Prior to being a Radiography student, I spent two and a half years studying Art Therapy.
What is Art Therapy? Well, this all depends on who you ask. None of us have the same answer for you, no it is not where the psychiatrist holds up the blobs and asks you what you see (believe it or not I get this one almost every time someone asks me about art therapy).
My experience with Art Therapy is one that I will never forget, I built relationships with people I never thought that I would come in contact with; I taught them things but more importantly they humbled me and I learned from them.
My first hands on experience was working with the cognitively disabled community, with them we used more of an art approach rather than the psychology aspect. We created projects that would help them tune their fine motor skills and help them get over any sensory problems they had. In the beginning there were people who would not touch certain materials because of how it felt, some who would not communicate with us or present their work to the group, and some couldn't hold their own brushes or utensil so we had to aid them a little. These little things though, started to slowly get better. One guy who wouldn't talk to us, started talking and showing us his work; others were able to hold their pencil on their own or could sit through the whole project without feeling the need to go wash their hands. It was truly an amazing thing to see the transformation in our friends and I know we impacted their life in a positive way.
My second hands on experience was by far the most rewarding for me, we worked with at risk teens in a juvenile detention center. Our projects with the girls were meant to break down their walls and help them realize their worth and give them a chance to have a voice and boost their self-esteem. I was amazed to see how open they were with us, every week we learned something new and more and more girls started contributing to group discussions. At the end of our few weeks we had to say our goodbyes and I bawled like a baby, these girls were dealt a shit hand in life and it was so hard for me to leave them.
The whole experience was humbling and truly made me a better person, I view people differently because of it and I always try to think about what they could be going through or have gone through.
This is my favorite subject to talk about to people and I could write a freaking novel about Art Therapy and my experience with it. I light up whenever it gets brought up and I talk people's ears off (my apologies). If anyone were to ask me what my life changing experience is, this would be it.
