This study was completed to better understand and treat couples wherein one partner suffers from chronic migraines. I interviewed eight couples about their experiences in dealing with migraines as a patient, as a partner, and together. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by a team of seven researchers. We developed a theory that can be used to understand how patients and their partners adapt to chronic migraines. The theory was grounded in the experiences of the patients and partners who were interviewed. We found that patients and partners alike dealt with burdens and costs associated with chronic migraines. Coping, healthcare, couple experience, and identity were found to be the means through which patients and partners adapted to their burdens. These concepts are broken down and discussed in greater detail. A model is provided that can be used to create a visual representation of how well a couple deals with migraines. Suggestions for couples who are dealing with chronic migraines, and for medical providers and therapists who work with couples affected by chronic migraines, are provided.

Dialogue is a conversation situated in a view of existence as relational (Bakhtin, 1981; Buber, 1970). As a result, it evokes love—love as the constant companion to human experience that allows for collaboration, co-existence, and evolution (Maturana & Verden-Zöller, 2008). Dialogue, and its potential to generate love, offers persons the ability to understand how love can be activated within relationships and in daily encounters as a result of dialogical engagement. It also holds implications for the field of family therapy, including the nature and purpose of therapy, as well as training and practice. In order to understand how love and dialogue evoke one another, each was explored as a concept. Dialogism, the foundational philosophy of dialogue as articulated by its principle contributors, Mikhail Bakhtin (1981) and Martin Buber (1970), provides a relational, ontological context for dialogue as a conversation. Love, as an experience of shared humanity—as a “bumping into” humanity’s “collective consciousness” (Gumbrecht, Maturana, & Poerksen, 2006), initiates, fuels, and emerges within dialogue. Love and dialogue are foundational to human existence and therefore cannot be separated. This recognition results in an acceptance of love-as-dialogue. Love-as- dialogue presents individuals with a way of living that orients them toward engagement. It also invites family therapists into a conversation about therapy as a meeting of human beings and therefore as being situated in love.

Human trafficking is prevalent globally, nationally and locally. In the state of Florida, there are many victims of domestic and international human trafficking. Therapists work in settings where they come in contact with victims of human trafficking while they are still in captivity. However, many therapists lack the training and resources to identify victims of human trafficking in the therapeutic setting, and so many of these victims go unidentified. While there are several human trafficking identification tools, none are designed exclusively for therapists to identify both international and domestic victims of sex trafficking. To address this need, I developed the Roberts Human Trafficking Tool (RHTT). This assessment used a collaborative approach for therapists to identify youths who are domestic and international victims of sex trafficking. This project utilized one action research cycle to obtain therapists’ feedback and suggestions for the improvement of the tool. To do this, I trained four stakeholders who were human trafficking therapists in South Florida on the assessment who utilized it among themselves and provided feedback for its advancement. This feedback was used to make changes to improve the tool. The findings indicate that the Roberts Human Trafficking Tool is a unique and interactive tool that helps break barriers in working with the human trafficking population. An important prerequisite for the effective utilization of the RHTT assessment is training therapists on human trafficking and on utilizing the tool.

Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating illness that is the 6th leading cause of death among the elderly. The treatment of Alzheimer’s requires multiple interventions due to the complexity of the disease. The interdisciplinary group (IDG) model of care is considered a best practice for patients’ medical management (Molyneux, 2001). The IDG focuses on a holistic approach, which includes both patients and their caregivers. The IDG in hospice consists of professionals from different clinical disciplines whose collaborative knowledge and skills assist in caring for patients and their families. This study focused on what works well in an exemplary IDG, using appreciative inquiry as to the method of inquiry. Data were collected from 6 participants of an exemplary IDG caring for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The data were analyzed using the appreciative inquiry 4-D cycle: Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. In the Discovery phase, 10 themes emerged, showing the connection to the Dream phase. The Dream phase led into the Design phase, focusing on provocative propositions, which bridge the best of what is with what might be. This then connected with the Destiny phase, bringing the dreams of the future to the present. I found that what works well with this exemplary IDG is the connection to other members of the team and the larger system; dedication; commitment; and valuing of team members, their patients, and patients’ families. The findings suggested the need for increased training of marriage and family therapists for IDG settings as the systemic thinking of marriage and family therapy appears to be a good fit for the IDG.

Although research has been conducted on journaling, spirituality and art making separately, few studies investigate the potential for these modalities when combined together in a therapeutic context. This investigation explored the way that combining art making and journaling can contribute to spiritual growth and development during times of transformation. Specifically, by using self study and archival research approaches to conduct a systematic analysis of 5 of my previous journals and 5 of my previous art pieces which were created during times of transformation. Components illustrating spiritual growth such as contemplation, awareness, meaning making, connection, externalization, values and beliefs (Aten, 2011; Bryne & McKinlay, 2012; Hieb, 2005; Wiggins, 2011) were indicated. During this investigation, spirituality was examined through transpersonal and existential perspectives. The findings of this study suggest that examining a person’s core values, beliefs and how they seek meaning and connection with others is beneficial because it may be the source of unproductive thoughts, behaviors and feelings which motivate an individual to seek psychotherapeutic treatment. This study also illuminates the potential for spiritual development and maturation in spaces of disconnection.

