Date of Award
Spring 5-6-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MA - Master of Arts
Department
Expressive Therapies
Advisor
Basal Zayed
Abstract
An individual’s self-concept is under significant development during childhood and adolescents. For children with significant psychosocial and emotional needs their environment, peer group, and accommodations can have a significant impact on the emotional development of their self-concept. Establishing a sense of belonging within relationships is a crucial part of the human experience. A negative self-concept can create barriers to children engaging positively with their peers, family, and community, which diminishes the opportunity for a felt sense of belonging. This capstone thesis is an attempt to develop an art therapy method informed by the expressive therapies continuum (ETC) to support the development of children with significant psychosocial and emotional needs within the context of a therapeutic day school setting as a holding environment. Through the use of portraiture via collagraphy printmaking, the level of congruence within childrens’ self-concepts will be analyzed through artistic reflection utilizing the same method of printmaking. “Portraits [are] the tangible subjectivity of the person’s portrayed remains, providing evidence of their worthiness and the sacredness of human life” (Carr, 2014, 66).
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Werner, Kelsey, "Exploring the Development of Self-Concept Through Self-Portraits in Children with Significant Psychosocial and Emotional Needs" (2024). Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 799.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/799
Included in
Rights
The author owns the copyright to this work.
