Mindfulness and Self-Compassion: Attuning skills in self-awareness to promote self-care for Art Therapy practitioners a mixed-methods study using a Mandala art directive and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)

<p>This study attempts to examine people in the mental health field, specifically, Art Therapists and graduate trainees who undergo many stressors in and out of the therapy space. Stressors like emotionally demanding situations with clients, to the demands of keeping up with proper work-related procedures, and needed educational requirements for practicing in the field can lead to burnout for practitioners and students in the field. Stress, burnout, and professional impairment are prevalent among mental health professionals and can have a negative impact on their clinical work, while engagement in self-care can help promote therapist well-being (Posluns & Gall, 2020). Research has indicated that the role of self-care can mitigate burnout symptoms particularly for those in the mental health field (Magruder, 2018). This study’s aim is to observe whether integrating mindfulness practices and therapeutic techniques like Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) with a structured Mandala art directive can help Art Therapy professionals and students increase their level of focused awareness and help attune skills in self-care. This study will employ a Mixed Methods research design approach with both quantitative and qualitative research analysis. A Self-Care Assessment for Psychologists (SCAP) (Dorociak et al., 2017) scale will be used with a pre-directive survey and post-directive survey assessing the participants’ subjective experience and art work. It is the goal of this study to create more awareness for the art therapy and mental health field overall for improved self-care, well-being practices, and techniques.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art Therapy

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Padilla, Janeth Arcila

Contributors dc:contributor

• Victoria Dobbins, MA MFT, PhD Candidate
• Gwen Sanders, PhD, LMFT, ATR-BC

• Self-Care
• Art Therapy
• Mindfulness
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ACT
• Self-Care Assessment for Psychologist SCAP
• Mandala
• Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/art-therapy-masters-theses/18

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:art-therapy-masters-theses-1018