Holiday directives can be tough to approach so I’ve outlined 4 directives that I use here.
As the holidays approach, it is important to recognize the challenges they might present for your clients. Holidays are often stressful in some way for most people due to traveling, seeing family, the pressure of gift-giving, and more. Especially this year when holidays are looking much different than usual, there are many factors that can impact your clients. Using art to identify and cope with that stress and any other emotion that comes up during this time of year can be extremely beneficial.
I compiled a list of 4 directives I like to offer this time of year as ways to broach the holiday season and to help my clients identify ways they can cope with them. These can be catered specifically to an individual, or more broadly given in a group setting.
Reflecting on one’s life and identifying aspects that one can be grateful for is a strength-building exercise. Identifying and sitting with the positive aspects in one’s life reminds them of what they have, their motivations, and their goals. Beginning with a conversation of what gratitude means to the client can foster a more open environment and space to honestly write/draw what in their life they are grateful for. Simply instruct your clients to create a tree that holds things they are grateful for by writing them as leaves, branches, or however they wish. I have even had clients who made Christmas trees when doing this directive and listed their items of gratitude as ornaments.
Now, reflecting on gratitude is not always easy. Many clients might struggle with this exercise for reasons such as extreme hopelessness, prior negative experiences, fear of judgment, intimidation of list-making, or more. It is important to acknowledge the potential difficulty of this directive to support all clients.
I am a big fan of trading-card sized pieces that can be carried around in pockets or wallets as coping mechanisms and transitional objects. For the holidays, make self-care intention cards can help to support a client when in the moment, they are unsure of how to manage their emotions.
To make these, open a conversation about self-care practices and how to manage emotions when surrounded by people who might not understand. For the holidays, ask your client to think about what feelings come up when celebrating with family and consider what can help in those moments. Ask the clients to create a card or multiple cards that depict self-care practices and/or coping skills they can complete when struggling with managing their emotions. The card(s) can be carried around and easily pulled out when they need a reminder.
This one is pretty broad and can be interpreted so many ways. The way one person celebrates a holiday can be very different than another so asking a client to depict how their holidays look can push a client to think about various aspects of the day.
In seeing how the client depicts it, follow-up questions about what takes place in the image and where the client would place themselves within the image can widen the perspective or hone in on a particular aspect. In my example here, I drew a very abstract image, and in contrast, I have had clients who literally drew their kitchen table. The opportunities with a vague directive can lead anywhere.
Found in a fabulous art therapy directive book, 250 Brief, Creative, & Practical Art Therapy Techniques, by Susan Bucalter, the copecakes directive is about depicting coping skills within a cupcake shape. You can ask clients to draw their own cupcake or print out a template for them.
As seen in my example, I cut out a cupcake form from a magazine page and then collaged images/words that representing my ways of coping during the holidays. When doing this with my clients, I ask them to think about what comes up for them during the holidays and how they cope with it. Using the structured cupcake form, the clients are able to be as literal or abstract as they want to depict their skills and then can use this as a reminder to look back on when in need.
