Nature Based Expressive Arts Therapy

Responding to the increased interest in the integration of expressive arts and ecotherapy, this book presents a nature based approach to expressive arts work. It provides an overview of the two fields, emphasizing how they can enrich and learn from each other, and highlights attitudes and practices in expressive arts that are particularly relevant to working with nature. This includes cultivating an aesthetic response to the earth, the relationship between beauty and sustainability, and lessons about art and nature from indigenous cultures. Four suggested structures for a nature based expressive arts activity - including writing, body, and ritual centered - are provided in the appendices.

For every woman who has ever been called outdoorsy comes a collection of stories that inspires unforgettable adventure. Beautiful, empowering, and exhilarating, She Explores is a spirited celebration of female bravery and courage, and an inspirational companion for any woman who wants to travel the world on her own terms. Combining breathtaking travel photography with compelling personal narratives, She Explores shares the stories of 40 diverse women on unforgettable journeys in nature: women who live out of vans, trucks, and vintage trailers, hiking the wild, cooking meals over campfires, and sleeping under the stars. Women biking through the countryside, embarking on an unknown road trip, or backpacking through the outdoors with their young children in tow. Complementing the narratives are practical tips and advice for women planning their own trips, including: • Preparing for a solo hike • Must-haves for a road-trip kitchen • Planning ahead for unknown territory • Telling your own story A visually stunning and emotionally satisfying collection for any woman craving new landscapes and adventure.

Environmental Expressive Therapies contributes to the emerging phenomenon of eco-arts therapy by highlighting the work that international expressive arts therapists have accomplished to establish a framework for incorporating nature as a partner in creative/expressive arts therapy practices. Each of the contributors explores a particular specialization and outlines the implementation of multi-professional and multi-modal "earth-based" creative/expressive interventions that practitioners can use in their daily work with patients with various clinical needs. Different forms of creative/expressive practices—such as creative writing, play therapy techniques, visual arts, expressive music, dramatic performances, and their combinations with wilderness and animal-assisted therapy—are included in order to maximize the spectrum of treatment options. Environmental Expressive Therapies represents a variety of practical approaches and tools for therapists to use to achieve multiple treatment goals and promote sustainable lifestyles for individuals, families, and communities.

Nature Therapy is an innovative approach for working with children who have experienced stress or trauma. For the first time in the English language, this book presents the theory behind the approach along with detailed guidelines for introducing it to the classroom and other group settings The flexible 12-session programme pairs nature-based activities with storytelling and other expressive arts approaches. It is designed to strengthen coping and resilience in children who have been through common causes of stress such as the divorce of parents, moving home, the illness of a loved one or bullying. It can also be used in the aftermath of large-scale crises such as war, terrorism and natural disasters to prevent and treat post-traumatic stress disorder. An evocative colour storybook, 'The Guardians of the Forest', is also included for use within the programme. The original, evidence-based approach described in this book will be of interest to all those working therapeutically or creatively with children who have experienced stress or trauma, including teachers, arts therapists, psychologists and counsellors.

Environmental Expressive Therapies contributes to the emerging phenomenon of eco-arts therapy by highlighting the work that international expressive arts therapists have accomplished to establish a framework for incorporating nature as a partner in creative/expressive arts therapy practices. Each of the contributors explores a particular specialization and outlines the implementation of multi-professional and multi-modal "earth-based" creative/expressive interventions that practitioners can use in their daily work with patients with various clinical needs. Different forms of creative/expressive practices—such as creative writing, play therapy techniques, visual arts, expressive music, dramatic performances, and their combinations with wilderness and animal-assisted therapy—are included in order to maximize the spectrum of treatment options. Environmental Expressive Therapies represents a variety of practical approaches and tools for therapists to use to achieve multiple treatment goals and promote sustainable lifestyles for individuals, families, and communities.

The field of expressive arts is closely tied to the work of therapeutic change. As well as being beneficial for the individual or small group, expressive arts therapy has the potential for a much wider impact, to inspire social action and bring about social change. The book's contributors explore the transformative power of the arts therapies in areas stricken by conflict, political unrest, poverty or natural disaster and discuss how and why expressive arts works. They look at the ways it can be used to engage community consciousness and improve social conditions whilst taking into account the issues that arise within different contexts and populations. Leading expressive arts therapy practitioners give inspiring accounts of their work, from using poetry as a tool in trauma intervention with Iraqi survivors of war and torture, to setting up storytelling workshops to aid the integration of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants in Israel. Offering visionary perspectives on the role of the arts in inspiring change at the community or social level, this is essential reading for students and practitioners of creative and expressive arts therapies, as well as psychotherapists, counsellors, artists and others working to effect social change.

This collection of articles embraces theoretical and practical issues related to the emerging phenomenon of 'nature-based creative arts therapies', or 'eco-arts therapies/environmental arts therapies'. Due to the negative effects of some aspects of technological development upon various social and environmental processes, the relationship between human beings and nature has received more recognition. The growing field of eco-psychology reflects this attitude in its developing social-therapeutic environmental philosophy, claiming that reconnection with nature is essential not only for the maintenance of the physical world, but for people's well-being and happiness. Many writers have written about the therapeutic aspects of nature and contact with nature, but few have tried to reconstruct the knowledge gained through practice and intuition into creating a therapeutic framework using the relationship with nature as the key reference point for therapy. From the eco-psycho-social viewpoint of 'nature-based therapies' not only pathogenic factors typical for intensive modern life can be fought, but resilience-building potential implied in the unmediated contact with nature together can be reinforced. The articles include highlights of the work that creative/expressive arts therapists from different parts of the globe have done over the last years to establish a new platform and instruments for therapeutic practices. They present a new approach that incorporates nature not as a mere setting for therapeutic creative practices, but often as a partner in the process. This raised some fundamental questions concerning the concept of therapeutic setting, the role and functions of nature as an active partner in the creative and therapeutic practices, modes of human interaction with the environment with the use of different creative/expressive means. The book has been edited to provide practitioners not only with the new theoretical perspectives, but with methods and tools that can help them to incorporate nature into their daily work with different challenged populations and their varied needs, clinical and psychosocial issues. The first part of the book includes articles that present nature-based creative/expressive arts therapies framework: theory, concepts and methods. The second part focuses on the variability of expressive and instrumental forms that can be applied in the context of the nature-based therapies: expressive music, dramatic performances and rituals, dance and movement, visual arts, photography, narratives and multimedia events. It represents a variety of practical approaches and tools used with different populations and in various institutional contexts including clinical, educational, social and community-based settings. This part of the book also addresses some of the limitations and risks that nature-based creative/expressive therapies may have, and ways in which they may be bypassed and converted into growth and resilience. The book is for anyone interested in the therapeutic use of natural materials, processes and settings in their combinations with the expressive/creative activities. It will be of particular interest to mental health practitioners, especially creative/expressive arts therapists, psychotherapists, counselors and psychologists as well as artists and other creative workers wishing to explore further the creative use of nature within their existing practices.

Nature-Based Play and Expressive Therapies addresses a wide range of healing modalities and case studies that can be used in both indoor and outdoor environments. Each chapter includes vignettes to support the interventions and approaches presented. Readers will find a diverse array of helpful handouts and topics explored, including tips for creating outdoor healing gardens and labyrinths, guidelines for using nature to address trauma, working with sandplay and storytelling in nature, adapting nature-based interventions via telehealth, and much more. Chapters focus on work with young children and teens in individual settings as well as work with families and groups, making this book an important read for a wide range of mental health professionals.