How Creative Arts Therapy Helps Children Cope with Family Loss

March is celebrated as National Creative Arts Therapy Month, which spreads awareness to the value and efficacy of different forms of art therapy. At SIBSPlace, our art therapy program engages SIBS Kids in expressive arts and verbal activities to enhance self-awareness, self-expression, emotional vocabulary, validate feelings and behaviors to help participants develop and practice coping skills.

Creative arts programming is more than just drawing and painting. It encompasses a variety of activities such as dance, drama, acting, poetry, writing and music. At SIBSPlace, we engage children in various therapeutic activities including painting, drawing, journaling, music, yoga and even pet therapy.

“Every night in our art therapy room, children engage in various expressive art activities that allow them to share their feelings and emotions. In turn, SIBS Kids develop useful coping skills and build relationships between children to enable peer support and acceptance,” said Joanna Formont, LMHC, Executive Director of SIBSPlace, an affiliate of Mount Sinai South Nassau.

For parents, here are some therapeutic art activities that your child can engage in to help manage stress or cope with their feelings:

• Create a photo collage or scrapbook with your favorite family photos
• Decorating a box to keep meaningful keepsakes
• Listening and dancing to a song that is meaningful to your family
• Writing a song about your loved one who is ill or who has died
• Writing down your favorite memories

• Completing journal prompts to express your feelings
• Create drawings of your family or some of your favorite memories

Creative arts assist children in coping with stress and trauma all while improving their self-esteem. In turn, SIBS Kids develop constructive skills that aid in coping with anticipatory grief or the loss of a loved one.

For more information about SIBSPlace and their creative arts therapy program and their other services, please visit, www.sibsplace.org.