Only participants who consented to the study took part in a version of the Firemaker workshop program (Appendix G) consisting of four days spread over six
months. The central inquiry space of this research was the Firemaker workshop space. After the interviews, dates were mutually agreed upon. As there were two groups, there were two different workshop spaces.
The program was run in two closed groups and no-one was able to join the groups once they were established. A group contract was negotiated in the first workshop and confidentiality emphasised. Both organisations provided workshop venues and participants provided their own lunch. Tea, coffee and refreshments were provided by the researcher. Group One met for three out of the four workshops in an inner city library meeting room and for one workshop in the community meeting space at an inner city housing estate where most of the participants work. Group Two met at a community arts centre in the Western suburbs of Melbourne for all the workshops; however we worked in three different workshop spaces. Group One ran on Tuesdays and Group Two on Saturdays. We met once a month with 4-5 weeks in between workshops. Please refer to Appendix R for attendance record.
Three Focused Arts-Based Reflective Activities (data collection stages 2, 3, 4) Three arts-focused, active-based reflective activities happened in the context of the workshop program. At three specific points in the workshop program (day 1, day 2 and day 3) specific reflective activities (Appendix K), using drama active methods (Jones, 2008) were facilitated and participants were asked to think about their work with young people and the challenges they face. Participants were asked to create an individual artwork/performance around the perception of self in their work with youth, their challenges, and any changes noticed. These activities were framed within a
dramatherapy supervision model, which previous research has shown is favoured by many dramatherapists (Jones, 2008).
Workshop 1: Image making- clay and box (focused activity 1, data collection stage 2).
For the purposes of this research I used image making to explore the youth workers’ feelings about their work and the relationship between themselves and their clients. In general this activity forms part of the first day of the full Firemaker Program. It is used as a tool to gain understanding of the participants’ work place environment and their feelings around their work. Image making usually involves the use of arts materials. For this activity I used clay for its three dimensional properties.
Clay and Box Activity
(Note: A sheet of paper or piece of cardboard can be used as a container for this activity if it seems the box representing the workplace is not containing enough – depending on organisational structure and needs of participants.)
Participants are invited to warm up with the clay before starting with the activity, simply exploring the texture, temperature, weight of the clay in your hands. Close eyes if comfortable. To start, you are not to make anything, just explore the different ways your hands can work with the clay – pinching, slapping, squeezing, rolling, stroking.
Gradually start reflecting on your feelings about your work. How do these feelings translate into how your hands work with the clay? Open your eyes and see what shape has arisen from these feelings (without any judgment – we are just here to explore).
We are going to make an image of you in your work.
• Choose a box to represent the work you do with youth (imagine: what the work looks like, smells, feelings, others). Is the box big, small, open, closed? • Clay: make an image of yourself in your work. Think about your feelings
about the work that you do. Allow yourself to explore what is difficult in your work. You will put the image of yourself into the box. How do you fit into the box/how do you fit into the work you do? Do you fit? Perhaps there are others in the box too? How big, small, in relation to others etc., what surrounds you, what do you look like in it? You can also use other recycled materials to add to your image.
• When finished bring your clay images into the middle of the circle.
• Look at the image you have created….please could you share what you have made with the group.
Possible question prompts: One sentence about how you see yourself. What work do you do with youth? Please describe in as much detail as you can. Do you use the creative arts? If so, what and how? What is it you feel about yourself and your work? How would you describe the way you respond to the youth you work with? What do you enjoy, what do you find challenging? Do your groups enjoy what you do with them? Why? Why not?
What do your groups not like? Why? Why not? How do you imagine they see you? If you could change something what would it be?
• Feedback and reflection on working in clay: what did you like, what did you not like, and what did you notice about yourself, any other general themes you noticed? What did it feel like listening to others?
Workshop 2: Object worlds (focused activity 2, data collection stage 3).
Objects are commonly used as a projective technique in dramatherapy (Emunah, 1996; Jones, 1996, 2008; Landy, 1994). Dramatic projections into objects “enhance and deepen client participation in engaging with material from life” (Jones, 2008, p. 59). Likewise in the supervision of practitioners, objects can be used in the following ways:
• To play without any set agenda to see what themes and issues emerge in relation to the issues brought to the supervision
• To use objects to depict a situation from clinical practice, for example, a moment from a session or the dynamics at work in a group
• To use objects to create a representation of a client’s feelings or life situation
• To use objects to depict supervisees’ own feelings or issues • To recreate or explore an activity in a session or to try out the
development of a technique in order to test the experience • To depict aspects of the supervision process
For this research participants were asked to use objects to depict their worlds. They were invited to think about their personal and professional worlds and create an image with objects. Afterwards participants were invited to walk around and view others’ object worlds, without commentary, as if in a gallery. They were then invited to share in more detail with a partner, and in some cases partners, depending on numbers.
Body sculptures enable participants to use their bodies to express ideas,
situations or relationships, working individually or in groups. It involves the use of the body to create a frozen picture/statue/sculpture. The body/bodies form a still image, like a 3-dimensional photograph.
