“Art has always been my outlet, but I never felt truly free to express myself until I came to Covenant House Vancouver. Whether it was dancing, drawing, or creating, Covenant House gave me the space to heal through art. That freedom shaped who I am today.” Christine, former CHV youth
Researchers found an intersection between art and medicine that goes back to the cave dwelling days of 40,000 CE. After World War I, artist Adrian Hill opened art space in the hospital for veterans who suffered from what was then called shell shock (PTSD). Hill noticed that those veterans who participated in artistic expression suffered less, overall, than those who didn’t. Additional evidence appeared at that time, due to tuberculosis being rampant. Those affected by tuberculosis who participated in artistic expression recovered faster and seemed to suffer less than those who were quarantined without participating. After WWII, the psychological component came into play and art therapy was born.
Art therapy began at Covenant House Vancouver (CHV) in 2016. Art therapy is good for people who are anxious about therapy, because they can focus on creating art while communicating. This process helps youth relax, open up, and explore. It doesn’t matter about the final piece that the youth have created, the healing takes place in the process of creating.
Meet Christine
Christine identifies as a member of the 2SLGBTQAI+ community and was living in her home country of Uganda, where it was a crime to be queer. Worried for her safety, her mother brought Christine to Canada and essentially abandoned her here. You can read more about Christine’s story on our blog.
Traumatized and alone in a foreign country, Christine had no idea how to navigate this new landscape. Through an acquaintance that she had met at a community centre, Christine found CHV.
Trauma
Caitlin Hall, Registered Clinical Counsellor and Art Therapist at CHV, describes the impact that not being your authentic self can have on someone: “When we hide parts of ourselves like identity, feelings, and beliefs, it creates chronic stress. This can lead to emotional exhaustion, and a lot of confusion in the relationship that you have with yourself and others. Suppressing the self tends to be tied to things like anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, addictive behaviours, and sometimes suicidal behaviours. These feelings can show up as feeling isolated; feeling shame, guilt, and confusion; feeling lost; feeling angry; and feeling scared.”
When asked how abandonment can impact someone, Caitlin had this to say: “Abandonment has a profound impact on mental health. It tends to lead to deep feelings of worthlessness, rejection, and insecurity. When attachment is at risk of being lost our brains go into panic mode and that can lead to self-hatred and can have a huge impact on our relationship to ourselves and then our relationship to others.”
Art Therapy
Art is powerful. Beyond being a creative form of expression, it is a powerful and therapeutic outlet. At Covenant House Vancouver, art can be used to help youth work through, and overcome, their trauma.
Art therapy combines the creative process (through mediums like drawing, painting, collage, colouring, and sculpting) with psychotherapy. Art therapy helps facilitate self-exploration and understanding. It is a way to express thoughts and feelings that otherwise could be difficult for an individual to articulate.
Caitlin says, “Art therapy can be a bit of a sneaky way to give youth support. Some youth are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the idea or experience of people helping them. It is normal for youth with complex trauma to have complex relationships with people who express or show care for them. Art therapy positions the art as an extension of the self, so when we bring the focus to the art, it can take the direct (and sometimes uncomfortable) attention off the youth.”
Art therapy can be a way to express feelings without getting into specifics and can relieve the pressure of having to share verbally. It allows youth to develop a visual language to understand their thoughts, feelings, and experiences, which some youth have never shared out loud because it hasn’t been safe to do so. Art therapy offers an alternative to talk therapy, and offers a space to express and explore.
When asked how art therapy helps young people, Caitlin replied: “Art gives youth a way to express and explore their feelings by creating something physical that they can look at and talk about. We sometimes need to get outside of ourselves, and words are not always available to us. Most youth have experienced trauma, which can rob them of choice or agency. Making art can be a low-stakes way to explore agency, by offering a range of art materials and creative opportunities. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to create art, which can be liberating and encouraging.”
For her first two months at CHV, Christine was not ready to talk to a counsellor about her trauma. One day, she saw youth participating in an open art therapy session. Curious about this opportunity, Christine engaged. She said, “In art therapy, I could express myself without words. I could just use my body or use my hands and a bunch of props, paint, and colour, and I could express my emotions. And then, I got to learn about my emotions, but outside of my body.”
After that session, Christine’s interest was piqued. “My experience with that art session made me become curious about therapy.” She then agreed to meet with a counsellor.
Working with her counsellor, engaging in art therapy, and being able to live as her authentic self, helped Christine heal from her trauma and create healthy relationships.
Caitlin said, “Living authentically and not repressing who you are reduces psychological and physiological stress. Living authentically not only allows you to build a relationship with yourself, but enables you to build better relationships with other people.”
The support that Christine received from CHV empowered her to move to independence and go back to school. Christine is now a therapist who helps others, the way that CHV helped her.
Help Support Art Therapy and Good Mental Health
The transformative work that Christine did, while at Covenant House Vancouver, never would have happened without the amazing support of our community. Donors are the backbone of what we do.
Right now, when you support young people, like Christine, your gift will be doubled, thanks to the Wubs Family Foundation, who will match any gift, up to $100,000, but only until June 30th!