The Benefits of Art Therapy for Mental Health Clinicians Who Have Experienced Vicarious Trauma
Abstract
The American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics (2014) stresses that the
most important aspect of counseling is to promote the welfare of client and to respect their
dignity. This literature review demonstrated that clinicians' engagement with traumatized clients
could influence the ongoing and cumulative effects of their exposure to clients’ stories and
emotional expression of their traumatic experiences. When a clinician is impacted by vicarious
trauma (VT) symptomatology, the relationship with their clients may suffer, putting both at risk
for ongoing and unintended harm. One method of enhancing a holistic, healing sense of self is to
utilize art therapy as a treatment modality not only to mitigate the impact of VT but also to
enhance the clinicians’ ability to experience vicarious posttraumatic growth (VPTG) and
resiliency. The literature further indicated that gathering data through visual imagery allowed for
opportunities to explore data with a different lens, which was not readily available through
quantitative or qualitative research. By combining arts-based research (ABR), along with
quantitative and qualitative research of the literature, this critical inquiry explored the benefits of
utilizing art therapy with clinicians who have experienced VT.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
counselors, art therapy, vicarious trauma, risk factors, resiliency
Citation
Downs, M. (2019). The Benefits of Art Therapy for Mental Health Clinicians Who Have Experienced Vicarious Trauma. Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 114.. Lesley University.