Processing past events

The therapist helps children to think about and make senses of past events in their life, particularly those which had been very difficult or traumatic for the child.

It may be helpful to make links between past events and current behaviours.

If the child’s response to the trauma has been to try to bury their feelings and if they have developed counter-productive coping mechanisms, the therapist might open up discussions to begin processing the events. This will help the child to think about responding in more helpful ways.

The art materials can help in this step.

Quote from a practicing dyadic art therapist:

‘I think the art making process helps contain some of the very difficult feelings that are emerging and […] it might be a painful thing that can’t be spoken about but actually it’s being held in that way […] and at some point you can bring it back and maybe they are ready when we’re further down the line.’

Related goal

This step is related to achieving the goal dealing with events.