At-Risk Adolescent Girls and Fostering Positive Self Identity: Creative Clothing Design as a Narrative Art Therapy Approach
Graduation Date
Fall 2010
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy
Degree Granting Institution
Notre Dame de Namur University
Program Name
Art Therapy
Dean
Lisa Bjerknes, MD, MBA
First Reader
Laury Rappaport, PhD, ATR-BC
Second Reader
Gwen Sanders, MFT, ART-BC
Abstract
At-risk adolescent girls, in particular are exposed to many factors in their environment that pose multiple challenges to their self-identity and self-esteem. Depression and anxiety become issues as these at-risk adolescents experience helplessness and hopelessness with their situation. Having a positive self-identity promotes positive self-esteem, which can counteract the negative effects, these young women experience. This grant proposal seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of a narrative based art therapy group that utilizes creative clothing design and writing with at-risk adolescent girls to foster positive self-identity by 1) increasing self-esteem, 2) increasing self-awareness, 3) social and group skills, 4) sense of personal initiative in healthy risk-taking, and 5) decreasing anxiety and depression. The sponsoring agency for this grant is New Directions Adolescent Services, Inc. a non-profit agency that works with emotionally disturbed adolescents in the Sonoma County region.