PhotoTherapy & the use of PhotoTherapy Cards

1. PhotoTherapy & the use of PhotoTherapy Cards Diane Hovey, PhD, LAMFT, CPT

2. Workshop Overview 1st Session (1:45 to 3:15) • What is PhotoTherapy – and what are phototherapy cards? • Theoretical basis • Why the need • How they are used 2nd Session (3:30 to 5:00) • Hands on – practice using the phototherapy cards • Alternative uses • Participation required!

3. PhotoTherapy Techniques PhotoTherapy techniques  are therapy practices that use people's personal snapshots, family albums, and pictures taken by others (and the feelings, thoughts, memories, and associations these photos evoke) as catalysts to deepen insight and enhance communication during their therapy or counseling  sessions (conducted by trained mental health professionals), in ways not possible using words alone. Judy Weiser -- www.phototherapy-centre.com

4. Fields of Study Related to PhotoTherapy • Visual Anthropology/Sociology • Video Therapy • Photographic and Cultural Studies • Photo Art Therapy • Therapeutic Photography

5. Use of PhotoTherapy • Presentations – conveying lived experience to those without similar outside • Group therapy & workshops • Research • Individual, family & couple therapy development of PhotoTherapy Cards

6. What is a child’s life enmeshed in a service delivery system focused on body parts? Therapies, braces, equipment, medications, medical appointments, educational needs and personal cares – prescribed by professionals – appropriated by gate keepers. But the child -- where is the focus on my child?

7. A healthy child needs to be part of a community that can celebrate with her and for her.

8. Group Therapy – Writing the Rollercoaster

9. Workshop – Illuminating the Fog

10. Research – meanings of living with disability or chronic illness I have to smile when I look in our “snack” cupboard. I spend time looking for the highest fat content on each box and bag of snacks I buy. The higher the better. How different from the way my friends think . . . . than the rest of America.

11. PhotoTherapy Cards Why Cards? – when the other techniques are so rich • Ease of use • Can use when needed without prep • Can be used when in a pinch to change dynamics, get out of a rut • Based on research – offers possibilities (ideas & feelings) that may not otherwise be explored • Offers a new language for expressing feelings • A convenient tool for engaging clients in reflective thinking and expression of thoughts and feelings typically difficult to express

12. PhotoTherapy Cards:Development & Theoretical Foundation Idea for the PhotoTherapy Cards stemmed from the uses already mentioned – communicating lived experience, meanings research and use in workshops and group therapy. The selection of the specific images are based on: • ongoing collection of data • What is it like to live with an ongoing health condition? • List five words . . . _________________ • Stress and family systems theories • Meanings research

13. Boss Contextual Model of Family Stress

14. MEANINGS situational family identity world view CAPABILITIES resources coping behaviors DEMANDS stressors strains daily hassles Adjustment Phase The Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response (FAAR) Model + FAMILY ADJUSTMENT - - crisis crisis CRISIS MEANINGS situational family identity world view Adaptation Phase DEMANDS stressors strains daily hassles CAPABILITIES resources coping behaviors - + - FAMILY ADAPTATION

19. Intake Information - excerpt What is your primary concern or worry related to the current issue? Worried about the effect we will have on the children whether we stay together or split apart. I don’t want to walk on eggshells anymore. List five words that describe your thoughts and feelings related to your primary concern? ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ Worried Tired Numb Indifferent uncertain

20. Five Words

21. Photo Therapy Cards • Assist in moving beyond language bound barriers • Opens a new way to convey experience WITHOUT the preconceived notion that the therapist and the youth are speaking the same language • Actively engages individual in discovery process • Individual feels better understood and more engaged in their own healing process

22. The PhotoTherapy CardsTMhelp make it possible to: • express complex feelings • talk about guarded thoughts • think multi-dimensionally • get out of a rut or move beyond a plateau • recognize salient aspects of an issue not previously seen • give a tangible way to express feelings • unpack multi-level meanings that impact lives • interweave contradictory thoughts and feelings • make the chaos of emotions more comprehensible

23. Sample Exercise Consider an issue or concern that is currently on your mind. • Family challenge (child or partner’s ongoing illness) • Work demands (to move office or not) • Client issue (do the needs of the demanding client reflect my own needs) • Personal reflection (am I doing the work I need to be doing?) Select one of several of the images and use them to reflect on your current concern. • Jot downs thoughts

24. Photo Therapy Card Selection • Sorting & narrowing the selection • Discussing the selection • Tell me about your selection. • Do not assert your personal interpretations • Build discussion based on client’s comments

25. Using the Photo Therapy Cards • There are no right or wrong selections • A good selection is one that honestly reflects ones current thoughts and feelings • The therapist should not make assumptions about the selections

26. Weathering Your Marriage On-line quiz Weathering Your Relationship http://aheartt.limequery.com/26761/lang-en www.aheartt.com

27. Weathering Your Marriage On-line quiz Weathering Your Relationship http://aheartt.limequery.com/26761/lang-en www.aheartt.com