69ý

Opinion
Student Well-Being Opinion

How Art Can Help Children Overcome Trauma

Creative expression helps students heal from trauma
By Heidi Durham — December 13, 2016 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Imagine reliving the most painful moments of your life again and again. When a landslide took the lives of 43 people in Oso, Wash., in 2014, children at nearby Darrington Elementary School were left struggling, arguing and misbehaving, unable to focus, and sometimes missing school entirely. One 11-year-old girl, who had already tragically lost two family members, was so aggressive on the football field that she was nearly benched as a result.

After the landslide, Darrington Elementary School reached out to Art with Heart, a nonprofit of which I am the CEO. Our mission is to help children overcome trauma through creative expression. Through therapeutic books and programs, we help reshape emotions and behavior with chunks of clay, buckets of paint, and the incredible power of children’s own deep wells of creativity. By calling on principles of trauma-informed care, we train adults and work with children to root through the deep pain they’ve experienced and draw it out, one page, one piece of art, one sculpture at a time.

How Art Can Help Children Overcome Trauma: Creative expression in schools gives students an opportunity to work through deep emotional wounds, writes Heidi Durham.

Megan Lucas, a counselor who began working with the school after the landslide, used our resources weekly in every classroom, helping children work through their emotions in order to be more present and focused in their academic lives.

By combining art therapy with narrative and cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as concepts of social-emotional learning, Art with Heart has created opportunities for children to gain self-awareness and empathy while learning to behave more cooperatively with their peers and teachers. Art therapy allows children and teens to create a record of healing in their workbooks, charting where they’ve come from and where they want to go.

And the evidence bears out what we’ve seen: Psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry found that areas of the brain can be reshaped and reorganized through activities that include touch and movement—the foundation of creative expression. Just as trauma is experienced—through nonverbal sensation—it can be released.

Because trauma can be shadowy and hard to pin down, creative expression is a way to access what children can’t see or say. It’s like a back door to healing. In a safe environment, students can learn that taking risks in art might elicit emotions they can share with pride. Having a piece of art to symbolize their emotional process is also a motivator. More art can translate into hope for the future and healing that lasts a lifetime.

Further, a recent study from Drexel University suggests that the simple act of art-making, regardless of skill level, reduces cortisol (or stress levels) in the brain. By making art, children learn about themselves and widen their perspective, creating empathy and deeper engagement. For a child who has lost a parent or survived a mass shooting, using expressive arts in school might be the connection they need. It’s hard to imagine the future when you’re busy reliving the past, so helping children find those connections and build support is critical to developing their belief in what’s possible for their lives.

But they can’t do that work alone, and they often can’t do it with words. Rebuilding their home using popsicle sticks or choosing colors that best represent how they feel lets children safely interact with emotions they might otherwise find overwhelming.

Creative expression is, of course, one of many ways that school counselors and others can help children overcome trauma. Some children need more intervention than a school group can provide, and having a clear path of referral is an important aspect to serving children in any capacity. However, creative-expression programs can set children on the path toward a safe, healthy, and deeply successful adulthood. And, as Darrington Elementary Principal Tracy Franke has said, “I don’t believe that it takes a tragedy to provide opportunities for students to express themselves.”

Related Tags:

Coverage of leadership, expanded learning time, and arts learning is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
A version of this article appeared in the December 14, 2016 edition of Education Week as School Leadership in the Wake of a Natural Disaster: Healing Through Creative Expression

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69ý
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Student Well-Being School Leaders Confront Racist Texts, Harmful Rhetoric After Divisive Election
Educators say inflammatory rhetoric from the campaign trail has made its way into schools.
7 min read
A woman looks at a hand held device on a train in New Jersey.
Black students—as young as middle schoolers—have received racists texts invoking slavery in the wake of the presidential election. Educators say they're starting to see inflammatory campaign rhetoric make its way into classrooms.
Jenny Kane/AP
Student Well-Being Download Traumatic Brain Injuries Are More Common Than You Think. Here's What to Know
Here's how educators can make sure injured students don't fall behind as they recover.
1 min read
Illustration of a female student sitting at her desk and holding hands against her temples while swirls of pencils, papers, question marks, stars, and exclamation marks swirl around her head.
iStock/Getty
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Well-Being Whitepaper
Addressing Chronic Absenteeism Nationwide
Together the Escondido Union School District and the National Inventors Hall of Fame® have successfully engaged students and decreased ab...
Content provided by 
Student Well-Being How Teachers Can Help LGBTQ+ 69ý With Post-Election Anxiety
LGBTQ+ crisis prevention hotlines have seen a spike in calls from youth and their families.
6 min read
Photo of distraught teen girl.
Preeti M / Getty