Abstract
Background: This thesis explores the author’s personal experience of contributing to art psychotherapy knowledge through practice-based innovation and investigation, as evidenced in nine selected publications.Aim: The exploration aims towards the creation of a process model for the development of art psychotherapy theory and practice which can be used by other Art Psychotherapists.
Methods: An autoethnographic approach is framed within the metaphor of a journey. Arts-based approaches and metaphors relating to water and wild swimming are used to examine the author’s process of contributing to art psychotherapy knowledge.
Results: It is argued that practicing Art Psychotherapists can harness the curiosity and creativity which underpin therapeutic work to generate and investigate new approaches to practice and new theoretical understanding, for the benefit of clients. Within this process, four key activities are identified: being informed; innovating; investigating; and making an impact, alongside four guiding principles: care for clients; challenge to orthodoxy; collaboration with other professionals and clients; and contribution to the profession.
Conclusion: These ideas are brought together in an original process model: The Curiosity and Creativity Process for Practice-Based Development of Art Psychotherapy Knowledge.
Implications: This process model could help practicing Art Psychotherapists (and arts therapists more widely) to develop and share new theoretical perspectives and ways of working. The model could be disseminated through pre- and post-qualification arts therapies training and adapted to suit particular contexts, in collaboration with clients.
| Date of Award | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Steven Walden (Supervisor) & Roiyah Saltus (Supervisor) |