Painting together: how joint activity reinforces the therapeutic relationship with a young person with learning disabilities

ABSTRACT

By making art with clients, I have been able to understand how the joint activity is a fertile communication in which the countertransference is experienced and explored. In doing so, the joint activity mirrors the dyadic encounter between parent and child. In this paper, I discuss how working on a joint activity with a young person with learning disabilities enabled a robust relationship to form. The joint activity offered a shared experience on many levels; of being together, a non-verbal communication and felt experience within the here and now. Through this phenomenological approach I could meet the client on her terms at her level; in doing so, helping to address some of the power imbalance inherent when working with a young person with learning disabilities. Within learning disability services there is a need to protect and contain clients. Yet in doing so, we can start from a stance of limitations and infantilisation. The joint activity can offer this containing and protective space that is forged by and with the cooperation of the client.

Plain-language summary

This paper argues that making art with or alongside a client in art therapy is a form of non-verbal communication that depends on the therapist's understanding of the client's current situation. The back and forth process of working together on a joint activity is much like a conversation as one mark responds to another. By working together, past traumas and experiences can be worked through in a new and positive way that enables the client to have a better understanding of their own emotional well-being. This case study documents how a joint activity can enable a young person with learning disabilities, to develop more confidence and form a stronger sense of self. The art therapy work took place in a state secondary school for pupils with complex and interrelated special educational needs. The young person presented attended weekly one-to-one art therapy for one academic year.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning disabilities
• art therapy
• joint activity
• art-making
• attunement
• reflective artwork

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Sarah Furneaux-Blick is a designer and art psychotherapist, qualifying in 2017. Her creative practice is influenced by social activism and focuses on traditional craftsmanship of weaving as a means to document time, processes and ideas around ‘women's work’. As an art therapist Sarah works from an intersectional feminist perspective acknowledging the varied experiences of clients seeking support based on many intersecting identity markers.