Poster presented at the Conference of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. Writing art = healing and resilience.

1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
www.PosterPresentations.com
Clients' faces sometimes reflect fear when they notice the pad of paper and markers on the table of
the counselling room. "Markers are for kids", they often protest. But once given permission to
express themselves through writing or drawings, clients will often take on a new ownership or
control over their life story.
Writing and artistic expression offers individuals an opportunity to see one's life represented in a
different and often more objective manner. With the guidance of the social worker, the clients can
recognize past successes and the ways they have overcome difficulties even through the most painful
or difficult situations. This new awareness of their resilience can increase clients' self-esteem and can
enable them to move through their life with a greater appreciation of their strength and ability to
strive for change and healing.
Implications for social work:
Integrating new approaches, such as therapeutic writing and art, can not only offer new insight and
information in regards to assessment of the client but encourages active partnership and engagement
with the social worker in finding solutions and repositioning their lives. The social workers can also
benefit from using these tools to examine their practice, challenge their beliefs, and practice self-
care.
ABSTRACT
A young professional writer shares her experience:
As a pre-teen, I suffered from depression due to a rough home-life and dealing with extreme bullying.
This led to self-harm and a deep desire to escape my life and my situation. I was unwanted, taunted,
teased and tormented by my bullies and by me. I was in a very dark place.
How did I cope? I created my own reality. In my stories, I was god. I could write myself the way I
imagined myself to be and people would treat me the way I felt I deserved to be treated. Writing
became my escape and allowed me to exert the control I needed to have. Through writing, I’ve also
discovered parts of me I didn’t know existed because in the end, every character has a small piece of
you.
Up until this day, writing has become a fundamental outlet for my emotional needs and expression. I
suffer from anxiety that is exacerbated in situations I have little control over. But, the more I write,
the less I feel the need to control things because I know I have a world that is my own.
It also allows me to turn something ugly into something beautiful, art. Whenever I have an argument
with a loved one or am experiencing difficulties, I write a song or a poem about it. Even if the piece
turns out to be bleak, it offers some sort of release and validates the intense emotions I am
experiencing.
Writing is a tool that has taught me to be resilient. ADLC
The principal way writing helps is that is offers an opportunity to release feelings and thoughts that can be disturbing or stressful. Individuals are often unaware of the effects these feelings can have, but their
bodies know: they are anxious, stressed, not sleeping well and disturbed by dreams or disrupting thoughts. The action of putting things down in writing can help in many ways.
 It permits individuals to sort, analyze, and make sense of what they are feeling. (Pennebaker 1990, Jacobs 2004).
 It permits the individual to look at the situation more objectively, from a witness perspective. (Progoff 1995, p.8, Jacobs 2004, p. 16)
 It offers individuals a safe space in which to practice what they wish to say to others, imagine themselves in situations, and revisit decisions. (Jacobs 2004)
 If also offers an opportunity to “re-experience trauma in a situation that’s safe and allows people to control the intensity of the experience because they can stop it at will.”(Jacobs, 2004, p. 15)
 The writer is always in control of how much she writes, whether or not she re-reads or rewrites, whether or not she shares. She can stop at any time if the feelings are overwhelming. (Pollard, 2002, Jacobs,
2004)
 Writing leaves behind a record that can later help the individuals identify patterns of behaviour and cycles in their life. This can help them make future decisions based on what they have done in the past.
(Bolton). Jacob (2004) adds that writing can help “…make historic connections between the feelings that didn’t make much sense in the present and those that had made a lot of sense in (her) [the] past”(p. 18).
 The writer learns to trust her own wisdom, her intuition and her problem solving skills. “This is particularly crucial when the social status of the client is inherently subject to discrimination and oppression.”
(Wright & Chung, 2001, p. 282).
HOW DOES WRITING HELP?
Drawing will offer the client a different kind of insight. They don’t need to be good artist but the way they draw their stick figures, or the photos and words they choose for their collages can bring out much
symbolism. If drawing themselves, where are they situated in relation to others in their drawing? How much distance is there between people? Are they large or small? What direction are they facing?
With the client’s input examine the pictures and words they have used. Look for symbolism and metaphor rather than meaning. Ask questions. When exploring keep in mind that the client can be influenced by
four relationships: relationship with self, relationship with others, relationship with the environment and outside forces (institutions, money, societal rules), and relationship with the intangible (spirituality, values,
beliefs). This will help you and your client identify patterns, what is most important to them and how satisfied they are with those relationships.
One client drew her ecosystem. She was at the centre and groups of people surrounded her: family, partner, friends. I noticed that of all the stick figures, she was the only one with a mouth. We explored the
importance of this since we had just discussed voicing her needs, asking for help, and being able to share the pain and anger.