In dramatherapy literature the practice of role work is important for helping a client create a connection to either a part of themselves or another person they are in relationship with, in order to explore possible dynamics (Jones, 2005; Johnson, 1999; Landy, 2001; Langley, 2006). Role reversal is a common method used to develop empathy or help someone experience the perspective of another. Similarly, in
supervision literature the use of role work can help the therapist facilitate connectivity to the client (Jones, 2008). For youth workers the use of role by playing the young person can enhance the exploration of connectivity to the young person. Role can be used in many ways but I chose to work with it using body sculptures. Participants were asked to first depict what the relationship looked like now, then (three months ago), and what they would like it to look like in the future
For the purpose of this research participants created three body sculptures in groups of three, whereby they were asked to show what the relationship between themselves as youth worker and the child/young person looks/looked like. Each participant chose two other group members to represent a) themself and b) the young person. They then ‘sculpted’ them into a sculpture/picture of the relationship between the two. They then stepped back, looked and adjusted accordingly. I then asked each sculpted person to respond in role (as either worker or young person) by saying “I feel…”
We did this three times after each sculpture (now, then and future) and then de roled. Afterwards participants then reflected on what it was like to be sculpted and how
they felt in their positions. The person responsible for the sculptures, namely the sculptor, was asked to reflect on what they had noticed, thought and felt watching themselves being represented, and having themselves reflected back to them.
Workshop 4: Group reflection on the program (data collection stage 5).
In the final workshop participants were asked to use objects to create a journey map of their experiences of the Firemaker program. Journey maps are commonly used
Body Sculptures
The space is divided into performance space and audience.
Choose two people to represent a) yourself and b) a child/young person. Sculpture one: What the relationship looks like now….
Sculpt these two people into a form that best represents how you see the relationship between them now in your work. Please freeze these positions.
Researcher touches a) and b) on the shoulder and asks them to complete the sentence “I feel….”
Sculpture two: What the relationship looked like 3 months ago….
Sculpt these two people into a form that best represents how the relationship looked like 3 months ago (if any different). Please freeze these positions.
Researcher touches a) and b) on the shoulder and asks them to complete the sentence “I feel….”
Sculpture three: What would you like the relationship to look like?
Sculpt these two people into a form that best represents how you would like the relationship to look like (if any different). Please freeze these positions.
De role: what was it like being sculpted, what did you feel?
What was it liked sculpting, did you notice anything? What did you like, what did you not like, and what did you notice about yourself, any other general themes you noticed? What did it feel like being sculpted and sculpting others?
as reflective tools in group work. They allow participants space and time to map out their experiences in an embodied way, and then step back and look/reflect on what they have created.
Group Reflection on Program: Journey Maps
Participants will be invited to look at the photographs of the clay in a box image they created and the body sculptures they created from the previous two reflective arts activities. They will then be asked to reflect on where they are at the present moment in their work.
• Create a road/pathway of your experience of the Firemaker program. (Your road will start when we started the first workshop and will end in the future.)
• Introduce – objects are ‘representations of….’ It may include stop signs, rough patches, dead ends, highlights etc.
• Think of symbols to represent each phase: tree, clouds etc.
• When you think about the Firemaker workshops so far and looking at it represented here, what stands out as the most shining moment for you? Mark it in the right place and time: find a symbol to represent this.
• What has been the most difficult experience in Firemaker? Mark this in the right place and time.
• What have I learnt about myself so far?
• Mentors: add mentors you have had along the way.
• Think about how you feel at the moment. Look at the journey you have made to get to where you are today. Put an object at a place on your journey or create a symbol to represent how you feel about your work today.
• Stand at end of journey and look back…..over the past 6 months, have you found anything useful and has anything changed in the way you work as a result? The way you see yourself? The way you see the children/youth you work with?
• Thinking about where you have come from and where you are now, create an image representing your future.
• Share individually with the group and researcher - asks further questions if necessary.
• Share one aspect with group - “I notice about myself….” Or “A theme I noticed….”
As group process is central to the Firemaker program, the processes above were analysed, explored and discussed in the context of the group, allowing participants the opportunity to evidence their responses in a group context. Having three focus points enabled me to use three different action methods as way of being able to explore the underlying processes and how they might lead to change. It also allowed for the researcher and participants to see if/how their perceptions changed over the course of the program. The artwork or performance work created at these junctures was
photographed, and these photographs, or actual artwork, made available for participants to review their work in ‘visual’ form as they reflected on both the experiential learning (inter-reflexive) as well as their internal processes (intra-reflexive).
All focused arts activities were transcribed for each group and replayed on video if necessary, to see where participants sat and how they engaged, especially if I was uncertain in my memory.
Table 7: Length of focused arts activity transcriptions
Clay and box Object worlds Body sculptures Group evaluation
Group 1 18 pages 4716 words 6 pages 1636 words 24 pages 4447 words 13 pages 3977 words Group 2 24 pages 6078 words 7 pages 1728 words 20 pages 3591 words 19 pages 4067 words
Note on Art Data
Literature on the ethics of using participants’ art work is extensive in arts
therapy practice and research (Kapitan, 2010; Leenstra, Goldstraw, & Rumbold, 2014). How art work is collected, interpreted and exhibited requires careful ethical
consideration (Kapitan, 2010). Arts therapists are trained to be ethically sensitive to how art is created in therapy.
Scientists value the various aspects of the art images created in art therapy because art supplies essential data for their investigations. Social scientists study people in all their complexity and are not without compassion or regard for their wellbeing. Throughout the research process and whatever the
methodological framework chosen, how art therapist researchers view, describe, and interpret artworks, and how they apply the knowledge gained, must be ethically sensitive to the people and phenomena that contributed to the study. (Kapitan, 2010, p. 33)
Meaning making and reflection on art making was done in the context of the group. Each participant was invited to speak for themselves and think together with the researcher and co participants about the process of creation. I collected and safely stored all artworks created in each workshop (as is common practice within arts therapy), as symbolic of the ongoing relationship, until the last/closing session. After the fourth day of workshops, participants were invited to take home any of the art work they had created. I also photographed all art work after each workshop and made them available at the beginning of each workshop for participants to reflect back on what we had created and done in the previous workshops. In the final workshop I gave each person a complete photographic record of their work. They were able to take them home or leave them behind if they wished. No identifying features were attached to photographs or art work.