An Art-based Group Activity for School Counselors
Inspiring Creative Interventions
As a school counselor, I’ve seen the landscape of the school setting change throughout the years. The roles of school counselors and teachers have changed as well. The pandemic turned the landscape upside down and we are now in a place of redesigning the vision of our school systems.
Historically, schools have been responsible for improving the academic performance of students. Their goals, however, have broadened in recent years to include meeting students’ emotional and social needs.
Children and adolescents who are not emotionally ready for school can have difficulty meeting academic expectations and can result in acting out behaviors, diminished self-worth, and disengagement from peers and school (Whiston & Quinby, 2009).
Creative interventions by school counselors can support instruction, self-confidence, healthy risk-taking, and resilience and emphasize students’ positive development and strengths (Galassi et al., 2008).
Studies also find that the use of art-making within the school setting strengthens academic goals for students (Albert, 2010; Gibbins, 2010).
Art-based Interventions
The therapeutic use of group art-making within a school setting has many benefits, including allowing students to practice communication skills, appropriate social behaviors, and techniques to deal with conflict.
Studies show that implementing arts-based interventions enhances participation in school, increases self-awareness, promotes connection, and allows students to practice new skills safely (Albert, 2010; Gibbins, 2010; Randick & Dermer, 2012).
The feeling of belonging within the group process strengthens school readiness and enhances learning (Sutherland et al., 2010).
The following activity can be effective for middle and high school students experiencing conflicts with teachers and peers, difficulty communicating with others, adjustment issues, or behavior problems. While this activity is described for use in a school setting, it works well with any group.
Schools increasingly need creative interventions to meet students’ extensive and comprehensive needs.
Art teachers have long recognized how art-making can elicit unconscious material and provide a vehicle for healing and growth. Coining the term “art as therapy,” Edith Kramer found that making art allowed children and adolescents to express their feelings through participating in art-based activities.
I wrote about the therapeutic benefits of using art in a group setting in the below article.
The Carousel Activity
The Carousel activity was first introduced by Sadie Dreikurs (1986) in her book Cows Can Be Purple. It has been adapted for several populations and environments, including hospitals, workplaces, and schools.
It was originally introduced to facilitate an understanding of how a person functions within a group setting. The activity promotes movement, group cohesiveness, and active participation.
The following instructions are adapted from the original Carousel activity.
The Carousel is facilitated around a long or round table with enough chairs for each participant. The facilitator puts art materials on the table before the group begins and invites participants to choose some art materials to draw with. I wrote about appropriate art materials in the following article.
I like to have a piece of paper already set up in front of each seat before the participants sit down. The facilitator explains to the group that they are part of a carousel. Discuss what a carousel does — hint…. it moves around in a circle.
The next step requires music. The group can start drawing on their paper when the music begins. When the music is off, maybe after a minute, each group member should get up and move one place to the right. Their paper stays on the table.
After they sit down, start the music again. Group members can start drawing on their neighbor’s piece of paper until the music is turned off. This process repeats itself until everyone has drawn on everyone else’s paper. Each new piece of paper provides a new challenge (Dreikurs, 1986).
During this process, the facilitator observes the group. I typically pay attention to what members are saying and doing. Here is a sample of what I would pay attention to:
- What is the feeling of the group dynamics/cohesiveness?
- Who is speaking, and who is silent? What are they saying?
- Who is moving reluctantly, and who is excited to move to the next piece of paper?
- Is everyone being respectful in the images they are drawing?
This process helps me to understand the group dynamics and each person’s unique characteristics.
When students are back in their original spots, they are asked to take a minute and reflect on finished drawing.
At the end of the carousel activity, I always allow students to draw an image on a new piece of paper. This process gives back any sense of control lost during the exercise.
Processing the Activity
The next step is to process the images. I ask everyone to hang the completed Carousel drawings on the wall with tape. Viewing the hanging pictures reinforces the collective group process. It also allows group members to see all the finished drawings at once.
Another way to do this, without hanging the images, is to have students walk around the table to view the pictures. The group discussion begins when all the pictures have been viewed. Here is a sample of questions I might ask:
- What was it like to be part of this activity?
- How do you feel about the final result?
- How did it feel to have someone else draw on your paper?
- Does anyone feel their paper is ruined?
- During the exercise, did you look back at your original paper to see what was being drawn on it? (Students love this question!)
- What did you learn from one another as you drew on each other’s papers? What did you learn about yourself?
- When you looked at the finished image on your paper, what did it tell you about being in a group in which everyone participated?
- What unique and individual contribution did each of you feel you gave to the group today?
Conclusion
Art-based groups allow the image to be a vehicle for communication. Participants tend to share their experiences of the art-making process and hear similar or different experiences from their peers, thus making a connection with others. Group members are asked to be supportive of other group members and provide constructive feedback to each other.
The facilitator should encourage group members to choose one thing they learned from the group experience that they would try and practice during the week. Since this is done in a school setting, this is easy to follow up on.
This activity may inspire you to include more art-based activities in your school counseling practice.
I’ve used this in and out of the school setting. It can be helpful to do this with adults and teachers and as a team-building activity. Consider replacing a team meeting with this activity in your workplace.
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References:
Albert, R. (2010). Being Both: An Integrated Model of Art Therapy and Alternative Art Education. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 27(2), 90–95.
American School Counselor Association. (2020). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.
Dreikurs, S. E. (1986). Cows can be purple: My life and art therapy. Chicago, IL: Alfred Adler Institute.
Galassi, J. P., Griffin, D., & Akos, P. (2008). Strengths-Based School Counseling and the ASCA National Model. Professional School Counseling, 12(2), 176–181.
Gibbons, K. (2010). Circle Justice: A Creative Arts Approach to Conflict Resolution in the Classroom. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 27(2), 84–89.
Gladding, S.T. (2011). The creative arts in counseling. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
Kramer, E. (1971). Art as therapy with children. New York: Schocken Books.
Lenz, A., Holman, R. L., & Dominguez, D. L. (2010). Encouraging Connections: Integrating Expressive Art and Drama into Therapeutic Social Skills Training with Adolescents. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 5(2), 142–157.
Randick, N. M., & Dermer, S. B. (2013). The Relationship of School Art Therapy and the American School Counselor National Model. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 30(1), 30–35.
Sutherland, J., Waldman, G., & Collins, C. (2010). Art Therapy Connection: Encouraging Troubled Youth to Stay in School and Succeed. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 27(2), 69–74.
Whiston, S. C., & Quinby, R. F. (2009). Review of School Counseling Outcome Research. Psychology in the Schools, 46(3), 267–272.
