So, I bet your wondering how can art have anything to do with career counseling. For some, it might not have anything to do with it. But for others, those artistic types, like myself, it could be a way to transform your career development experience. Have you ever created a vision board? Used this "visual aid" to help propel your future career goals? Help motivate you through a daily reminder of what you want to take from 2D form and manifest in your reality? I would argue that's career counseling with a huge dose of therapy through art at play.
As I write this, I am reminded of the art project that was displayed at my children's daycare. It was a simple activity but got my wheels turning. The kiddos were asked to draw what they wanted to be when they grow up. Children as young as 3 and as old as 5 were given a piece of colorful construction paper, crayons, paint, and so forth and asked to create something related to a career development. Their drawings depicted astronauts, police, clowns and whatever else their little hearts could imagine. But how powerful would that be, if every year they did this same project, and what all would they have drawn by the time they graduate from preschool, middle school, high school or even college...
So what is therapy through art? Therapy through art is defined as a technique that believes creative expression can be an instrumental tool for facilitating healing and mental well-being. People have used art as a means of communicating, expressing and healing themselves for centuries. The use of the following mediums are common:
Collage
Coloring
Doodling and scribbling
Drawing
Finger painting
Painting
Photography
Sculpting or working with clay
Each of which can successfully be used to create meaningful insights of what we want our future careers to look like through self expression and exploration. So...why not use art to figure out the age old question: "what do you want to be when you grow up?"
