Graduation Date
2024
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Project Type
Qualitative Study
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Art Therapy
Program
Art Therapy
Program Director
Lisa Hinz, PhD, ATR-BC
First Reader
Lisa Hinz, PhD, ATR-BC
Second Reader
Amy Backos, PhD, ATR-BC
Abstract
This qualitative study generated new knowledge and deepened understanding of how adolescent survivors make meaning of trauma recovery through art. Narrative inquiry methods applied art making with adolescent survivors of complex trauma who used art to express their experiences of healing. Eleven adolescents, ages 13-18, created three separate pieces of art representing how they see themselves and the world, in the past, present, and future. Narrative themes came alive through art in the form of metanarratives and storylines based on analysis of the formal elements of art and the Expressive Therapies Continuum. Art elements and art materials gave voice to the personal meaning of lived experience through the eyes of survivors. Art was a novel and effective method for participants to express their views of self and the world. Participants recognized their growth through art and generated hope for themselves and other survivors. Art honored the agency of adolescents and their capacity to reflect on and define what helps their trauma recovery. The artwork created by participants contains valuable direction about how practitioners and researchers can meaningfully support adolescent survivors using art intervention by focusing on trauma recovery.