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 Begun in 2002, The Art Room program is aimed at children between the
ages of 5 and 16 who have been identified by their teachers as
needing emotional and behavioral support.
Currently there are nine Art Room programs in UK schools. More than
10,000 children have been through the Art Room program since it
started.
In a study published in the journal The Arts in Psychotherapy,
researchers found that children emerged from the 10-week Art Room
program with less depression, fewer behavioral problems and improved
self esteem.
The Art Room provides a caring and creative environment through
which children can “learn and achieve through art,” said Melissa
Cortina, a consultant research psychologist with The Art Room, which
is based in Oxford, England.
“It works closely with schools to support children within the school
environment and help them find creative ways to bolster their
self-esteem,” Cortina told Reuters Health. “It works with children
and young people who are having serious difficulties and may be at
risk of exclusion from mainstream school.”
The Art Room works with the children on social skills, education as
well as therapy, and practitioners are trained with a unique
methodology, Cortina told Reuters Health. The goal of the program is
ultimately to help children and young people re-engage with
education.
“Once they realize they can achieve success in The Art Room, they
can take this new-found confidence back into their schools and daily
lives,” she said in an email.
For the new study, Cortina and colleague Mina Fazel of Oxford
University analyzed questionnaires filled out by 169 students in the
program and their teachers before and after the 2012-2013 school
year. Overall that year, more than 1,000 kids from 13 feeder schools
attended The Art Room.
Based on teacher responses, students improved in all areas. There
was a 37 percent reduction in a topic called Total Difficulties, a
41 percent reduction in emotional problems, a 15 percent reduction
in conduct problems, a 33 percent reduction in hyperactivity, a 41
percent reduction in problems with classmates and a 24 percent
improvement in social behavior.
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On the children’s part, there was a notable drop in depression
symptoms. Before the program, 16 students (22 percent) had been
classified as depressed. After the program, less than 4 percent
qualified as depressed.
Debra Linesch, a professor of Marital and Family Therapy at Loyola
Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, said that while
this particular program is not available in the U.S., there are
others that use art therapy in schools.
“There are many places where art therapists work in schools and
engage children in emotionally and academically enhancing ways that
look more like the model discussed in this study than traditional
psychotherapy groups,” Linesch said.
The Art Room intervention is not something that parents can easily
duplicate at home, Cortina said, because it needs to be done in a
more structured environment with a trained instructor. It also can
provide a sense of belonging at school that is different from what
can be provided in the home environment.
However, “it is certainly possible for parents to adopt some of the
techniques used in The Art Room for home, such as creating a
positive, support environment that promotes creativity,” Cortina
said.
While the focus now is in schools, Cortina notes that The Art Room
(http://www.theartroom.org.uk) has a long-term vision of
incorporating families and communities to extend "the positive
effects of the program.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1u7o9ap The Arts in Psychotherapy, online
December 22, 2014.
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