Navigating Loss Through Creativity: Influences of Bereavement on Creativity and Professional Practice in Art Therapy

Abstract

This pilot study explored how creative engagement could serve as a way to navigate the personal loss experiences of professional art therapists. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 3 participants. The results identified 6 themes and 16 subthemes: balancing personal experiences and professional practice, awareness of time, the loss experience, art making as a way to stabilize relationships, art as an intuitive practice, and creative expression for symbolic memorial to the deceased. This study revealed that visual art making could help art therapists develop self-knowledge and personal understanding regarding their own grief experiences that can lead to improved competence in the therapeutic care of others.

Keywords: :

• Grief
• loss
• bereavement
• creativity
• art therapy

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Arnold

Rebecca Arnold, MA, ATR-BC, is Associate Professor and Clinical Coordinator in the Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling program at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT. She is also a doctoral candidate in the Expressive Therapies Division at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.