A qualitative, art-based research approach is used in this study to explore the relationship between trauma and eating disorders in art therapy treatment. The literature review illuminates the function, presentation, and treatment of eating disorders and trauma. Adolescent developmental challenges are discussed in relation to eating disorders, given that this is the period when the diagnosis manifests. The nominal research on the use of art therapy for underlying trauma with clients who are in treatment for eating disorders suggests the importance of considering the implications for the field of art therapy. Two-semi-structured, art-based interviews are the primary data gathering component in understanding the connection between eating disorders and trauma. An axial coding process is used to analyze the textual and visual data to reveal emergent themes. The results of the analysis process suggest that art, which bypasses verbal defenses, allows the client to access and externalize internal experiences such as trauma. The study also reveals the interconnected nature of eating disorders and trauma. The findings recommend future study of this relationship and the necessity of addressing significant traumatic experiences in addition to abuse and most importantly to acknowledge trauma as a primary focus of treatment.

Our experiences over a lifetime are contained not only in our minds and psyches, but in the very structure of our bodies. Emotional pain can show up as blockage, restriction and habit patterns in both mind and body. Therefore, healing needs to take place on more than just the cognitive and mental levels; it needs to happen from the viscera of our beings, and from the unconscious realms into the conscious. In this heuristic study, I engaged material held more deeply inside myself by practicing yoga, making note of my dream material, and creating art. Used together, these practices had a powerful impact. Through them, I was able to gain insight into how I experience myself and the world, release some long and deeply-held pain, and experience healing around emotional issues. This experience provided emotional relief, and revealed resources and strengths I can draw on when I face future challenges. My hope is that it will help me in serving clients who are struggling with their own challenges.

The research objective of this qualitative case study was to explore how art interventions could be useful to teach at-risk adolescents how to identify with and develop, personal strengths and resilient qualities. The subjects in this study were receiving treatment in an outpatient mental health clinic for a variety of diagnoses and participated in a ten-week resiliency building art- therapy group. During the weekly sessions participants followed a specific protocol including psycho-education, art therapy interventions and processing of the art products. The art interventions were based on the literature and designed to develop personal strengths, self- reliance, self-discovery and communication, problem solving, flexibility, compassion and empathy, future planning and teamwork. The results indicate that at-risk adolescents are able to identify, discuss and develop solutions to their challenges using the art interventions and psycho- education and that the group art-therapy modality provides a unique tool to accelerate positive outcomes and resilience in an outpatient mental health setting.

This qualitative case study explored the role of art therapy in identity exploration for adolescents that have experienced complex trauma. The participant in this study was an adolescent survivor of childhood abuse who subsequently developed symptoms of complex trauma. She was a resident of Star View Adolescent Center located in Torrance, California. The researcher conducted a thematic analysis of the art images produced in a series of therapeutic sessions as well as an analysis of researcher response art. This analysis offered clues to the participant’s process of identity formation. The researcher found that the symptom spectrum of complex trauma, which includes difficulty with self-regulation, distortions in the sense of self, and disruptions to systems of meaning manifested in the art as fragmentation, disconnectedness, and isolation. Through both process and product, the use of art making in the therapeutic setting provided an opportunity to explore integration of the fragmented, disconnected, and isolated parts of self.

This study explores how a therapist’s personal history of complex trauma impacts countertransference in clinical work. Utilizing artmaking and journaling, the research questions and methodology are based on a previous study (Arbas, 2008), which this study replicates and then uses both data sets as for a comparative analysis. To inform this study, the literature review focuses on non-physical forms of child abuse, how child abuse over an extended period turns into complex trauma, how complex trauma effects a child, and how therapeutic treatments and art therapy can be utilized to help a child recover from trauma. In addition, Countertransference and vicarious traumatization, self- care, and Art and journaling as forms of self care are discussed. Through the data collection and presentation of data, the art responses and journaling illustrate effects and emotional responses of a therapist working with children with trauma histories in lieu of her own complex trauma history. The analysis identifies three themes: How countertransference manifests through the creative expressions used, how the creative reflections can help the therapist identify countertransference, and how the art process as a form of self-care helps the therapist is studied. Considering the data analysis from both this study and the study done by Arbas in 2008, it is observed that both subjects found that the art helped them to explore and identify their countertransference, release unconscious material, self regulate, better attend to their clinical work, and identify an increased need for self care.