I'd like to introduce myself and am glad to have found ACE Connection Network. I am Betsy Shapiro ATR-BC and have lived and worked in San Diego since 1999 and I have been an art therapist since 1986. For most of my career I have worked in psychiatric hospitals (inpatient, partial hospitalization, and outpatient settings) with children, adolescents and adults.
I am very interested in connecting with other professionals in setting up violence prevention programs in our schools. As we know, ACEs can be created by violence and further lead to more violence, gun violence now being at epidemic proportions here in the US. I feel that art therapy along with other interventions could be used as early as in preschool, I have set up art therapy prevention and early intervention programs,but would like to start by having a model program in a high school.
I am choosing high school because this is when adolescents may hurt themselves, commit suicide and homicide. Some join gangs ,seeking belonging, a "family" and expression for their pain and rage. Others have become mass shooters, feeling isolated, many bullied and expressing their rage, seeking notoriety in a horrific way by killing innocent children and other adolescents and then themselves.
As we see every week there are murder/suicides where men kill their own children, wives and then themselves. I am also working with gun safety groups to prevent anyone who is a perpetrator of domestic violence from having a gun. But we must prevent domestic violence. This also starts happening with teen date violence. If adolescents utilized art therapy to externalize their pain and anger, bringing to light issues they are dealing with, we would see that many are expressing ACEs. It is my goal to validate their experience and teach them new coping skills and help them increase self-worth and sense of belonging so they don't resort to horrific acts of violence.
I am attaching a beautiful article by David Gussak PhD ATR-BC, director of the Art Therapy Program at Florida State University ,who works with prisoners using art therapy. He posted this article on his Psychology Today blog. It is called "Drawing Out The Violence"