ONEBird: Integrating Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Art Therapy (ONEBird : intégration de la pleine conscience, de l'autocompassion et de l'art-thérapie)

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Table 1. Elements of ONEBird.

Psycho-education	Mindfulness	Self-compassion	Nature of the mind
While the focus is on mindfulness, self-compassion, and the nature of the mind, clients also benefit from learning ways to integrate creative expression as a home practice.	Discuss the nature of mindfulness and potential benefits of practice in relation to the client's presenting issues. Describe the creation of mindfulness cards to support home practice that include an inspirational quotation on one side of the card and a client's artwork on the other.	Describe self-compassion and the benefits of practice. Offer support for formal (loving-kindness meditation) and informal (Self-Compassion Break) home-based practices to evoke mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness. Explore the value of a home altar dedicated to symbols, images, objects, and client artworks that serve as reminders to be self-compassionate during times of personal suffering.	Discuss the three circles model of emotion—the threat, drive and safeness emotion-regulation systems in the brain (Gilbert & Choden, 2014). Help client understand their attachment history in light of the three circles model. Encourage self-soothing touch when the threat system is activated (hand over heart, hand on cheek, self-hug, etc.).
Experiential aspect	Lead client in basic mindfulness practices in the session.	Lead client through a Self-Compassion Break.	Lead client to visualize and feel into situations where each of the emotional systems is predominating.
Creative expression
May be directed or spontaneous, incorporating either a single art material or combination of available media. For example, creating a simple wrapped doll with a variety of textiles and embellishments can become a powerful symbol of the self. Reminiscent of bandaging, wrapping is a mindful act that often suggests self-care and healing. The imperfect nature of the doll is a reminder to be compassionate and self-accepting.	1. Contemplative string art involves dipping cord in ink and very slowly and mindfully lowering and spreading it across paper.2. Clay manipulation (with eyes closed or soft-focused) facilitates tactile awareness.3. Watercolor mandalas to aid moment-by-moment, non-judgmental attention. The mandalas are soothing to create and a reminder to pursue mindful interludes.4. A home-based visual journal provides an opportunity for written and creative art expressions.	1. Invite art making based on the contrasting experiences of self-criticism and self-kindness. It is often beneficial to explore the somatic aspect of each experience and invite the client to translate each into an image using their preferred media (refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2).2. Decorate a small stone with words/images as a reminder to treat the self like a good friend who is suffering. Place the stone in the home as a visible cue for self-kindness.3. Clients may photograph their artworks for use on their phone screens, as an on-the-go reminder of self-acceptance.	1. Invite client to draw the three circles model, where the size of the circle represents how dominant each emotional system is for them. Clients are often surprised at how big they depict their threat circle and how underdeveloped their safeness circle is.2. Clients can be invited to draw the relative size of their circles as a check-in at the beginning of each session. It can be a working diagram, with therapist and client altering it, adding notes, etc. Reinforce ways clients can activate their soothing system to regulate emotional threat system.
Verbal integration	The way in which the mindful art process and product are discussed is very dependent on the needs of the client and the personal style of the art therapist.	Clients are often moved by the stark contrast between their self-critical and self-compassionate images, which may spontaneously lead to further discussion regarding how they can integrate self-kindness into their daily life.	The image naturally leads to a discussion about how compassion is a way to work with suffering—the client understands how self-criticism activates the threat system and how important the safeness circle is in soothing emotional distress.

Figure 1. Self-Criticism.

Figure 2. Self-Compassion.

Gilbert, P., & Choden. (2014). Mindful compassion: How the science of compassion can help you understand emotions, live in the present, and connect deeply with others. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

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