Altar-Making with Latino Families

Summary

This paper explores the uses of making altars in family therapy. Offering artistic expression in the form of altar-making can serve as a creative resource for clients, especially for many Latinos/Hispanics familiar with Catholicism, altars, and/or folk healing beliefs. Altar- making can have many uses. Specifically, altar-making can help people explore spiritual themes in their lives, cope with bereavement and grief, help clients remember their loved ones (White, 1997), memorialize the living, unify families, help families and couples learn to work collaboratively, and strengthen blended families. Suggestions for creating an altar are discussed from a narrative therapy perspective. A case illustration and an artist's perspective are also provided.

Key Words:

• Narrative family therapy
• altar-making
• Hispanics/Lati-nos
• spirituality
• art in family therapy