Part 3 of IN THE GREEN SPACE
Bridging Spiritual Direction
and
Relational Psychotherapy
through Spontaneous Artwork
by
Jacqueline Fehlner
Appendix A Qui reçoit, doit donner.
(The one who receives, must give.)Mission Statement
As a woman of faith and love, I, Jacqueline Denis Fehlner, am being invited to use my gifts, talents and knowledge in service to the People of God in the light of the Judeo-Christian formation and educational, psychological, spiritual and pastoral training that I have received.
I am responding to a call to deepen my relationship with God and renew my commitment to follow Jesus, the crucified and risen Christ. This includes being open and present to the Holy One, living in mystery with Mystery, and walking in tenderness with others.
I work within a community of Life Servants who are building up a place of hospitality and respite for caregivers and women. Rooted in a contemplative apostolate, endeavoring to maintain a balance of love, work, prayer and play, offering a compassionate and gentle presence, and with an ecumenical focus, together we encounter the living God in a place of solitude and see Jesus' face mirrored to us in the ordinary and broken moments, people and places of our lives.
Through time for nourishment and rest, creativity and prayer, the guests in our place of hospitality experience welcome and acceptance, discover a path of hope through their pain or darkness, find a peacefulness that refreshes their body, mind, heart and soul, and develop a fire of love which readies them to return to their place of service and to walk humbly with their God.
OUR LEGACY: The Communion Of Saints
(Adapted from the work of Kathleen Fischer)
There are many ways that we encounter God. Sometimes it is through the beauty of creation that surrounds us. Sometimes it is through the stories in scripture. Sometimes it is through those in whom the Spirit of Love lives.
Take some quiet time to reflect on those women in your life, those from the past and those in the present.
Who has influenced your choices, actions, and attitudes?
Which ones, perhaps without your realizing it at the time, have shown you an inner strength and reflected the face of Love to you?
What is the legacy left to you by your ancestors?
What are the gifts being given to you or talents called forth by the women of today?
Paint, draw or write a poem that concretizes for you the encounter with God through those who have nurtured, supported or admonished you in some way.
You may want to repeat this exercise reflecting on those men in your life -- those from the past and those in the present -- who have reflected the face of Christ to you.
The Legacy Passed on to Me
How have the early Christians gifted me, especially since entering MAMS studies 2 years ago? What have they taught, reinforced or confirmed for me, some of which has again been reconfirmed for me in the course, Relational Psychotherapy and Faith?
Teresa taught me that one may have a different view of things and that it is important to question practices, express one's observations, awareness, or insight, and follow through with concrete reformative action. The transforming feminine aspect of Teresa's prayer invited risk into relationship, risk-taking, and personal growth. Is not this process the hope and basis of our treatment plans/goals for those who seek us out? Teresa is not unlike some of my clients who struggle with their own call to encounter God and live out that discovery within their own religious and secular communities.
Over many years, Benedictine Spirituality has taught me the importance of balancing prayer and work, love and play. It integrates the coming into the quiet presence and sacred space -- beholding all there is in the working with our hands, hearts and minds fully involved, yet silent. There is an invitation to trust the process in art making and in psychotherapy. When clients go deep within, into the core of their being, the chattering stops, and the art making becomes all the more intense. It was the coming to greater awareness for self-care this semester that gave me the courage to ask for an extension on this paper, rather than push myself beyond what I could handle in a healthy manner just to get it in "on time."
From Francis of Assisi, over the years, has come the challenge to notice the beauty in all of creation and to reach out to those who are hurting, to reflect the love of Christ to them. His way is an invitation
to be aware of ordinary moments and ordinary people and to see the importance that they hold. So much of our work as mental health professionals involves helping our clients see that they are lovable and accepted as they are, without judgment of their person or their art. We work at building self-esteem. What one person sees as ordinary or is taken for granted may hold much more truth or achievement than they realize. At this point I think of the high-risk youngsters and the developmentally challenged people with whom I have been privileged to work.
To a great extent, Julian of Norwich's way of looking at "sin" resonated with some of my training in art therapy. "Sin" is the theological word for that which breaks a relationship, and the reactions and actions making and keeping it unhealthy or dysfunctional. Julian did not condemn the person who was in such a state. She talked about how the person needed to be there in that pain until such a time that they felt it fully, saw it and were ready and willing to move beyond it. This is the same rhythm that a person goes through on their way into and through psychotherapy.
In the gathering of people around the Eucharist I am shown that there is a common thread -- the life and love of Jesus Christ -- that binds us together in the breaking open of the word of God, in the breaking of the bread and in the sharing the cup of life.
-- On Knowing Your Materials --
Suggested art materials for arts and crafts room
- Lead and coloured pencils, markers, waxed or soybean crayons, craypas (oil pastels), chalk pastels, tempera paints, plastercine, pottery clay.
