Mental Health, Teens and Art Therapy with Lisa Moore
Adolescents often wrestle with emotional issues that they are unable to fully articulate or understand. With an unacceptably high suicide rate among our teens, males outnumbering females 3:1 we need to find a way to connect with our youth, using art therapy as a vehicle to allow them to open up in a safe and trusting environment is often a particularly effective way to communicate with them.
Teenagers struggling with issues of depression and anxiety for example, can work through the underlying issues troubling them by engaging in their own personal meanings, expressing emotions via the art media gaining awareness and insight into problems they could not communicate in any other way.
Through the therapeutic value of the creative process, art therapy has become a valuable and effective mental health intervention for reaching adolescents who might not respond to other forms of therapy.