Bridging Diversity: Do We Have A Shared Language?

Abstract

Presentation at ECARTE : 13th European arts therapies conference [16 Sep 2015 - 19 Sep 2015]

How is qualitative and quantitative patient experience linked, and what language do we use to describe the arts therapist’s role in that change process? ICAPT, in collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire will present phase 1 of the ‘Horizons Project’. Phase 1 mapped the language used by arts therapists to respond to the patient’s relational experience. Arts therapists were interviewed using a repertory grid technique to map the therapist’s personal perspectives in the context of clinical scenarios. The hypothesis being tested was that there were different theories that influenced each arts therapy in such a way that language was contingent on context and profession. The initial results collated by the categorising process suggested there was specific terminology that could capture generalised actions across the arts therapies. A focus group was established to examine the outcomes further and the results demonstrated that only a few of the constructs were interpreted differently according to different professional groups. The process and the surprising results of the repertory grid process will be presented, and how a shared language was further refined in a research collaboration between therapists and patients. The implications for this type of work are numerous. Whilst this project was examining clinical practice within a specific range of mental health services in London, the method that was developed offered a tool for establishing a ‘map of descriptors for clinical actions’. From this further work can be conducted about the occurrence, timing and impact of clinical actions in specific therapeutic contexts. This first stage of research suggests that there could be underlying ideas about therapeutic change across the arts therapies. A challenge to the researcher’s hypothesis, this first step of the Horizons Project unexpectedly bridged diversity. Biography Dominik Havsteen-Franklin is Consultant in Arts Psychotherapies (CNWL) and Head of ICAPT. Since 1999 roles undertaken have included team manager/clinical lead and interim head of profession. As Consultant he is responsible for developing and implementing arts therapy clinical training, leading on research and development for arts psychotherapists within, and external to, the trust plus leading the research arm of ICAPT. His research interests centre on severe mental health disorders and psychological therapies in the NHS. He is currently engaged in doctoral research studying the relationship between in-session interventions and occurrences of metaphor in art psychotherapy, supervised by Prof. Robert Hinshelwood at the University of Essex. Philippa Brown is Programme Leader MA Art Therapy and Professional Lead Arts Therapies at the University of Hertfordshire. She has extensive experience as a consultant and academic in art therapy education and training across the UK and Europe. Her research interests extend to the qualitative and experiential research approaches that address the nature of artistic practice in relationship to art therapy. Miriam Usiskin is Senior Lecturer on the MA Art Therapy and Programme Leader for the Foundation Certificate Art Therapies at the University of Hertfordshire. She worked for a number of years in the NHS as a Head Art Therapist in adult mental health with particular clinical focus on working with PTSD in Children and Adolescents. Research projects include collaborative project work with CNWL trust on the Horizons Project and the efficacy of art therapy in treating PTSD and domestic violence.