Adolescence is an emotionally volatile time. Hormones are surging, and teens often feel pressure to discover who they are independent of their parents.
Some youth become so overwhelmed by society’s expectations and the storms raging inside them that they emotionally shut down. Art therapy helps them reconnect with their feelings by providing a nonverbal language to describe and make sense of their inner world.
Once emotions have been transformed into art, they become less scary and easier to manage, allowing teens to process them instead of keeping them bottled up.
What is art therapy?
Art therapy is designed to boost psychological well-being through creative expression. It began in the 1940s, after psychiatrists noticed that people struggling with mental health conditions who expressed themselves artistically sometimes became less symptomatic.
Teens struggling with mental health challenges often have a hard time describing to others what their experiences feel like. Art therapy provides them with expression that transcends the limitations of language. Instead of artistically interpreting what they see and experience in the outer world, teens engaged in art therapy take a deep dive into themselves and paint, draw, or sculpt what they encounter there.
A teen doesn’t need artistic talent to benefit from art therapy. It’s not about becoming good at drawing or painting; it’s about making the unconscious conscious through artistic expression. While it can be a stand-alone approach, art therapy is often used along with other treatment methods.
Overcoming therapeutic barriers
Some adolescents fear discussing their feelings with a stranger, even if that person is a therapist. Art therapy exercises can help them overcome this barrier by offering a non-threatening way to open up. Counselors may thus encourage a teen to explore their feelings artistically during their first few sessions before they begin formal talk therapy.
It’s okay if teens don’t do much talking during these initial sessions because important therapeutic work is underway. After a couple sessions, the teen might feel comfortable enough to open up to their counselor. Some therapists even work on art projects alongside their clients, which helps build trust and rapport.
Counselors may also use completed projects as a visual record of the progress their clients are making on their therapeutic journeys. For example, they may analyze the symbols and metaphors a teen unconsciously explores in their artwork to better understand what’s going on with them.
What conditions can art therapy help with?
According to a 2016 study, an hour of creative expression per day can significantly reduce stress and boost mental health. Here are some specific conditions art therapy for teens can help with:
- Anxiety disorder
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Emotional difficulties
- Family or relationship problems
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Stress
- Grief and loss
- Substance use disorder
Finding an art therapy program or therapist
If you believe your teen would benefit from formal art therapy, here’s how to go about finding a good program or provider:
- Seek a provider with proper training: To ensure treatment effectiveness, find a clinician with the proper credentials. This typically means a master’s degree in psychotherapy and specific training in art therapy.
- Choose a provider experienced with youth: Not all counselors specialize in adolescent treatment. Finding a therapist who does will ensure that therapy is tailored to the specific challenges of this life stage.
- Contact your insurance provider: Sometimes, insurance doesn’t cover art therapy. However, if your provider doesn’t cover the full cost, you might be eligible for a medical waiver that will cover at least some sessions.
Art therapy activities for teens
Even if you don’t enroll your teen in formal art therapy, there are several ways to incorporate its principles into at-home activities. Here are some art therapy ideas for teens:
Create an ideal place of relaxation
Have your teen close their eyes and imagine a place where they feel relaxed, such as lying on a tranquil beach or watching a gorgeous sunset on a mountaintop. Once they’ve firmly established the scene in their mind, have them draw it, attempting to recreate every detail of their vision.
Encourage them to post the picture where they can regularly see it, such as on a bedroom wall or the fridge. They can look at it to remind themselves that there’s a wellspring of tranquility within them they can revisit whenever life gets too stressful.
Paint feelings
Give your child a canvas, acrylic paints, and brushes and encourage them to paint their feelings in any way they’d like. Tell them to let their imagination run wild.
After your teen completes the project, talk about what emotions they decided to include and how they’re represented. Ask them to compare how they felt before they started and after they finished.
Create a family sculpture
Have your child use modeling clay to sculpt figurines that represent every member of their family. The depictions don’t have to be realistic as long as they reflect each person’s personality.
Once your teen finishes the sculptures, have them arrange them next to one another. Talk with your teen about what the arrangement might mean and if they gained any insight doing this exercise.
Some therapists use this technique to incorporate the entire family in sessions without the family actually being there.
Create a mandala
A mandala (Sanskrit for “circle” or “completion”) symbolizes wholeness and is considered a spiritual symbol. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung called it “a representation of the unconscious self.” Many people find creating a mandala to be a profoundly healing experience.
If your teen would like to try making one, they’ll need various art supplies, such as markers, watercolors, and colored pencils as well as something to draw or paint on, such as a canvas or poster board. They may want to use a compass to draw circles, the most common shape used to create mandalas.
Once your child finishes their mandala, ask them to consider the colors they chose, noting which predominate and which were used least. Also encourage them to think about other aspects of their creation, such as the placement of symbols. See if they make any connections between what they created and the emotions they experienced while working on the project.
Make a transformational self-portrait
Have your child think of an experience that continues to negatively affect them and what they would like to change as a result of that event. Then, ask them to create three pictures.
The first should depict that experience and its devastating effect. The second should show your teen as they are today, including how they changed as a result of that event. The third should portray how they want their future to look once they’ve broken free from the event’s adverse effects on their life.
How therapeutic art activities for youth can boost your teen’s mental health
Art therapy is a highly effective treatment that works well both on its own and as a complement to traditional talk therapy. Even if your teen isn’t enrolled in formal art therapy, you can encourage them to do at-home activities that incorporate its core principles.
Such art therapy exercises not only are incredibly rewarding in and of themselves but also can boost mental well-being. If you need more drawing ideas for teens or art therapy prompts, you can create your own or Google to get inspired by other people’s ideas.
Know when to seek professional help
If you think your struggling teen needs more help than you’re able to provide at home, consider formal counseling, teen group homes, or residential teen treatment. At Avery’s House, we have a proven track record of applying art therapy and other evidence-based techniques to help adolescents triumph over mental health challenges and build lasting resilience.