Existential Art Therapy - Case Study Example

Word Count excluding Verbatim Placement Introduction My place is based in some College for Adult Continuing Education at North London. The College offers free one-on-one Counselling and Psychotherapy session for all their students. At the moment, we are several trainee therapists working at the College. The clients are usually referred to us by our Placement Manager who also is part of carrying out the assessment. I have my supervision done every fortnight and this means that I have to keep all the records required by my supervisor concerning all the counselling work that I have completed. The counselling room is located on the ground floor next to the reception and behind security gates. In order to enter the college area, each and everyone needs to have a security badge that indicates whether they are staff, student or even visitors. The clients always come directly and are allowed into the counselling room by the guards. They are neither unaccompanied during entrance nor exit. After the meet and greet session, the clients have to fill out an attendance form which helps to collect all the data for use by the college. Before handling the clients, I have to always look for the clients’ record which are well preserved in a secure and lockable cupboard. Personal Introduction Currently, I am a trainee therapist serving in the second term of my second year of a MA course in Psychotherapy and Counselling. I began my Foundation Course in Psychotherapy and Counselling the moment I joined this institution. I have since been carrying out the personal therapy assignments once every week, as required by the University My Approach Throughout the 7 month that I have working with my placement provider, my approach has grown to reflect the orientation that I have come to feel most contented with and wish to concentrate on in the future. I tend to use a more integrative theoretical orientation, although I also incorporate my strong interest in existential and humanistic approach to my work. Through my work with my client, I have been drawn to the experiential art therapy or alternatively the Gestalt therapy. I have found these two therapies quite essential especially in handling various aspects of my work as is with the current client Client Introduction The client that I am currently handling is just starting out her therapy and sees herself working out through this process in a long-term therapy period. She has since been assessed by the Placement’s Manager and was transferred to me in December 2014. In the assessment notes I read that she has a lot of anxiety and fear. As a brief description, my client is a single white British woman aged 37 years. Her parents are divorced. She lets me know that she regularly contacts her mother but has absolute no contact with her father lately or for a long time (not discussed yet). The client has one younger brother who is terminally ill with cancer. He is currently living with her father who is taking care of him and his condition. My client has a 3-year old daughter who lives with her. She broke up with the daughter’s father and thus currently she is not in any form of relationship with him. She lets me know that even before they separated with the daughter’s father, her relationship with him was still an on and off relationship over several years. According to my client, this was an abusive relationship which included keeping up with a drug abuser and one who even raped her at one time. My client as gone ahead to press charges against her daughter’s father Thus, there is a custody court case on going at the moment and which is pending hearing come May this year. She still remains in constant fear since she opines that the daughter’s father is still using drugs and thus cannot trust him with their daughter’s safety. The child’s father is allowed to see their daughter but this only takes place under close supervision, who in this case is my client’s mother for the time being. My client’s ambition is to become a visual/sound effect artist. She is currently in her finishing stage of her Foundation Degree in visual arts at my placement. She has also recently sought interviews at both Westminster and Chelsea in order to enrol for a Bachelor’s degree in Arts. She has passed the interviews at the both institutions although she prefers to attend Chelsea. Apparently my client’s father was an artist As well as her uncle and thus she thinks this history was influential in choosing this field and developing an interest. After she had finished her A-levels, she embarked on travelling a lot and even became a dancer in London’s night clubs throughout her twenties and beginning thirties. Some of the key characteristics that I have learnt from my client with the little interactions we have had, she has various issues regarding trusting people. She is also not an easy to interact type of people as she fears forming bonds with people. In regard to her health, she is currently not under any medication or drugs and has a clean bill of health. From the general outlook, my client can be described as very resilient especially considering how much she has gone through The presenting issue A few weeks ago, a tragedy happened to my client- she lost her tutor who died in a sudden twist. She admits that this left her shell shocked as she did not see it coming. She has been deeply saddened by these incidence and has admitted that she had grown very fond of him. During one session, she cried about this loss and as she mourned the tutor so much. The loss of the tutor seems to have invoked a lot of feelings especially considering that she has other harrowing issues going through her life at the moment. She admits that her tutor had been very supportive of her situations and is probably the only one who really understood her best. He had been helping her with advices on how to move on after the break up with her daughter’s father as well as her ailing brother. She now seems resigned and seemingly hopeless in life and does not see any other breakthrough in regards to living without her tutor to support her. The case that she is pursuing in court also seems to be causing her a lot of discomfort since she sees herself as part of the failed relationship with the father of his daughter. She is afraid that her daughter may have to live without ever seeing her father figure especially if the father is given a long jail. However, the trauma she goes through at the memory of the rape case is fanning her to take the action which she say will bring “fairness”. She is very worried of her daughter especially concerning her safety as the rape case still lingers afresh on her mind. She has developed a psychological trauma regarding men and thus would be very worried to imagine how her daughter will grow up in such a chauvinistic society. My client is also concerned about the state of her nuclear family and has lately been “cursing herself” for having been brought up in a family that is “characterised by separations and divorces. She also blames her father who she says is the cause of most of what the family is going through. My client keeps referring to the younger brother who is under the custody of her “ruthless” father and who she doubts takes the necessary care of her. She even swears that she might not be talking to him any time soon. She is considerate of her mother who she says has