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RichardbBrunner

~ creative arts therapist

RichardbBrunner

Tag Archives: creative arts therapy

Preferences for group arts therapies

13 Wednesday Oct 2021

Posted by RichardB in creative arts therapy, Research, Therapy

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creative arts therapy, research, therapy

From BMJ Open:

Abstract

Objectives The arts therapies include music therapy, dance movement therapy, art therapy and dramatherapy. Preferences for art forms may play an important role in engagement with treatment. This survey was an initial exploration of who is interested in group arts therapies, what they would choose and why.
Conclusions Large proportions of the participants expressed an interest in group arts therapies. This may justify the wide provision of arts therapies and the offer of more than one modality to interested patients. It also highlights key considerations for assessment of preferences in the arts therapies as part of shared decision-making.

Read the entire article at BMJ Open.

Dance/Movement Therapy & Dementia

29 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by RichardB in creative arts therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Dementia, Movement, YouTube

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creative arts therapy, wellness

Art and happiness

14 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by RichardB in art, creative arts therapy, Therapy

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creative arts therapy, therapy

Type the words “Spring (Fruit Trees in Bloom)” into an online search engine and in less than a second you will be looking at a sparkling vista of trees erupting in a starburst of pale blossom like an exploding firework. The phrase is the title of an Impressionist oil painting by the French master Claude Monet that belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 10660260_1058052397562426_5178675176490530164_n.jpg

According to the museum’s website, the painting was executed in 1873 in Argenteuil, a village on the River Seine northwest of Paris where the Impressionist artists used to gather. Signed and dated “73 Claude Monet” in the lower left corner, it is almost 40in (1m) wide and 24.5in (62cm) high. In 1903, when it was known as Apple Blossoms, it was bought for $2,100 by the New York art dealership Knoedler & Co. The Met acquired it in 1926.

Concise, sober information like this is typical of the insights that museums commonly provide about artworks in their collections. Dates, dimensions, provenance: these are the bread and butter of scholarship and art history.

But by offering details about pictures in this manner, are museums fundamentally missing the point of what art is all about? One man who believes that they are is the British philosopher Alain de Botton, whose new book, Art as Therapy, co-written with the art theorist John Armstrong, is a polite but provocative demolition of the way that museums and galleries routinely present art to the public.

Read more HERE.

Groups in process

21 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by RichardB in Awareness, creative arts therapy, Dance, Research

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creative arts therapy

When I work with groups I am constantly observing and evaluating. I use evaluations to guide and direct; to ascertain the problems and needs of the group, and program. According to Cruz, Berrol, (2004), “…quantitative methods explore measurable observable phenomena related to human experience, and seeks to explain and predict behavior.”

For instance, in one particular workshop assisting Dr. Rutkowski, I observed a client clench her hands, contract, and stand in a posture that would be difficult to move from whenever she used the phrase, “moving forward.” My hypothesis was she did not truly believe and embrace what she was saying, and had some physical tension around this phrase based on her body language.

vacation-weekend-young-people-company-friends-joy-fun-dance-sea-beach-sun

I have observed countless times before, the relationship between words and phrases and stances and postures (known behavioral phenomenon). Further, I have witnessed how one could change one part, stances/postures for instance (known variable), which would change the manner of the spoken words/phrases and thus their meaning for the client (predicted state). Based on this data, I suggested the client consciously take a stance/posture that was physically non-contracting (opening), and begin a movement process that was opening and flowing. Her body stance/posture changed and the manner in which she said her words changed as she experienced the concept of ‘moving forward.’

Afterwards, she shared that she began to truly believe both physically and emotionally that she could ‘move forward.’ My assertion that she did not fully embrace what she was saying was confirmed by the client.

In my process of leading groups I rely on my Halprin Method/Motional Processing/Life Art Process knowledge, my experience with many great teachers over the years, my intuition, and how I would want a workshop to be if I were the participant. I observe the dynamics of the individual and group, whether it is elders or preschoolers, and adjust accordingly. For instance, while leading the preschoolers in a creative movement exercise, they got out of control and ran about wildly ignoring my directions. I changed the quality of my voice and directed them to move like wooly worms. Naturally, it’s difficult to move wildly about when you’re lying on the floor wiggling.

Each group presents itself based on not just the dynamic of the individual and the collective, but also on the culture that the group is a part of. With the church group, there seemed to be a polite non-cooperative nature in their response to my direction of movement while reading a psalm. Having them close their eyes and adding more direction to the exercise seemed to open up the movement quality and quantity.

It gives me the giggles when I think of how terrified I was as a child to get up in front of a group and read a book report, or engage in some sort of activity. Today when I teach/lead a group, I actually feel more balanced, whole and in harmony than when I am not teaching/leading.

Cruz, R,F. & Berrol, C.F. (2004). Dance/Movement therapists in action: A working guide to research options. Springfield, Ill.: C.C. Thomas.

Rutkowski, A. (1984). Thesis: Development, definition and demonstration of the Halprin Life/Art Process in Dance Education. Unpublished doctorial dissertation, John F. Kennedy University.

Winter, R. (2001). Handbook for action research in health and social care. New York: Routledge.

Hervey, L.W. (2000). Artistic inquiry in dance/movement therapy:

Creative Research Alternatives. Springfield, Ill: Charles C Thomas.

Reprinted from my unpublished manuscript: Renewal and Rediscovery of the Self in the Life Art Process: 20 years as participant, assistant and facilitator. By Richard Brunner MA, R-DMT. Copy write 2006.

Paper making

01 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by RichardB in creative arts therapy, Paper making

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creative arts therapy, paper making

I have been making paper for quite a few years both with therapy groups and for my own enjoyment. This particular batch was made up of 004recycled handouts that I cut and ripped up into roughly 1 x 1 inch pieces. 001

I next decided to soak the ripped paper in a bowl of water for a few hours to help loosen the fibers in the paper

 

Next011 I used my trusty little blender to chop up the paper and turn it into pulp. Instead of pouring the pulp into a tray of water and using a deckle to ‘fish’ the fibers on to a mold or frame I poured the pulp directly into a strainer, removed most of the water and than ‘sculpted’ the pulp around a cylinder form. The last photo is of some of the finished 1/2 cylinders and some brown craft paper that I also made that day using a regular deckle.

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Rough Road/Path photos

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by RichardB in art, creative arts therapy, groups, photo set, Therapy

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creative arts therapy, Creativity, photo, recovery, therapy, wellness

I have been involved in facilitating groups for decades. One of the tools I use for groups of adults, teens, or children are photos. I use photos as a way for folks to become familiar and used to talking and sharing in a group. As a way to indirectly share something of themselves by talking about an image/photo. As a way to begin a conversation about larger issues or deeper issues.

One set of photos I use are Rough Road/Path photos with alcohol addicts and heroin addicts in the beginning of recovery. I spread the photos out on a table and ask the group (usually 10 to 15 men) to pick out one photo that represents their journey in the week or weeks before they came into rehab. Once everyone has chosen a photo I ask them to (one at a time) hold up the photo, describe the photo and why they chose it. The descriptions and stories they tell come from them, their experiences and begin the process of revealing a bit about their

When Meds Fail: A Case for Music Therapy: Tim Ringgold at TEDxYouth@BommerCanyon

07 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by RichardB in creative arts therapy, Mental Health, music therapy

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creative arts therapy, mental heath, music therapy

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