I intern with with Columbia University Social Intervention Group piloting a curriculum based STI/HIV intervention with couples, specifically males under community supervision (most of the time it's probation) and their female partners. The intervention is made up of 5 sessions that begin with a warm-up activity, and the warm-up activity for one of the sessions is an art activity. The curriculum asks the couple to each draw their own picture of their experience with community supervision.
This image was drawn by one of my first clients when I began my internship. He created this before I had the tools to make neutral observations, and I wish that I could have used this drawing to better understand his experience. However, we did have a short talk about his experience on probation. One of the things that he mentioned was that being on probation was like driving blind. I think that if I could use what I know now, I would encourage him to immerse himself in that metaphor. Where is he going? Why is he blind? What is is like to drive blind? I would also make a neutral observation about the road sign and see how that fit into the narrative. Now that I've reflected on my process in September and the things I would do differently now, really highlights for me what I've learned in this class and how valuable the material is at my placement this year.
I found your post, and your client's artwork, to be really thought provoking. Because I'm not in the field this year, I haven't had (much of) a chance to put techniques covered in class into practice. It's really inspiring and exciting to see this piece of art and to hear the questions you would pose knowing what you know now. Thank you so much for sharing this really powerful example of how our clients can speak volumes without uttering a word.
ReplyDeleteIs your program doing any sort of compilation of the artwork, or using it in the research? It's so powerful. I'm curious how they build the foundation (with providers and clients) for the art activities --- do you think they do a good job? Do you think this semester has given you ideas of how you might add to what they already do in terms of using the arts?
Thanks for your comments Alexis!
ReplyDeleteI agree, the drawings can be very powerful. The drawings are just used as a warm up in the session to get them thinking about how probation impacts their life. Later in the session we talk about the stress from probation being a trigger for substance use, so it kinds of ties in if they're currently using.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of reverence for the activity. For example, when I did they activity with this couple I was only able to find an incomplete set of markers for them to draw with. There's not a lot of time built in for us to do the drawing and talk about it and I'm looking for an opportunity to steer the conversation toward triggers. It's not very faithful to the client-centered approach we learn in class.