This document provides an overview of how visual arts are used in counseling. It discusses the pioneers of this approach and some key benefits, such as helping clients express unconscious conflicts symbolically. Various techniques are described for different populations across the lifespan, from drawing tests with children to using photography with adults. Examples of activities include body outlines, serial drawings, clay work, and using published pictures. The document emphasizes that the creative process is more important than the artwork itself. Visual arts can be combined with other modalities like writing, music, and psychodrama. Overall, it positions visual arts therapy as a helpful approach for many clients and populations.

1. Visual Arts & Counseling
Jera Dykes

3. Introduction
Art can be defined “as an
arrangement or pattern of
shapes and ideas which give
form to the images that
reside in the cosmos of
objects.”
Visual arts are defined as
the processes within the
realm of art that focus on
visually representing reality
symbolically or otherwise.

4. Why visual arts are used in
counseling…
Margaret Naumberg, Edith Kramer, Judith Rubin, Hanna Kwiatkowska, and Elinor
Ullman were the five professionals that are recognized as pioneering this movement.
Various viewpoints but all agreed on these benefits of visual arts in counseling:
1. Visual arts tap the unconscious and help individuals express their covert
conflicts.
2. Visual arts symbolize feelings in a unique, tangible, and powerful way.
3. Visual arts inspire and help people become more connected with the
transcendent and growth sides of their personalities.
4. Many art tasks, especially those with children, are usually perceived as
nonthreatening and engage clients from the very first session to help identify
goals.
5. Visual arts can easily be combined with other creative arts such as movement,
creative writing, and imagery.

5. Practice of the Use of Visual
Arts in Counseling
The practice of using visual arts in counseling is used
throughout the lifespan, with special populations, and also
individuals with PTSD.
Even if a client claims that they cannot draw, this therapy can be
appealing to a variety of clients.
Examples of visual arts tests in counseling:
Draw-A-Person test
House-Tree-Person test
Rorschach and Holtzman ink blots

6. In-Class Activity: Draw a Person Test

7. Factors to Consider
Have quality materials available to help clients feel relaxed
and/or creative.
Environment should have adequate space and should be
quiet.
Clients should have freedom of movement, encouragement,
and plenty of time.
Counselors should be patient during this process.
It may take several sessions before clients actually enjoy
the process or find it beneficial.

8. Art Therapy
Most who use visual arts in counseling have received special training.
To become an art therapist: hold a master’s degree with concentration in
art therapy program approved by the American Art Therapy Association
and apply through the Art Therapy Credentials Board, Inc.
Art therapists work to set up conditions to help clients explore
underlying emotional issues by using a rich source of artistic materials
and methods.
Those who do not hold the credentials compensate lack of training with
areas of strength.
Art therapy focuses on use of perceptual strategies employed by the
client/artist including: negative spaces, relationships and proportions,
lights and shadows, edges, and total product (gestalt)

9. Examples of Activities
Published Pictures
making the most of already existing
artwork
arouses minimal anxiety
encompasses a variety of artwork
that looks the way the clients expect
art to look
vast variety available for use
provides excellent basis for
familiarizing clients with ways of
understanding and communicating
how we are all unique
Can be used for all ages

10. Body Outline
Drawings
!
Made when a person lies
spread out on a floor (aka
spread eagle)
After the drawings are
completed, individuals
decorate however they wish
Sometimes this reveals
aspects of their lives that are
troublesome
Usually best with children

11. Serial Drawings
Portrayals or sketches of any object that is drawn by a
client multiple times over multiple sessions after the
counselor initially requests the client to draw a picture
(for example: tree, animal or scene)
Idea behind this is that through these drawings, clients
will represent themselves and their problems symbolically
A positive self-concept can emerge when the session
involves positive talk to complement the visual element.
This requires patience and intuitive timing as to what or
when to say or do.