- Magazines for collage, string/yarn and other odds and ends.
- Varying kinds and sizes of brushes.
- Variety of paper types: newsprint, manila, white cartridge.
- Gum eraser, sharp scissors. Cardboard. Glue.
- Masking and scotch tape.
- Paper towels.
- Containers for water. Palettes for paint.
- If you can afford it: charcoal or conte sticks, simple sculpting tools, mayfair stock and watercolour/aquarelle papers, acrylic paints and canvas are a helpful addition.
Control Elements wax or soybean crayonspencils -- lead, coloured markers/felt-tipped pens
Objective: To help the directee to focus or be more precise.
Positive aspects:
Negative aspects:
- Familiar material.
- Adds colour to written discernment process.
- Can evoke good memories and playfulness in someone who needs to loosen up.
Collage is helpful for those who "can't draw," "don't want to get dirty," or who have a "critical parent" looking over their shoulder.
- Can remind the directee of school and all the hurtful experiences or the criticism s/he received there.
- Tendency to use these to write rather than draw.
Intermediate Elements charcoal or contecraypas (oil pastels) chalk pastels
Objective: To help the directee become playful or try something new.
Positive aspects:
Negative aspects:
- Lends itself to experimenting.
- More fluid than the control elements.
- Can be quite messy (smears easily) and frustrating.
Fluid Elements watercolours acrylicstempera paints clay/plastercine
Objective:
- To help the directee become more playful, let go of need to control, to open up new possibilities for someone who is stuck.
Positive aspects:Negative aspects:
- Lends itself to experimenting.
- More fluid than the control and intermediate elements. Cannot always be as controlled as other elements.
- Heightened colour with paints.
- Great sense of accomplishment/creativity.
Caution:
- Need water supply.
- Can be quite messy (muddies easily) and frustrating. Cannot always be as controlled as other elements.
- Possibility of regressing, if the directee has had some unknown trauma.
- Be prepared. Can tap into and bring up material from the unconscious very quickly.
1.This paper, based on the class presentation given on 10 April 2001, comes out of reflection on the healing ministry work that Sr. Michael, C.S.C. and this writer have been doing together for the past six years at St. Michael House in Oakville. First and foremost, St. Michael House is a place of prayer and hospitality so our work there is done more from the spiritual direction perspective than from a strict art psychotherapy focus. This course and other outside readings we did this term have helped us to see more clearly how the two are bridged in the work we do.
2. Donald Capps, Agents of Hope: A Pastoral Psychology, (Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press), 1995.
3. Morton T. Kelsey in Christo-Psychology, (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company), 1982, gives a good introduction to Carl Jung's work and his recognition of the importance of the religious dimension in a person's life in the healing process. Many of his followers also acknowledge this dimension needed for psychological maturation. The Society for the Advancement of Ego Psychology held a conference on "Religion and Psychotherapy," January 20, 2000. The presenting panel: a Jew, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a cultural Jew shared how they or their clients were in need of having to recognize the spiritual dimension and its effects on their lives and in their work. When the religious dimension was acknowledged and worked with, growth and healing began to take place.
4. Gerald G. May, Care of Mind, Care of Spirit: A Psychiatrist Explores Spiritual Direction. (New York: Harper Collins), ©1992.
5. Jacqueline Fehlner, "Preparation For Spiritual Direction Practicum," unpublished paper for Regis College Spiritual Direction Practicum course, 24 Sept. 1999, p. 1.
6. Alan Jones, Exploring Spiritual Direction, new edition, (Cambridge & Boston, Mass.: Cowley Publications), © 1982, 1999, p. 66.
7. My mission statement, which incorporates aspects of that of the Community of the Sisters of the Church, and my motto can be found in Appendix A.
8. drawn from K. Fischer, Women at the Well, (New York/Mahwah, N.J.) 1988. Chapter 10. "Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters: The Spiritual Legacy", pp. 195-210.
9. Frankel, (New York: Washington Square Press), 1959, p.117.
10. John Veltri, SJ, Orientations, Part B, volume 2, (Guelph, Ontario: Guelph Centre of Spirituality), 1998.
15. Veltri, pp.518-519. Veltri acknowledges gratitude to John English, SJ, for the starred insight.
17. Developed in the Working Papers of Judith Jordan, Jean Baker Miller, Irene P. Stiver and Miller and Stiver's book, The Healing Connection. (Boston: Beacon Press). Key elements in feminist, relational psychotherapy as put forth in the work of the therapists at the Stone Center, Wellesley, Massachusetts, have a similar base, as does some of the work of James Olthuis. His upcoming book, The Beautiful Risk: A Spiritual Psychology of Loving and Being Loved, also seems to be an attempt to bridge the gap between psychotherapy and spiritual direction for the Protestant Christian population "by offering a spiritual psychology of interconnectedness."(18)
18. James Olthuis, 2001, p. 13 of his manuscript.
19. Kelsey, in Christo-Psychology, makes note of the importance of sacrament and symbol for both psychological and spiritual growth, especially for the sensation-type person on the way to God. "The intuitive-type people very often find themselves blocked unless they have the freedom to go the inner way and have direction on this way." p. 65. (Here Kelsey is referring to Jungian typology.) That direction can take the form of psychotherapy or spiritual direction or a combination of the two.
