Manifesting Words
- Laura Teoli, MS, ATR, LPC, PhD Student
- Aug 19, 2015
- 4 min read
“Therapy comes to be what it is-for good or ill-within the matrix of relationship”
(Gergen, 2009, p. 270).
Effective manifestos start with a clear call to arms, a battle cry, a chant that rises from the very soul to be carried upon the winds of impending change. This first gust of wind floods into the tension, snapping the eerie silence, and quickening the storm. What kind of cry has the power to spark the passions of academic researchers; to call together diverse interests and to direct their combined intellectual force towards change? Words, perhaps? After all, researchers mold and shape words imbuing them with the power to reach out from the two-dimensional page and to originate change.
Words create a form and context from which meaning can emerge. Gergen (2009) wrote that “as I select the topics, the genre of writing, the narrative, the metaphors and the way in which I define myself as author, I invite a particular kind of relationship” (p. 221). This relationship carries with it the overt, and subversive, messages of the co-constructed culture to which it is bound (Gergen, 2009). Words, like research itself, are charged with meanings derived from the stance and position of the writer (Absolen & Willett, 2005; Pavlicevic, 2005). These meanings emerge through a dynamic relational exchange (Wegner, 1998). The ethical use of words requires that the writer equally respect the importance of community, of relationship, and of the collaborative process of meaning making (Absolen & Willet, 2005; Kovach, 2005). The written word is a tool that can wield a great deal of power to either marginalize or to give voice depending on our usage and the context.
Verbalization is the foundation upon which the vast majority of interpersonal communication, including therapy, rests. If words require care and consideration for their propensity to barricade or to set free then it seems logical that the spoken word deserves the same degree of scrutiny. Hadley (2013) wrote that in the therapeutic relationship “we need to understand how we are perceived by those with whom we work and to be aware of our assumptions about them” (p. 376). This requires the therapist to become painfully aware of not only their personal assumptions and biases, both inadvertent and overt, but also of the ways in which therapy itself can, and has, served to marginalize people (Sue, 2008). It is insufficient for the therapist to circumvent these discomforting realizations by imagining “similarities can bridge all differences” (Sue, 2008, p. 21). Rogers (1979) theorized that the conditions necessary for therapeutic change could only be established if the therapist is genuinely open to the experience of the client. Being receptive to the full experience of the client, Sue (2008) posited, requires consideration of the entire worldview of the client as well as consideration of the entire worldview of the therapist. As a result, the therapist is in an inherently political position and is called to work towards social and political change (Hadley, 2013; Sue, 2008).
As agents of political change we find ourselves pulled full circle to return to the space between the first breath of change and the change itself. I cannot yet identify the cry around which we, as academics and researchers, will rally. I suspect it will be spoken from a place of genuine authenticity and respect for all peoples. Perhaps there are others, like myself, who stand in the tension borne of a deep disconnect between our beliefs in the value of all people and their individual capacity for growth and those values of the health care systems in which we work.
I am using my research to fight for the value of the individual, to fight for the unique perspectives constructed in communities similar and dissimilar to those in which I walk, and to fight for increasingly more equitable relationships between clients, therapists, and health care institutions. The purpose of my study is to explore therapist factors, specifically therapeutic presence (Geller, 2012; Rogers, 1979), in the group art therapy setting. This study may increase understanding of how the art therapist facilitates group work from an internal place of authenticity and congruence while holding the external safety and structure necessary for the group process to occur. I stand willing to be transparent in the beliefs that guide my inquiry and in the ways in which I conduct myself as a practicing professional. I believe this research matters as it returns a degree of power to the client—and that is my call to arms.
References
Absolen, K. & Willett, C. (2005). Putting ourselves forward: Location in aboriginal research. In L. Brown & S. Strega (Eds.), Research as resistance: Critical, indigenous, and anti-oppressive approaches (pp. 97-126). Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Geller, S. M. & Greenberg, L. S. (2012). Therapeutic presence: A mindful approach to effective therapy. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.
Gergen, K. J. (2009). Relational being: Beyond self and community. New York, N. Y.: Oxford University Press.
Hadley, S. (2013). Dominant narratives: Complicity and the need for vigilance in the creative arts therapies. The arts in psychotherapy, 40, 373-381. doi: 10.1016/j.aip.2013.005.007
Kovach, M. (2005). Emerging from the margins: Indigenous methodologies. In L. Brown & S. Strega (Eds.), Research as resistance: Critical, indigenous, and anti-oppressive approaches (pp. 19-36). Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Pavlicevic, M. (2005). Towards straight talking: Multiple narratives in multicultural and multidisciplinary work (or, first I shot the dog, then I shot my mother). Arts in psychotherapy, 32(5), 346-357.
Rogers, C. (1979). The foundations of the person-centered approach. Education 100(2), pp. 98-107.
Sue, D. W. (2008). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity: New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.
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