying information from any art work before photographing it, such as names or signatures.
I offer personalized intervention ideas in the clinical consultation and supervision I provide as well! When I work one on one with clinicians, I love being able to create specific interventions tailored to each client and their presenting concerns. Feel free to reach out with any questions to see if creative supervision and consultation would be a good fit for you and your practice!
Process Video:
Age range: 2+
Diagnosis: Any
Supplies Needed:
Stiff board (I used a chalkboard from the Dollar Store, but a clipboard, cut up binder, etc would work well as an alternative!)
Depending on which supplies you have available, this can change but here is what I used:
Car washing mit
Felt
Loofah
Sandpaper (fine grit so it isn’t too rough)
Disposable feather duster
Brillo pad
Lego baseplate
Reversible sequin fabric
Paper wrapping bow
Some other ideas to use
Washcloth
Shelf liner grips
Tin foil
Textured paper
Inside of cardboard (you can rip off the top layer to expose the corrugation)
Fake flower petals
Old shirt
Old sweater
Old denim
Canvas
Yarn
Old blanket
Anything else that has a texture that can be cut up!!
I used no-heat adhesive fabric tape to stick everything to the board and I was very, very happy with the results
I also used permanent foam stickers for the rigid plastic lego baseplate, but it did stick to the fabric tape as well
Scissors
If you are going to be cutting up a lego baseplate or any plastic I recommend using very sturdy shears or cutters and please be careful!!
Ruler
Paint marker or any writing item appropriate for the board you choose
I used an oil based paint marker so it wouldn’t rub or wash off and they would work on most surfaces!
Optional: essential oils to introduce another sensory technique of scent. This can be applied to any fabric items on the board
Uses: This is a great intervention for grounding and sensory stimulation for any aged clients, I love and use mine regularly!
Artistic skills needed: None!
Instructions:
Because I did this with a group, I did want to briefly talk about running art based groups as I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it much here in the Creative Intervention Library. This topic has come up recently on The Teletherapist Network and it has been so fun talking about running groups! I love to run groups in my community, and feel so lucky to have made connections and networking that has made that possible. If this is something you are interested in, I highly recommend putting yourself out there. Even if you are not an art therapist, you can run a therapeutic art making group successfully, just please ensure you are being mindful of the terminology you are using when talking about it and marketing it. To start, I run a mix of paid and free groups depending on the population and where I am doing the group. I often see therapists saying that they struggle to find attendees for their groups.
Some tips that I utilize to fill/run a group:
Think about time of year! Summer can be great for groups as kids are out of school, but so many families and individuals have camps, vacations, nice weather temptations, etc. Many summer groups I have run had very inconsistent attendance.
When I have a group population I want to work with, I will often seek out an organization who is already working with the population. In the past I have been able to work with women refugees by contacting a local nonprofit who runs a program for them and I offered to run a group for them. I have also done with women experiencing domestic violence with a local organization, LGBTQIA+ youth, parent groups at a local school who has a parent resource center, and more!
When I approach these organizations, personally I love to give back to my community and I offer to run a group for free. This is an important part of my own practice, but I will say that after every single time either the group members or the organization itself has asked for groups to be continued and have discussed it being paid. I make the personal choice to usually refuse payment, but it often comes up. If you do want to run paid groups, you could still gain great connections to your population while also giving back with a free group. This could lead to other opportunities and is worth considering!
With most of these local organizations I work with, since they are already working with the population they almost always have their own space that I can come into rather than having to coordinate group members getting somewhere new. I often find this helpful as the group members are familiar with the space and can help with comfort levels and participation.
Post in your local therapist groups (even if they’re on Facebook, sometimes those groups can be beneficial). I am always looking for groups to refer my clients to and often struggle to find ones running. Other therapists can fill up your groups quickly!
If you accept insurance, most plans have group therapy benefits! I have run groups through insurance in the past as well. While the rate isn’t the highest, I use that to help decide the amount of group members I need to make it feasible.
In thinking about tips for actually running a group where you are using creative interventions, here are a few tips for that:
Don’t hesitate to fundraise for supplies if you are utilizing creative interventions and running a free group. I do a mix of fundraising and managing a budget within my business for this, but it is worth considering. I have set up Amazon wishlists with all the supplies I have needed so that anyone could simply donate and purchase an item if they wanted to. I also have worked with local art supply stores who have their own budgets for donations and they will often work with me to donate some or all of the supplies for these groups. Don’t be afraid to ask! The worst they say is no and you are in the same place you were before!
Plan, plan, and then plan some more. I personally believe that prep work pays off tenfold in helping groups run as smoothly as possible. I plan the structure of my group, whether it is a single group or a set number of weeks. I set myself a full curriculum with the interventions, discussion points, handouts when appropriate, supplies I need, etc. This also helps because as I have been running groups for over a decade now, I have all of the cirriculum I have created over the years and can easily pull from past groups and not have to reinvent the wheel every time!
When talking about planning, I ALWAYS practice the creative intervention that I want to use. I cannot even say how many times I had an idea that seemed foolproof for an intervention and when I actually went to do it, it was a disaster. I have had groups where the intervention did not go as planned and it is never fun! The time spent working out the kinks and challenges beforehand is always worth it to me.
