August 2023 - Emotional Overlap Therapeutic Art Making Intervention

This month’s intervention is a great way to help illustrate and talk about sitting with our emotions and how they can be complicated and overlapping! This can be used with all ages, and is a favorite of mine. There are so many ways to talk about our emotions using visuals, and while they are similar I find it very beneficial to have many ways to dillustrate this with clients!

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: 6+

Diagnosis: Any!

Supplies Needed:

• Paper

• Water

• Watercolor paint

• Acrylic paint

• Paintbrush

• Toilet paper roll or a plastic (bendable ideally) cup

• Optional: hair dryer

• If you are doing this digitally, Canva, MS Paint simulator, or any creation website or app

Uses: This month’s intervention is a great way to help illustrate and talk about sitting with our emotions and how they can be complicated and overlapping!

Artistic skills needed: None!

Instructions:

If you are doing this intervention physically:

1. I usually start with talking about how our emotions can often overlap and mix together, but that we might not always recognize it

2. After I start the conversation, I then have the client start the intervention while still allowing the conversation to continue

3. Before you have your client start creating, please note that this project will need time to dry, but if you have a hair dryer you can use it to speed up the process significantly and make it realistic to complete in one session

4. Have your client use either the toilet paper roll or a plastic cup to dip the edge in the acrylic paint (I used black but they can choose any color!) and mark the page

   • I encourage clients to think about the different emotions they have been feeling either in that moment or the week etc and to think about how they overlap and to represent that with their marks. I also encourage them to think about the shape of each mark and show them that they can bend the roll or cup to modify the circle shape

5. Once they have made as many marks as they would like, let this dry either overtime or with a hair dryer. Acrylic paint dries pretty quickly but ideally it would be fully dry before starting the next step

6. After the paint is dried, have them start to fill in each circle/shape they have made and I encourage them to be intentional with their color choices and how the color relates to the emotion they are representing

7. I make sure to let the client know to color each circle so that the colors overlap where the circles overlap

8. If your client does not want to use watercolors, they could also use colored pencils, oil pastels, chalk pastels, or any other material. Markers and other paint would technically work, but it is a great visual to see the colors blend and overlap and that might not be visible using markers or acrylic paint

9. You can ask them if the colors they are choosing relate to any specific emotions, or what the colors remind them of

10. Once they are all done, I like to talk about how they feel when looking at the image and what comes up for them. I like to reflect on if it visually feels like it represents what they were thinking of or not. I also like to enquire what emotions each color relates to and why they chose it

    • It is worth noting I always find it so important to ask before assuming about color choice (or any art in general) as your own perception of a color might vary drastically to what it represents for your client, i.e. red might make you think anger but to a client whose favorite color is red it might represent happiness or joy!

If you are doing this intervention digitally:

I will be writing these instructions as using Canva, and this intervention can be completed in the free version of Canva but can be done in a MS Paint simulator or any other creation website or app

1. I usually start with talking about how our emotions can often overlap and mix together, but that we might not always recognize it After I start the conversation, I then have the client start the intervention while still allowing the conversation to continue

2. Have your client select the shape they want and by clicking the three lines at the top, give it a border (I used black but they can choose any color!)

   • I encourage clients to think about the different emotions they have been feeling either in that moment or the week etc and to think about how they overlap and to represent that with their marks. I also encourage them to think about the shape of each mark and show them that they can change the shape of each shape

   • In Canva it would also be much easier for your client to choose any shape or shapes to represent their emotions

3. For ease, I recommend having them pick one color for the first circle and then use the duplicate button to repeat the circle with the border. They can then modify the shape and color from the duplicated shape

4. After they have made all the shapes they want, have them start to fill in (or change the color of) each circle/shape they have made and I encourage them to be intentional with their color choices and how the color relates to the emotion they are representing

5. I recommend having your client play with the transparency of the shapes so that the overlap and blending of colors is visible

   • I recently saw in Canva you can also have a shape be a gradient of colors and that might be interesting to point out to clients and see if they feel it is representative of the emotion

6. You can ask them if the colors they are choosing relate to any specific emotions, or what the colors remind them of

7. Once they are all done, I like to talk about how they feel when looking at the image and what comes up for them. I like to reflect on if it visually feels like it represents what they were thinking of or not. I also like to enquire what emotions each color relates to and why they chose it

   • It is worth noting I always find it so important to ask before assuming about color choice (or any art in general) as your own perception of a color might vary drastically to what it represents for your client, i.e. red might make you think anger but to a client whose favorite color is red it might represent happiness or joy!

This is an example of the physical version of this intervention

This is an example of the physical version of this intervention

Intervention Example

*A note about examples: Please be careful about sharing an example of the intervention with your client. When a client sees a full example, it can unintentionally influence what they are making and may skew what they are presenting in their art making.