Written by Joni Beckner, Kids Director
Introduction and edits by Ava Kalhoefer
It goes without question that every year, thousands of people suffer grief from the death of a loved one.
Adolescents — especially those going through their teenage years — are susceptibly fragile while learning to cope with adult topics, including grief. Teen years are “naturally difficult” due to the ever-changing nature of their reality and the increased need for independency (Wolfelt, 1993).
HopeWest launched the Art for the Grieving Heart program as a new approach towards helping teens and young adults explore grief through creative means.
Joni Beckner, HopeWest’s Kids Director (ATR-BC Certified), wrote in to talk about how art therapy helps adolescents communicate their feelings after the loss of someone close to them.
“Using art in therapy provides a pleasure factor that is not what teens expect to encounter, and it stimulates their desire to be expressive.”
How Grief Affects Teens Differently
Posted to the HopeWest Facebook page, bringing awareness of grief services specially catered towards youth and adolescents.
The Arts in Society grant has been a great opportunity to expand our art therapy — based services and support to youth on the Western Slope of Colorado.
The unique needs of adolescents and their development call for a variety of levels of creative, flexible and individualized support. This particular stage in life is difficult enough for most adolescents with regard to identity, self-sufficiency, and independence. But, when a teen experiences a profound loss, their ideas about life are frequently shattered.
During this time, adolescents are searching for independence and focusing on relationships with their peers and less on their family. The primary developmental tasks of adolescence include: establishing individual identity, moving from concrete to abstract thinking, identifying meaningful moral standards, values and belief systems as well as developing increased autonomy.
Although adolescents understand the concept of death, they have not learned that every major loss causes deep and life-altering changes in them.
The death of a parent, family member, or friend can throw the teen into an unknown, lonely, and painful place. If this happens the teen may not know how or where they fit in anymore.
For most teens, “fitting in” is very important and while working through grief, it is common to feel isolated and different. This dissonance is very uncomfortable. Feelings of helplessness, fear, anger, guilt, and vulnerability are common for teens that have lost a loved one.
“Leaving the security of childhood, the adolescent begins the process of separation from parents. The death of a parent or sibling, then, can be a particularly devastating experience during this already difficult period.”
“Hope West helps young people through grieving in Mesa, Montrose and Delta counties.” - Photo recently used in an article about AiS by Confluence Denver.
The Benefits of Art Therapy
HopeWest Kids includes aspects of support, including art therapy, that address the unique needs of teens. Art therapy is a form of communication that is accepted by adolescents; it is successful for many reasons.
The teen is in greater control of their communication; non-verbal communication is often more comfortable than putting ambivalent feeling to words.
The pleasure and newness of the activity and “speaking in their own voice” often reduces resistance to the therapeutic process.
Adolescence is a time of rapid change and artwork provides assessment and clarification of developmental stages. The teen’s changes are often mirrored through their imagery.
When creating art, teens can problem solve “through the advantage of externalizing problems and taking a fresh view of them from a distance” (p.144). Teens can experiment with a change symbolically on a creative project, before they make real–life changes.
Sources:
Riley, S. (1999). Contemporary Art Therapy with Adolescents. London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Wolfelt, Alan D. (1993). Helping teenagers cope with grief.
About Arts in Society
Since 2016, Arts in Society has been funding individuals, grants, schools and government entities, with two-year grant awards of up to $50,000 per project.
In addition to funding, grantees receive training, professional development, and marketing/social media support.
Funding is offered to projects in Colorado that are working collaboratively and utilizing the arts as an integral element for promoting social justice and community welfare.
Arts in Society is funded through a cohort of Colorado funders. 2019 funding partners include Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Hemera Foundation, and Colorado Creative Industries . Funds and support are administered via RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver.
