February 2024 - Working with Shame Therapeutic Art Making Intervention
This intervention was inspired by a consultation on the Therapist Network that came up last week around the topic of shame. We were talking about how it comes up in sessions and how to work through it with clients, and I realized that I surprisingly didn’t have a go-to metaphor or visual that I use and thus this one was created! Also a special thank you to Jodi who hosts the Friday Coffee & Consultation group that this came up in! I had this idea half formed in my brain and she helped bring the intervention together as you will see it here. I say it all the time, but I am truly thankful for the friends I have found on the Network. If you’re looking to find your people, I highly recommend you check out the Therapist Network!
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:
I have been making an effort to not always record the creative things that I have been doing. It feels like a difficult balance, but I have noticed that filming it takes me out of the creative process and can be distracting for me. Given that this intervention was just me drawing in the hourglass outline and felt pretty self explanatory, I decided to let myself experience it and intentionally not film it. Thank you in advance for your understanding!
Age range: 13+
Diagnosis: Any
Supplies Needed:
Hourglass outline (I just used an element in Canva, but if you don’t feel like searching for it you can download the blank outline here)
Pencil, marker, colored pencils, etc
Canva if doing this digitally (free or paid versions!)
Uses: This is a great way for clients to further explore and visualize feelings of shame
Artistic skills needed: None!
Instructions:
Start with giving the client the blank hourglass outline
I mentioned this in my consultation group this month and it felt like it was worth mentioning here, too! I recommend that you make sure to give clients the option to orient the paper however they want to for any intervention or activity. If you put it down, putting it down on an angle can encourage them to put it however they want or just telling them that they are welcome to turn it however they see if best!
I would start the conversation with the client about how shame shows up for them and for them to visualize what it looks like for them right now. Once they have an idea you can encourage them to represent that in the hourglass
I definitely would encourage them to represent it in any way they see fit. This can be using words, colors, abstract representations of ideas, shapes, etc and it does not have to be representative if they don’t want it to be. For my example it felt fitting to keep it without color, so make sure to let them know they can add color if they want to but that they don’t have to include it if they don’t want to
Another piece that can be brought into this intervention would be to talk about how we can use our shame or let it exist within us. This can be represented by asking clients what can they leave in the top of the hourglass that is too big to pass through the middle part. It can then be a conversation about how what we let trickle through to the bottom can settle. We can also talk about how what trickles through can help us learn and grow from the shame, but leave behind the pieces that we don’t need in the top.
In the example shown, I was thinking about what could be left behind in the top of the hourglass in addition to what shame looked like for me. The client can interpret the discussion and ideas however they want to, they can combine both ideas, or just be pulled to one or the other. I would let them take the lead on this to see what comes up!
I would also let clients know that they are welcome to add anything to the hourglass that they want as well, it doesn’t have to be just inside. For my example I added text and a lock that says “we aren’t adding shame” because it felt fitting to me to have these additions. The only caution I would give is to be vague in your suggestions so that you don’t unintentionally influence anything your client might create or add.
Once your client has finished adding to their hourglass, some reflective questions to consider would be:
What can be left behind in the top?
Are there times where it feels like your hourglass is flipped over and the settled shame is now trickling through the top again?
What might cause your hourglass to flip over?
What helps keep your shame settled in the bottom?
If there is nothing on the bottom settled, what might help us let it settle?
Are some things so big at the top that they are blocking anything from trickling through to settle at the bottom?
What might add in to our hourglass?
When was the last time something was added to the hourglass?
What things have added to the hourglass? Is it one thing or many?
There are so many great questions and conversations that can come from this intervention! It can also be a great check in to do again after you have been working with a client for a while and to see how it might change. It can be so powerful to redo the same activity and then compare it to the one that was done before. I recommend either taking photos of what the client created to reference later (please always make sure you have the appropriate consent for this!), or having them take a photo or save the piece itself so that you can look back on it if needed.
If you want to do this digitally, you can click on the template of the hourglass outline above and have the client use elements, the draw feature, text, etc to do this right in Canva. This could also be a guided visual where the client describes what they see their hourglass looking like and is talked about in that way.
