Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA hosted a conference last weekend entitled Trauma, Healing and the Arts. The keynote speaker was Linda Gantt PhD, ATR-BC, who also presented a half day workshop on The Graphic Narrative, an art therapy technique for processing trauma.
I attended both Linda Gantt’s workshop and Linda Chapman’s workshop entitled “The Right Hemisphere: Trauma and Art Therapy” (the Bay Area Linda Chapman, not the Toronto based one ;). Both workshops were informative and enlightening in their own way.
Gantt’s Graphic Narrative essentially breaks down the body’s natural trauma response, and uses art therapy to explore not only the step by step external happenings of the traumatic event, but the internal/non-verbal aspects as well.
Chapman discussed the Right Hemisphere of the brain and its role in childhood development, non-verbal experiences and how trauma is stored in the brain. Her work is mainly an integration of cutting edge neuroscience and art therapy theory, helping to demonstrate the role of art therapy and its usefulness in processing traumatic memories. She is in the process of writing a journal article for one of the art therapy journals…so be on the lookout for it, because it’s not only interesting – its groundbreaking work.
One of the best parts of the conference for me, was completely unplanned. Chapman blasted through her presentation, and had about 40 minutes to kill. After a thorough question and answer period, and still having time left over, an audience member asked her to talk about her experience with Vicarious Traumatization. Several other presenters talked about this topic, but since I chose other workshops to attend, this was the first I heard anyone speak of this subject in a public forum. Linda’s story was both touching and shocking. She discussed how after 10 years of working in a highly traumatic work environment (hospital setting), she herself developed PTSD symptoms: nightmares, difficulty sleeping, hyper vigilance, isolation, etc… In her experience, even after leaving her job 8 years ago and living a much more balanced life, she continues to experience symptoms. She made a very strong case for self care, knowing your limits and participating in 1:1 therapy (even if it’s on an as needed basis) to process everything that one maybe carrying around from the workplace.
Here is a link on Vicarious Traumatization or Secondary Traumatization that explains what it is and how to help prevent it.