When practicing/ test running an intervention, this also helps me decide how much I want to prep for the group as well. When I consider how much time I have to run the group, the age of group members, safety concerns, etc, this will inform me of how to present the materials. When I do collaging with groups (and individuals) I always bring precut or ripped out images rather than giving them full magazines. I can confidently say that it will take four times longer if not more for anyone to search through a full magazine (and potentially get distracted) versus looking through ripped out images. If I take a few minutes while watching TV, listening to a podcast, or anything else to mindlessly rip out pages from a magazine to save time, I am willing to do that time and time again. Another example of something to prep would be anything that needs measuring or cutting out, especially if you have any safety concerns for the group whether that is due to age, population, location etc.
If you are apprehensive to run a group yourself, ask someone to co-facilitate with you!! I love when I have someone else with me to manage a group, especially if the group is on the larger side. When I do groups with local organizations, I often ask if anyone would be able to be in the room with us while the group runs. I usually ask them to participate in the intervention and help moderate conversations and just be a familiar presence. You can also run groups with a therapist friend! Ask around and I am sure that there are so many people who would be interested, and it is a great way to connect with other therapists in your area.
Make sure to have a group informed consent form! When I am utilizing creative interventions, I always make sure to share language about the use of art supplies, the potential for getting art materials on clothing, the chance that the intervention could cause “damage” to other surfaces (even after they bring them home), potential ingestion of materials, along with other standard group information. It is always better to cover your butt and prepare group members and yourself for this. I am working on a version to share of my group informed consent form, so keep an eye out for that in the future.
Consider the atmosphere of the group you are running. I always have music playing in my groups, and I often stick to ambient instrument music low in the background. I use my phone or a bluetooth speaker for that. I want my groups to be engaged, but during the creative intervention it is normal for it to be more on the quiet side. I try to keep it comfortable with light background music as to avoid discomfort that isn’t helpful for the group.
Now on to the actual instructions for this intervention!
Given I was doing this intervention with parents and their 2-3 year olds, I knew that I wanted to prep as much of the material I could to ensure the parents could enjoy the process without feeling too stressed with also having to watch/engage their children. Knowing this, I decided that I wanted to map out the spots for the materials, and I also wanted to cut up the materials to size.
To do this, I measured out where I wanted the squares and what size I wanted them to be. For this board, the squares I used were 2”x2”. To make my life easier, as I was prepping 15 of these, I drew out the squares and size of the board on cardstock. I then used an exacto blade to cut out the squares, making a template for myself. I then just laid this template over each board and just had to trace the square cutouts I made with my paint marker and it was perfectly placed every time! This is my own preference, and does not need to be as structured. Use your own judgement and discretion of what works best for you and the population/individual you are doing this with.
Decide what materials you want to use! I looked around my house and office for materials I have either collected or old things I could cut up. I also took a trip to the dollar store where there is an ENDLESS supply of things to choose from. Be creative with this! I used items that could be found/used in the kitchen, bathroom, garage, the donate bin, and more. You can easily do this with a small, or even no, budget for the sensory materials. Because I was running this for a group, I decided to have 12 materials to choose from. You can of course do more or less, that is up to you!
As mentioned above, I also wanted my materials to already be in the 2”x2” squares to easily have the participants attach them to the board. If I had a smaller group/was doing this individually with a client, I might have skipped this step depending on factors. Use your own judgement of the client(s), time, and any other factors here to help you decide. Sometimes I find it absolutely worth my time to prep this to help it run smoothly and time efficiently. To do this, I measured out 2”x2” squares on the materials, traced the measurements in rows with a pencil and then cut it all out using scissors.
Decide if you want to adhere the adhesive to the board ahead of time or to have the clients do this. Since I was using the fabric tape and knowing we’d have littles participating, I chose to cut and adhere the tape to each square ahead of time. Because it had the paper backing, I was able to attach it while leaving the top covered so all they had to do was peel it off to stick on the materials.
Another factor to consider if you are doing this with a group is if you have enough scissors! If you don’t have tons of scissors, safety scissors, or if the groups cannot use sharps, I recommend precutting materials and adhesives. I just throw on a show or something and quickly get it done!
The fabric tape is rather sticky and takes a bit of maneuvering to cut, so I do suggest you doing this ahead of time if you’re able to and if you are using this adhesive
With whatever adhesive you decide on, please test it out to make sure that your materials will stick to it and the board! Especially if you are doing this with children, you do not want the small squares to be able to easily rip off. I ensured to try to rip everything off as much as I could.
I also made sure to inform the parents that while I did test this all out there was the chance that the magic of a two year old could indeed remove the materials, and to make sure the parents always supervised their children when using this at home.
After all of this advanced thinking and planning, next is having your client(s) pick and adhere their sensory materials to the board. I did provide more materials than there were spaces so they could choose what textures they enjoyed
I did have the options for clients to add a few drops of an essential oil to the fabric squares to use as a grounding strategy as well as the textures of the board
After we assembled the board, we talked about grounding and how to introduce and incorporate grounding techniques for themselves and their children. I did share this handout with them, which you are welcome to use/share/adapt as well. I talked a lot about how to realistically incorporate small strategies as to not over complicate things or have it feel unrealistic. I do recommend that parents show their children these techniques a few times while they’re in a regulated and calm space so that if/when they use them when they are dysregulated, they are already familiar with it. I would have a similar discussion if I was doing this with an individual as well!
This activity can be as involved as you want it to be! I shared many ideas and steps so that you could see the process and then decide for yourself and your clients how to best utilize it. This can be done more informally, on a smaller scale, even using strips of the sensory items over measured squares, be creative with it!
