‘I like your new coat’: The emergence of secure base and sense of self and other through an art psychotherapy relationship

ABSTRACT

Art therapists working with learning disabled clients are used to adapting an art therapy model to work in a way meaningful to the individual. The attuned response to working with past trauma may often be a more interactive responsive style depending on the ability of the client to process cognitive material. This article illustrates in detail an example of an art therapy intervention which demonstrates a flexible, collaborative approach as well as presenting retrospectively gathered evidence of the outcomes of the work. It highlights the ability of an art therapy relationship to enable positive changes in a client whose distressed behaviour could not be managed by behavioural strategies or use of psycho-active medication alone.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning disabilities
• challenging behaviour
• abuse
• attunement
• attachment
• outcomes

Acknowledgements

With thanks to Dr Sarah Jones, Dr Simon Hackett and Debbie Michaels Art Psychotherapist for invaluable support, guidance and clinical supervision. We offer our immense gratitude to Jenny for allowing us to share her story.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Siobhan Burns gained a PG Diploma in Art Psychotherapy from the University of Sheffield in 2000. She has clinical experience with Looked After Children and in Adult Mental Health services and, for the last 12 years, has worked in the Rotherham Adult Learning Disability Service where she provides individual and group art therapy interventions. Siobhan is a member of the Art Therapy and Learning Disability Special Interest Group and is a guest lecturer on Art Therapy and Learning Disability at the Art Therapy Northern Programme.

Roseanne O’Shea has a BSc Psychology and MSc in Psychological Research (University of Sheffield). She has clinical experience in Mental Health Services and in a Community Learning Disability service. At the time of writing, Roseanne was employed as an Assistanrt Psychologist and is currently working towards a doctorate in Clinical Psychology.