12. Visual Journaling
art diaries that often contain both images and words
The contents may be a rough draft that will later be a finalized artwork.
Meant to document day-to-day experiences and emotions
Instructive and therapeutic
Found to decrease anxiety and general negative affect level in medical students
Indications that visual journaling can reduce heart rate and increase serotonin flow and
immune cells (similar to just journaling)
“Altered books” are visual journals that involve taking actual books and changing them
in a variety of ways by drawing, painting, overwriting, or even destroying pages as a
form of artistic self-expression.

13. Clay
seldom used because of its weight and messiness, but has several advantages
Can help clients express themselves in a concrete, focused way.
Can also promote cooperation between clients and counselors
Safe medium for may clients because they do not have to look at the counselor while
working with clay
Clay can be used to regress or gain insight by manipulating, squeezing, and pounding
it because it is so malleable.
Clay may reduce anxiety, lower defense mechanisms, and serve as an object onto
which feelings can be projected.
Under client’s control and can make clients feel empowered

14. Photography
According to our text, photographs are
“footprints of our minds, mirrors of our
lives, reflections from our hearts, frozen
memories we can hold in silent stillness
in our hands—forever, if we wish.”
“Phototherapy” is a way to capture and
express feelings and ideas in a visual-
symbolic form across the life span.
Similar to art therapy and is better for
individuals who find other visual arts
too demanding
Phototherapy can be incorporated by
most counselors and can be adapted to
most theoretical frameworks.
Helps improve understanding, as well as,
perception of clients

15. The basic techniques of using photography:
Photos taken of the client
Photos taken by the client
Photos of the client by the client (self-portraits)
biographical pictures, which may or may not include the client, of
groups of friends and family
This can be as simple as asking your client to take photos of something/
someone/some place that holds meaning to them or even using family
photos to open up discussions of memories.
Active phototherapy: involves photos taken by a client that represent a
feeling the client has or photos that the client thinks represent him/her
Passive phototherapy: involves a client either making a scrapbook or
mounting on a poster board pictures that have already been taken; this
can be from a photo album, magazine, or the internet

16. Visual Arts in Counseling with
Children
Drawing is one way that children exert control
over their lives, and this can help them cope with
any challenges.
The impact of the process of drawing is more
important than the artwork itself.
Sometimes these drawings can reflect pain that
the child has felt. This medium is a safer way to
open communication starting by reflecting on the
drawing.

17. Examples of activities used:
House-Person-Tree Test
Draw-a-Person Test
Draw a circle and color different areas to represent feelings
Display feelings through sculpting clay
Make something from various art supplies and describe the
feeling it represents
Serial drawing (ex: rosebush)
Family drawing and storytelling
Working with props as metaphors to help the child gain
understanding

18. Visual Arts in Counseling with
Adolescents
Young adolescents
Structured art
experiences may be
most appropriate
Example: National
Career Development
Association sponsors
poster contest that has
children think about
their future career and
illustrate it
Older adolescents
Developmental approach may be
more useful
Ex: Appleton’s model of four
trauma stages (impact, retreat,
acknowledgement, and
reconstruction) and how the four
associated art therapy goals can
aid movement from stages
(creating continuity, building
therapeutic alliances,
overcoming social stigma/
isolation, and fostering meaning)

19. Also, Kahn’s stage-by-stage model:
Entry, Exploration, and Action-Taking
Entry: art directives need to be open-ended and
encourage teenagers to introduce themselves through art
Exploration: self-expression is increased with an
attempt to explore feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that
might be problematic
Action-Taking: art directives help adolescents set
goals for change and elaborate on the behaviors they
need to reach milestones
Photography and dream painting are also encouraged
for use with this age group.

20. Visual Arts in Counseling with
College Students
Example: Artbreak program at George Washington
University
Designed to help students relax and release stress;
develop a sense of community through shared
group experience; air concerns about issues such as
adjustment to college, roommates, etc; gain self-
awareness; and awaken creative energies.
Activities include: group murals, clay group, and
individual drawings of situations to therapeutically
release tension and pressures

21. Visual Arts in Counseling with
Adults
Drawings of adults can reveal a great deal of information.
Drawings with more empty space, less color, less effort,
and more depressive affect represent depressed adults.
Adults seem to be more hesitant and critical.
Introducing classic paintings can arouse feelings/
responses that may lead to reflections on deep issues.
Art therapy may address the emotional state of adults
with life-threatening illnesses and unresolved feelings
while also giving them coping skills and empowerment.

