Date of Graduation

Spring 2008

Degree

Master of Science in Counseling

Department

Counseling, Leadership, and Special Education

Committee Chair

Kristi L. Perryman

Abstract

The current study seeks to explore the effects of an expressive arts therapy group on female counselors-in-training. Traditional therapy consists of verbal interactions between a counselor and a client to facilitate insight into the client's issues. Non-traditional forms of therapy are often overlooked as a therapeutic means to address client's issues. The current study involves 6 female counseling graduate students participating in an expressive arts group. Various expressive arts activities were introduced across 13 weeks. Group members were asked to record their thoughts about the expressive arts group experience weekly in a reflective journal. Using qualitative methods, coding, and peer debriefing, the results indicated that 1) the group progressed through group stages; 2) the outcome of participating in expressive arts activities was consistent with previous research on the benefits of expressive arts therapies; and 3) female counselors-in-training noted counselor development effects as found in previous research. The results from the current study lend itself to promoting an optimum counselor training model. Recommendations include adapting training models to incorporate the use of more expressive arts activities and group models as a means to educate future counselors with a diversity of counseling practices.

Keywords

expressive arts, groups, counselor development, females, activities

Subject Categories

Counseling

Copyright

© Elizabeth A. Keller

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