20. Benedict, 5th century, Francis of Assisi, 12-13th century, Julian of Norwich, 14th century, and Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Ignatius Loyola, 16th century
21. Carl Jung would further develop the theory of the active imagination in the 20th century.
22. Judith Rubin, Child Art Therapy: Understanding and Helping Children Grow Through Art, (2nd edition), (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold). 1978; Harriet Wadeson, Art Psychotherapy, (New York: John Wiley & Sons), 1980; Margaret Naumburg, Dynamically Oriented Art Therapy: Its Principles and Practice, (Chicago: Magnolia Street Publisher), 1987; Martin Fischer, T.A.T.I. lecture notes, 1991. Today, these early art therapy pioneers would probably be hesitant to make such a general statement.
23. Mala Betensky, What Do You See? Phenomenology of Therapeutic Art Expression, (London & Bristol, PA.: Jessica Kinglsey Publishers), 1995, p. 14-15.
24. William A. Barry & William J. Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction, (New York: Seabury Press), 1982. that some directees "would benefit more from spending time at first in some activity they enjoy that has a contemplative aspect to it. … any receptive experience that helps a person forget himself and become absorbed in something else." (p.52) Spontaneous art making connects us to the Creator at play--the One who, in Genesis, painted and sculpted all that was to be.
25. David L. Fleming, SJ, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, (Saint Louis, Mo.: The Institute of Jesuit Resources, © 1978, 6th printing), 1991, p. 23.
26. In art therapy, usually, a painting done on the horizontal is the telling of a story while that on the vertical is the artist making a statement.
27. Olthuis, p. 12-13 of manuscript.
28. Olthuis, p. 13 of manuscript.
29. In her final address at the 1996 Canadian Art Therapy Association Conference, Dr. Debra Linesch left the participants with this question to ponder so that they could become all the more focused in their work.
Barry, William A. and Connolly, William J. The Practice of Spiritual Direction. New York: Seabury Press. 1982.
Betensky, Mala. "Phenomenology of Therapeutic Art Expression and Art Therapy," in Approaches to Art Therapy: Theory and Techniques. Edited by Judith A. Rubin. New York: Brunner/Mazel, Inc. c 1987.
____________. What Do You See? Phenomenology of Therapeutic Art Expression. London and Bristol, PA: Jessica Kinglsey Publishers. 1995.
Capps, Donald. Agents of Hope: A Pastoral Psychology, Minneapolis, Minn. : Fortress Press. 1995.
Fehlner, Jacqueline. "Preparation For Spiritual Direction Practicum," unpublished paper for Regis College Spiritual Direction Practicum course, 24 Sept. 1999.
Fischer, Kathleen. Women at the Well: Feminist Perspectives in Spiritual Direction. New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press. 1988.
Fischer, Martin. class lecture notes, Toronto Art Therapy Institute, Fall 1991.
Fleming, SJ, David L. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: A Literal Translation & a Contemporary Reading, Saint Louis, Mo.: The Institute of Jesuit Resources, © 1978, 6th printing, 1991.
Frankl, Victor. Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. New York: Washington Square Press. 1959.
Jones, Alan. Exploring Spiritual Direction. new edition, (Cambridge & Boston, Mass.: Cowley Publications). © 1982, 1999.
Kelsey, Morton T. Christo-Psychology. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company. 1982.
_____________. Christianity as Psychology: The Healing Power of the Christian Message. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House. 1986.
May, Gerald G. Care of Mind, Care of Spirit: A Psychiatrist Explores Spiritual Direction. San Francisco: Harper and Row. © 1982. and New York: Harper Collins. ©1992.
Naumburg, Margaret. Dynamically Oriented Art Therapy: Its Principles and Practice. Chicago: Magnolia Street Publisher. 1987.
Olthuis, James. The Beautiful Risk: A Spiritual Psychology of Loving and Being Loved. To be published. 2001.
Rubin, Judith. ChildArt Therapy: Understanding and Helping Children Grow Through Art, (2nd edition), New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 1978.
Veltri, John. Orientations: volume 2, Part B: for those who accompany others on the inward journey. Guelph, Ontario: Guelph Centre of Spirituality. 1998.
Wadeson, Harriet. Art Psychotherapy, New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1980.