Art-based activities can develop resilience and self-esteem, enabling children in need to cope better with ongoing stress and loss. Arts Activities for Children and Young People in Need offers interventions and exercises drawn from practice and research, for practitioners to use as a basis for their own arts-based groups or one-to-one sessions.

Holistic arts activities facilitate a spiritually sensitive approach. Mindfulness-based exercises underpin the approach, and include guided meditations in which a group imagines that they are clouds, or draw feelings and emotions while listening to music, to encourage awareness of the senses. The activities help the group to relax and become more self-aware, encourage an exploration of feelings, values and understanding and are beneficial for children not ready to embrace traditional therapies or counselling.

This book is accessible and suitable for helping, health and education practitioners and students from a variety of disciplines, such as social work, psychology and counselling.

Contents:

• Introduction
• 1. The Usefulness of Holistic Arts-Based Methods with Children and Youth in Need
• 2. Children and Spirituality: Holistic Arts-Based Interventions and Processes
• 3. Mindfulness-Based Practice with Children and Youth in Need
• 4. Holistic Arts-Based Activities and Methods to Build Imagination, Self-Awareness, and Strengths
• 5. Working in Groups – Benefits, Challenges, and Holistic Arts-Based Interventions
• Conclusions
• Index

Author Bio:

Diana Coholic is Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University, Canada. Her research programme studies the effectiveness of holistic arts-based methods with children who have significant problems. She has been a social work practitioner for 18 years, and also maintains a small private practice working with children and young people.