Creative Connections: More Than an Art Project

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

Gina H. Moore, Crosswalk Ministries USA, Inc.Follow

First Presenter's Institution

ARTreach 180 and Crosswalk USA

First Presenter’s Email Address

crosswalk03@bellsouth.net

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Gina Moore, LMSW: Having spent 24 years directing a successful high school theatre program, Gina Moore chose to leave the traditional classroom in 2007 to focus full-time on curriculum writing and program development for ARTreach 180, a therapeutic after-school visual and performing arts program primarily focused on youth at risk and juvenile offenders. Throughout her career in education, social work, and expressive therapy, Gina has seen firsthand the efficacy of using the arts to support adolescents as they navigate difficult emotions, process pain, and figure out their place in the world. As social-emotional learning is prioritized during the recovery phase of the pandemic, she remains committed to training other educators and youth development professionals how to implement creative strategies to assure that every student is heard and validated.

Location

Session Nine Breakouts

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Health: Mental & Physical Health

Relevance

This session proposes to explore creative activities that educators and youth development professionals can add to their SEL repertoire along with current research that endorses this approach. This informative and interactive workshop will highlight creative expression as a tool for building deeper self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills, three of CASEL’s core competencies. As MentalHealth.gov utilizes a broad definition of mental health that includes “our emotional, psychological, and social well-being,” there is unquestionably an overlap between SEL and mental health. As the world recovers from the pandemic’s toll on social, emotional, and mental health, our students are navigating anxiety, isolation, and other difficult emotions. Visual art gives them a tangible medium through which to express those intangible emotions.

Brief Program Description

Experience the power of the arts to promote youth resiliency and empowerment. This interactive session will equip you to give teens a voice using art projects, discussion circles, and team-building activities. We’ll explore practical steps to mitigate the emotional effects of the pandemic, and you’ll leave with your own special artwork and a written guide to facilitate all the activities yourself.

Summary

This workshop is directed toward participants with experience and/or interest in using creative exploration and therapeutic self-discovery with adolescents to strengthen social-emotional learning and facilitate resilience in the aftermath of the pandemic. The session will offer practical strategies for building authentic relationships that foster a sense of community and an atmosphere of trust within the group using art and other creative activities. The objectives of the session are as follows:

During this workshop participants will

• Assess art activities that empower youth to share their stories.
• Attain skills to promote community and trust through team-building activities.
• Apply therapeutic insights to the creation of artwork with disengaged students.
• Analyze the correlation between creating art and participating in group discussions.
• Acquire tools to adapt and implement all session activities in their own programs.

The central concepts to be covered in the session are a) the importance of community and strategies to strengthen social capital; b) how visual art can provide a non-threatening format for youth to find their voice and share their stories; c) team-building exercises to make connections and forge relationships with youth, and d) opportunities for reflection inherent in the creative process. The session will combine the presentation of current research with large and small group activities, a facilitated discussion circle, a guided art project, and a time for reflection and evaluation. The content of the workshop is applicable for all middle and high school programs and may also be adapted for older elementary students. Since participants will not only receive a written guide for each of the activities but also engage in the activities themselves throughout the session, they will leave fully equipped to implement the activities in their own programs should they choose to do so.

Evidence

Like almost every aspect of human development, social and emotional competency depends upon experiential opportunities. “The arts offer a particularly fertile context in which this type of learning may occur.”¹ More and more research in the field is confirming that creating art can strengthen a youth’s problem-solving skills, autonomy, self-esteem, engagement, mood, sense of purpose, and social competence.² This workshop proposal seeks to demonstrate the overall message from a two-year study by The Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development: Artistic endeavors — whether performing, creating or responding to others’ work — are likely to involve even more social-emotional skills and opportunities for students to practice them than do their academic endeavors.³

Not only can the arts increase positive characteristics, but they can also help to process negative feelings, insecurities, and vulnerabilities rather than acting out in destructive ways.⁴ Because many adolescents are not taught to talk about their feelings, they might not have the emotional vocabulary to express themselves accurately. Art with therapeutic implications can give young people the power to create metaphors for what they are feeling and express emotions that they are unable or unwilling to express verbally.⁵ In the wake of a long and grueling global pandemic, youth need an outlet for addressing difficult emotions in a safe space more than ever. The arts can help them cope with painful experiences by fostering resilience, allowing them to view themselves as survivors rather than victims.⁶

In our first year as National Youth Advocacy and Resilience, it is even more incumbent on us to consider how we can better advocate for the youth in our circles and how we can foster resilience in them, especially in light of the challenges and struggles caused by the pandemic. This session will help us all to focus on advocacy, resilience, SEL, and mental health from a creative perspective. The activities in the workshop are well-aligned with SEL theory and practice, may be widely implemented and adapted, using materials that are easily accessible.

SOURCES:

¹ Holochwost, S. J., Wolf, D. P., Fisher, K. R., & O’Grady, K. (2017). The socioemotional benefits of the arts: A new mandate for arts education. Philadelphia, PA: William Penn Foundation.

² Miner-Romanoff, K. 2016. Voices from inside: the power of art to transform and restore. Journal of Correctional Education 67(1): 58-74.

³ Linda Jacobson. Education Dive. 11 June, 2019.

⁴ Vice, C. 2012. Building Resiliency in At-Risk Youth Using Art Therapy. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin.

⁵ Jackson, K. 2015. Beyond talk—creative arts therapies in social work. Social Work Today 15(3): 22-25.

⁶ Heise, D. 2014. Steeling and resilience. Art Education 67(3): 26-30.

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to apply all activities from the session in their own programs.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to attain deeper relationships with students through therapeutic insights and creative methods gained in the session.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to assess a correlation between the group discussion topics and the art activities.

Keyword Descriptors

SEL, social-emotional learning, art therapy, team building, visual art, resiliency, creative expression, mental health, expressive therapy

Presentation Year

2022

Start Date

3-9-2022 11:15 AM

End Date

3-9-2022 12:30 PM

Recommended Citation

Moore, Gina H., "Creative Connections: More Than an Art Project" (2022). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 92.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2022/2022/92