Cross-cultural art therapy in the virtual realm: reimagining cultural proficiency in Kenya

ABSTRACT

Background

This article describes a remote psychosocial art therapy group for educators in Kenya, led by a Barbadian and an American art therapist, and explores cross-cultural considerations.

Context

Intervention took place in Kibera, Kenya, an economically disadvantaged urban area, in 2020–2021. Group participants explored experiences of trauma and loss, as illustrated in art therapy case examples, and psychoeducation was provided on arts-based, trauma-informed interventions for children.

Approach

Group goals were developed in conjunction with the hosting Kenyan NGOs.

Outcomes

Ongoing adaptations and flexibility were needed due to cross-cultural challenges and the group’s remote status. The art therapists strove to ground themselves in a reflexive, self-aware stance.

Conclusions

Despite the group’s remote status and varied cultural dilemmas, flexibility and the centring of participant voices promoted group cohesion. Art-making and the group container enabled the expression of shared trauma, loss, faith, and resilience. Group members introduced their own arts traditions into the group, building resilience and taking leadership.

Implications for research

Cross-cultural art therapy interventions hold promise if group participants are given the space to lead and set their own goals. Future studies should continue to identify challenges that arise in cross-cultural art therapy settings while also examining the long-term effects and efficacy of these interventions.

Plain-language summary

This article describes a remote art therapy project led in Kenya by a Barbadian and an American art therapist. It was hosted by two Kenyan NGOs, and was implemented by the Red Pencil, an international humanitarian organisation. Through the lens of this experience, the authors explore cross-cultural, remote art therapy practice, and its essential grounding in cultural competence, cultural humility, and the consideration of cross-cultural power dynamics. They share their experiences of implementing a remote art therapy group in Kibera, Kenya, a disadvantaged urban area, with Kenyan educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, and describe their aims to provide psychosocial support while maintaining an ethically informed, collaborative stance that centred participant voices. Flexibility and creativity were paramount to combat technical difficulties and limitations of the virtual space. Group cohesion and safety were fostered as participants adaptively initiated practices of healing and socialisation that were rooted in their own cultural traditions. Art therapy assisted in promoting expression and solidarity, as illustrated in case examples, for group members facing trauma, loss, and strains of the pandemic. Recommended future research includes the ongoing identification of challenges that arise in cross-cultural art therapy settings, and the examination of the long-term effects and efficacy of these interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-cultural art therapy
• cultural competence
• online art therapy
• psychosocial aid
• Kenya

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kim Valldejuli

Kim Valldejuli, MA, ATR is a Registered Art Therapist, award-winning artist, and writer. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Art Therapy from Derby University. She has worked in various settings with children, adolescents, and adults regionally and internationally. These settings include residential and educational placements for children with severe disabilities, emotional and behavioural disorders, youth offenders and acute mental health. Her projects include humanitarian support to refugees and vulnerable migrants, online art therapy initiatives and facilitating community resilience projects. She has designed and implemented psychosocial support programming for persons impacted by domestic violence and facilitated community-based art therapy interventions to support marginalised communities. Kim Valldejuli is a Director of the Art Therapy Association of Trinidad and Tobago. Her research interest focuses on the transmission of generational trauma in the diaspora and how art therapy can be used in community-based settings to support healing and change.

Sarah Vollmann

Sarah Vollmann, MPS, ATR-BC, LICSW is a Registered, Board Certified Art Therapist and a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker. She is a faculty member of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, the Lead Counsellor at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, and she maintains a private practice specialising in grief and traumatic loss. Her international art therapy projects include work in Kenya and Rwanda. As a member of the Artful Grief team of art therapists she works with military families facing suicide bereavement and traumatic loss. She presents nationally and internationally on art therapy, grief, and bereavement, and was awarded the Association for Death Education in Counseling's 2021 Ronald Keith Barrett, PhD. Scholarship in Diversity and Multicultural Presentations Award. She has published various articles and book chapters on grief and loss. Her research interests include grief and family systems, and cross-cultural perspectives on the transgenerational transmission of grief and trauma.