Art therapy and poverty: examining practitioners’ experiences of working with children and young people in areas of multiple deprivation in West Central Scotland

ABSTRACT

Poverty can have a detrimental impact on the emotional well-being, educational attainment and future life chances of children and young people (CYP). It is known that poverty can also create several barriers to CYP and families accessing services. Furthermore, structural factors such as spending cuts on public services mean that professionals working with people affected by poverty have to ‘do more with less’. Practitioners could fail to acknowledge the impact of poverty if they have little cultural experience of poverty through their professional discourses and training. This could create a social distance between service-users and practitioners, as well as a misalignment of priorities, which could lead to inappropriate interventions being offered and opportunities missed to tackle the impact of poverty.

This study gathered the views of 10 Art Therapists working in areas of multiple deprivation as determined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) in West Central Scotland. The aim was to examine practitioner’s perspectives on poverty and what they notice about its exploration by CYP in art therapy sessions. The study also considered if art therapists working in areas of multiple deprivation adapted their practice to create a contextualised and flexible service that would address the practical as well as the emotional impact of poverty. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis.

Whilst most participants showed an awareness of the difficulties faced by CYP affected by poverty, there was evidence that there were numerous cultural barriers meaning the indicators of poverty could be missed by some practitioners. Despite this, participants were clear on the various ways poverty is explored in sessions by CYP. Some art therapists adapted their practice on occasions to address the practical impact of poverty. However, several art therapists faced structural barriers to being able to tackle poverty. Therefore, the data suggests that cultural and structural barriers made it difficult for practitioners working in areas of multiple deprivation to consistently adapt their practice to create a contextualised and flexible service that fully addresses the emotional and the practical impact of poverty.

KEYWORDS:

• Art therapy
• poverty
• children
• young people
• multiple deprivation

Acknowledgements

Thanks to is extended to the following people; Dr Val Huet CEO of BAAT for her ongoing support throughout the research project; Dr Eurig Scandrett of Queen Margaret University, Professor John McKendrick of Glasgow Caledonian University and Dr Chris Wood of the Art Therapy Northern Programme at Leeds Beckett University for the support and advice they offered at the viva. Unreserved thanks is extended to all of the art therapists for giving their time and sharing their experiences and without whose support, this research would not have been possible.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Patricia Watts qualified as an art therapist in 2007 and has a background in working with children, young people and families affected by homelessness, domestic abuse and trauma. Patricia gained a Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Science from Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh) in 2016. Currently Patricia is the Professional Officer for Scotland for the British Association of Art Therapists. Patricia also works in the voluntary sector both clinically with children and young people with chronic health conditions and as a Team Leader in an organisation that supports children and young people to recover from trauma.

Dr Paul Gilfillan is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh) and co-convenor of the BSA Scottish Sociology Study Group. Paul completed a Doctorate in Social Anthropology at Edinburgh University (1997–2002) on the topic of Scottish Nationalism. Paul was Programme Leader for the Psychology & Sociology programme at Queen Margaret University (2010–2014) and is an active researcher in the areas of Ethnography, Social Class, Nationalism. Paul was nominated for the 2014 BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for best first sole-authored monograph in sociology.

Dr Margaret Hills de Zárate graduated in Fine Art and studied Clinical Art Therapy at the Goldsmith's, University of London. She trained in Human Relations and Counselling and Analytic Group Work at The Scottish Institute of Human Relations. Margaret held the role of Programme Leader of the MSc in Art Psychotherapy at Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh)from 2006–2016. She is currently engaged in research into Italian transgenerational migration and identity in South America.