Journeying through group art therapy for teenage girls in residential care

Children’s Aid Society (Melrose Home) caters to the needs of children and young persons affected by family violence, child abuse and neglect issues. In 2016, professional Art Therapy was introduced as part of the Home’s effort to enhance residents’ access to specialty therapy to help them work through psycho-emotional struggles resulting from past trauma. About 10% or 5 teenage residents underwent individual Art Therapy with the Home’s consultant Art Therapist for 1 to 39 sessions as of April 2018. Three Art Therapy groups were also carried out focusing on different sub-groups in the Home. Collectively, approximately 50% or 25 residents (both children and young persons) underwent some form of Group Art Therapy, ranging from 1 to 43 sessions during this period. Using a single case study approach and qualitative data generated from written reflections by multiple stakeholders during this period of introducing Art Therapy in the Home, this paper attempts to shed light on the challenges faced and therapeutic benefits observed during the first two years of implementation. The key stakeholders include the Art Therapists, all the social workers or case workers, the programme coordinator and the Head of Home who initiated the process of enhancing access to therapy. The authors envisioned that the findings may be helpful for other Art Therapy practitioners or residential care professionals who are attempting to introduce Art Therapy in similar settings or who are exploring the possibility to do so