When using words and art, the most common expressions are that of fear and hope. In fear we find images of helplessness, concern, pain, rejection, insecurity, and vulnerability. In hope we find images of
strength, resiliency, solutions to problems, attitudes, control, and power. Combining both of these helps balance the narrative. Explore the fear, and then explore the hope.
Example: A client lives with serious chronic medical conditions that cause a lot of pain. She drew her pain as a monster and gave it a name. Then she drew herself as a superhero, using positivity to create an
impenetrable bubble of protection around herself. The bubble gets bigger and stronger the more she focusses on love and joy.
Drawing the hope and writing out solutions gives the client a better sense of control. Having noticed in a previous drawing that her self representation had no feet and could not run away, the client now makes sure
to add hands and feet; a reminder that she has choices and she is not permanently stuck.
SIMPLE IMPLEMENTATION IN A SOCIAL WORK CONTEXT
There are many ways to implement therapeutic writing and art into social work practice. Journaling and art therapy are mentioned in abundance on the internet, in particular Pinterest, where you can find specific
projects and exercises. If you are just beginning, you might start with the following exercises.
- Ask the client to draw their family. Ask them to include ages, information about relationship, personality, etc. Afterwards, have them explain it to you. You will gather much more information than just asking
them about family composition.
- Ask clients to write out a timeline of events within a specific period of time: childhood, school experience, illness.
- When discussing specific issues or feelings, ask the client to draw themselves in their current situation, or to draw what this situation reminds them of. This period of my life is like…
WHAT ABOUT DRAWING?
CLIENTS WHO BENEFIT THE MOST
 Those seeking time-limited, focused, brief therapy- some of the detail can be dealt with outside
the therapy room, on paper and in private;
 With people who have a self-directed tendency to write journals- diaries, letters - and who have
found the process of writing, especially autobiographical writing, cathartic and clarifying;
 With people who are, or perceive themselves to be, powerless;
 With people who are not using their first language in the face-to-face therapy - they are able to
use their first language or a mixture of both first and host language;
 With people who, for cultural or other reasons, are silenced by shame or other inhibiting
emotions and feel unable to speak;
 With people who are in inner turmoil and need to ‘unpack the mind’, externalise and organize
their thoughts and feelings;
 With people who need to disclose and exorcise a particular memory of stressful or traumatic
experience;
 With people at particular stages of life associated with experiencing strong feelings, e.g.
adolescence, or with the dying and those in hospice care. (Wright & Chung, 2001, p. 287)
REFERENCES
Dupéré, D. (2008). Feeling, Writing, Empowering: Integrating therapeutic writing into practice with
groups and individuals. Available at Lulu.com
Jacobs, B. (2004). Writing for Emotional Balance. Oakland CA: Raincoast Books.
Pennebaker, J. W. (1990). Opening Up: The Healing Power of Confiding in Others. New York:
William Morrow and Company, Inc.
Pennebaker, J. W. (2004). Theories, Therapies and Taxpayers: On the Complexities of the Expressive
Writing Paradigm. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11(2), 138-142.
Pennebaker, J. W., Colder, M., & Sharp, L. K. (1990). Accelerating the Coping Process. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 58(3), 528-537.
Pollard, J. (2002). As Easy as ABC. Retrieved December 8, 2007, from
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,764452,00.html
Progoff, I. (1995). At a Journal Workshop: Writing to Access the Power of the Unconscious and
Evoke Creative Ability (2nd ed.). New York: Tarcher/Putnam Books.
Wright, J., & Chung, M. C. (2001). Mastery or mystery? Therapeutic writing: a review of the
literature. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 29(3), 277-291.
CONTACT
Dima Dupéré, MSW, RSW
Community journal writing workshops along with coaching and training for professionals on the use
of therapeutic writing in their practice.
www.dimadupere.com
joythisway@gmail.com
How words and art can transform an individual’s narrative towards resilience and healing
Dima Dupéré, MSW, RSW
TELL ME A STORY
Example: Participants in a 20 session group were asked to write a letter to themselves on the first session, outline what they
wished for themselves in the process. It was given back to them on the last session.
To feel loved
My wish for you Laura is that you love yourself because you truly deserve it. Loved unconditionally – like we love our cherished
pets.
You have done a lot of things in the past to feel loved by others, sometimes at the expense of your self respect.
But to feel loved – what joy! Isn’t it the ultimate joy. Befriend and tame yourself so that you can know yourself better and once
you do, appreciate yourself.
You are a good person, you are pure. You are not bad. You demand very little of others and don’t expect much from them.
Love yourself instead of destroying yourself. Think a bit more of yourself and a bit less of others.
It is difficult. That is what I have done for too many years: think of me last. Why?
Why not start a new decade by thinking more and more of yourself?
Why not?
You have given a lot to others over the years. Now, it is time to think of you.
Plan a project, something concrete and a date when you will start it.
When we don’t love ourselves, others can feel it in our energy. When we love ourselves… we are radiant and others see that
radiance.
the pain monster
The superhero