22. Using arts in counseling adults can be positive to
help reduce maladaptive behaviors especially in
patients who may be mildly mentally
handicapped.
Also, visual arts may help adults plan lives
better. Ex: use of picture of road map in career
counseling & drawing windows to show whether
the client is outside looking in, or vice versa

23. Visual Arts in Counseling with
Older Clients
Excellent therapeutic approach to use with many older patients
because this period of life has just as many changes as
adolescence
As a preventative/remedial force, visual arts can take many
forms, such as pictures/models of remembered events from
childhood, school, work, holidays, etc.
Photographs are an excellent way to help older adults review and
reflect their lives.
Art on occasions includes patients (for example those in a group
living setting) drawing pictures or making cards for sick friends.
The clients are to draw the saddest thing they can think of, but
add something hopeful to the drawing.

24. Visual Arts in Counseling with
Other Groups
Hospitalized Clients: Only about 2% of hospitalized
clients spontaneously participate in artistic activities.
Those who do participate (voluntarily or otherwise)
gain control and are able to express their feelings and
fears. This can also cause clients to think of ways to
become healthier.
Art therapy has been found beneficial to patients with
severe burns and physical trauma. This program can
help assist them through each stage of the recovery
process.

25. Groups:
assists in group cohesion, formation, and identity by helping
group members learn more about each other in a concrete way
helps identify goals for group participation both before and
during the group session
provides additional way of communicating thoughts and
feelings through drawings and photos
gives a means of viewing problems and issues from various
perspectives
stimulates creative thinking and new ideas
provides a historical record of the group’s progress

26. Families & Couples:
Shared tasks allow the counselor to observe how the family or couple
interacts and to form a hypothesis about the family dynamic in order
to plan interventions
Joint Family Scribble: individual members of the family are asked
to make scribbles and are then instructed to incorporate their scribbles
into a unified picture
Conjoint Family Scribble: family is instructed to “draw a picture as
you see yourself as a family;” each member of the family draws a
picture and discusses it with the rest of the family
Symbolic Drawing of Family Life Space: counselor draws a large
circle and instructs the family to draw everything that represents
aspects of the family (including relationships to one another) inside
the circle. Persons, places, and things outside of the family are drawn
outside of the circle. The results of this procedure often get family
members to talking to each other in different ways.

27. Ethnic Minorities:
When working with clients from cultures other than your
own, as a counselor you must understand something
about the cultural heritage of your clients
Hispanic and Latin American arts are often more
metaphorical is use of imagery and color
American Indian cultures may use certain stylized
imagery to express events and feelings
Remember these two aspects: professional readiness
(accurate and sensitive understanding of cultures of
clients) and focus on the creative process

28. Counselor Drawings
Helpful to counselors in working with clients to alter
perceptions or in assessing various dimensions of their own
personal lives
According to Milton Cudney, pictures counselors might
draw in sessions could help in understanding and
objectifying counseling issues, increasing openness,
promoting counselor-client conversation, and reaching
nonverbal, non-reading clients.
He also believed that pictures could shorten the length of
the counseling process by clarifying problems and make
them easier to address.

29. Visual Arts in Counseling With
Other Arts
With literature/words:
Can have client to read a poem, short story, or novel and
then have them draw main events or characters as they
perceive them—good for children and adolescents
Have clients create an illustrated book to show feelings
strongly but also with words to accompany—this can
empower clients and can help them find the best in
themselves
Have clients write and paint simultaneously; it doesn’t
matter which one comes first but one can inspire the other

30. With music:
Have clients draw images based on how they feel
while listening to certain types of music
With psychodrama:
Not common, but art activities can be used as
focus for role-plays and drama

31. References
The Creative Arts in Counseling, Fourth Edition,
by Samuel T. Gladding
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