I find that in my line of work as a Clinical Social Worker, sometimes the best “workshops” are not workshops at all, but the chance to use art in a moment of crisis to help children deal with big feelings that are overwhelming.
Last December I was supervising a visit with a sibling group of ten. The oldest teens were asleep on the sofa ignoring everyone, the youngest were gathered around a laptop having a Zoom visit with Mom. The middle child, My’Anna, sat down next to me, put her head on her arms and began to weep. I asked her what was wrong and she answered, “I don’t know how to tell my mom how much I love her!”
I offered her some paper and colored pencils and told her, “Maybe you can draw her a picture to show her how much you love her?” She smiled and began drawing this picture of “her whole family in a beautiful place with a rainbow heart in the sky” and when she was finished ran to the laptop to show her mother her drawing. She was beaming with happiness in finding a way to express her feelings in a non-verbal way and her mother told her she had done a beautiful job.
