Beauty for Ashes: Supporting the Spiritual Needs and Journey of an Individual with Traumatic Brain Injury with Art Therapy

By Melody George

How the art therapy process supported the spiritual searching and therapeutic journey of an individual with traumatic brain injury was explored in a case study featuring an individual living with this diagnosis. Art therapy was a significant part of his spiritual journey to find meaning in the events of his life. A literature review to support the thesis statement was based on a holistic art therapy framework and therapeutic approach that included spiritual, cognitive, emotional and psychological components. The research methodology included a retrospective individual case study using a narrative inquiry method to generate qualitative data for analysis.

The art therapy sessions took place at a local Brain Injury Drop-In Centre in an open studio format. Seven of forty-six sessions were selected for demonstration. Some sessions were not used as they were similar in content or not considered relevant to the thesis statement. The artwork in the retrospective case study includes acrylic paintings of various sizes and subjects and one poem. The research timeline was expanded to include more data collected through fifteen 1:1 session which also took place at the Centre. The new data included narratives, drawings done during adolescence that had been kept in storage, artwork during three art as therapy groups, photos of new artwork being created at home, and the client’s own interpretations of the artworks. Other relevant data was collected from 1:1 therapeutic dialogue with the client.

The findings were analyzed by organizing and sorting the notes into themes, patterns and metaphors. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the art therapy process in supporting his spiritual journey. He gained insight and integrated his emerging spirituality by finding his own voice beyond the medical diagnosis, experiencing personal satisfaction and moving forward in his life. These results showed the great value and benefits of art therapy as a process to support the spiritual journey of those with traumatic brain injury and in this way has added to the growing body of research on the topic of spirituality with this population.