been phenomenal in supporting her as well although she still has never been very open with her about every detail of her life. This she attributes to the difficult childhood where she thinks that she did not have the best of parent-child love and tender care after her father turned quite abusive and irresponsible. Early Observations/My interpretation of Ruth By the end of this session with my client, I sought to dig into what exactly she was going through at the present as well as identifying the areas she needed help. Perhaps the most obvious theme in my client’s life was the loss of hope for her future. During the session, she kept asserting how much she found herself worthless to live especially after someone who she had so much trusted “went around” to become her worst enemy. She also decried the state of her family which she described as “helpless” following what she saw as “crumbling”. She analysed the various occurrences taking place in the family, from the ailing brother, her rape case, the divorced parents and her insecure daughter as a summary of what she was going through. She also though that her worthiness had declined following the rape incident which she describes as “the worst moment of my life”. I thought she was getting very harsh in her self-judgement but I had to keep my cool so that I listened actively to allow her an uninterrupted "pouring out of her heart". This was only her inaugral session and I knew that she needed more listening than interrogations in order to allow as much therapeutic healing as well as get as much information as possible regarding her challenges. I also observed that she had grown overly defensive of her opinions as seen in her stiff opinions towards men. She opted to generalise in entirety that men were indeed “animals” who cared very little about women. She decries her strained childhood attributing it to the father who has spent most of his family life out of the picture. However, I noted that close to the end of the session, that she had cheered up and her hitherto tensed facial muscles now looked more relaxed. At this time I found a few opportunities to try and contribute in some of what she was supposed to hear. I had noted that wherever the topic of art and that of her career came about, she was very easy and contributed cheerfully. I attempted to go back to it by asking her about various details about her enrolment. She cheerfully let me understand how much she could not wait to join Chelsea and pursue her “dream course”. She thought it was only through art that the world could understand her. Indeed, I observed that gave her the necessary peace of mind amidst life challenges such as the disturbing court case that continually acted as an impediment towards achievement of life happiness. As we completed our interactions, I let her understand that there was more to life than counting her problems. I informed her that it was her choice to concentrate on what she wanted, whether on living on the blames sides and in her past or focussing on the education opportunity that had presented itself in her journey towards her dream life. As she departed, she looked more relaxed and even admitted that it felt better. She told me that she will be coming for the session once every week until she can “get back on her feet again”. Conclusion Reflecting on ways through which I can help my client to overcome her distresses, I considered looking at the tow therapeutic strategies that could be of help to her. I let her understand that she was the one who holds her decision to be happy. This refers to the Gestalt approach where the client/patient is made aware of what currently is taking place in their lives (Philipson 2009, p. 23). In this light, I let her understand that focussing on art, one of her most treasured activity, would greatly help her to heal from the respective distresses (Moon 2009). Bibliography Moon, B. L. (2009). Existential art therapy: the canvas mirror. Springfield, Ill, Charles C. Thomas. Philippson, P. (2009). The emergent self: an existential-gestalt approach. London, Karnac. Appendix Verbatim- Sixth session T- You look better today, how are you doing? C- I am fairing on better, do you remember I promised you last week that I would surprise you today? T- Yes… what have you got for me today? C- (Getting something from her pouch) here is a magic key ring (brief silence)…see what it tags along please. T- Wow…this is such a powerful artwork, how did you come up with all this? (Staring at the key ring that has numerous affirmations written along) C- (Lets out a laughter, sounding a little nervous though) I have been compiling them for the past one week, these are all the emotions that have been going through my mind this past week. T- So… how are you feeling right now? Are… (Client interrupts). C- (Smiles nervously) I will only say that it feels better now. Your guidelines last week seem to be working like charm. I have been living my daily life like there will not be tomorrow, ad every time the depressing thoughts come, I am trying to evade them by all means. T- (Brief silence) so you want to mean that you have been following up the guidelines I provided you last week? C- Yes…yes, I am especially impressed by the one that I should document all my emotional changes on a piece of paper. I have been doing that all along the week and honestly, today's meeting feels more relaxing than I have ever been before. T- (Smiling approvingly) I am glad to see you getting better with meeting we are having together. You are on a right course and certainly you will get back on to your feet as you described it (chuckles). C- (Chuckles as well) Yeah, I feel like I am getting some happiness back into my life. T- That is awesome to hear. How about your application to Chelsea Arts College? C- Good question, I was there on Wednesday this week and guess what? They offered me an opportunity to enrol for a Bachelor of Arts at the institution. T- I am really happy for you. I know it sounded like a dream come true, right? C- I need not add more. For the first time in a long time, I feel validated. T- That should be the spirit for you. The moment you realise that life still has a chance for you, then you need start living again. Challenges will always be part of our life, remember. You only need to focus on the good of today and for sure life becomes better. C- (Nodding as a sign of approval) Sure, I think I am slowly beginning to live again. I hope I can overcome the remaining challenges left in my life. T- You sure will, just like you have done in the other cases so far. (Noticing her face has become tense again). I just noted your face has become gloomy again, what is up? C- (Pointing on the key ring and tears in the eyes) I choose to be happy, I will be forgiving a few people in my life, including myself. I will henceforth accept myself for who I am. T- Who do you need to forgive first maybe? C- I think I will need my mother to help me with the care of my daughter…sadly (weeping)…I will have to go back and reconcile with her. T- Please make the point of making peace with her. It all starts with a word of sorry and it could mean more than that. All will be well including your brother who is ill at the moment. I think our time for today is over. We will have to stop there till next week. C- Alright, I will be joining you next week and probably a few more till I am better again. Read More