Horizon S Program Uses Arts to Deal with Children S Loss

HORIZON’S PROGRAM USES ARTS TO DEAL WITH CHILDREN’S LOSS

by Polly Weaver Smith, The Florida Catholic

Sarah and Travis Malloy were two of the youngest victims of Central Florida’s recent tornados. They were blown from their Sanford home along with their father. The children’s deaths left their classmates at Midway Elementary School stunned, but Anne Curtis with Horizon’s Children’s Loss Program was moved to provide the needed counseling. The program, a part of Hospice of the Comforter, has been operating in Central Florida public schools for the last five years.

Ms. Curtis recently held her first program in a Catholic school at St. Mary Magdalen in Maitland. “It was a joy being able to add in the Catholic spirituality,” she said. The six-week program utilizes the arts, particularly drama, to teach practical coping skills and an understanding of the grieving process. It is also geared for crisis intervention to help deal with sudden, traumatic loss.

With Travis’ classmates, Ms. Curtis began with “The Circle of Life” song from the movie “The Lion King.” The group held hands as the leader asked several members to step back from the circle. “Do we still remember them?” asks Ms. Curtis. “Yes, but we hold one another’s hands and life goes on.” As the music continues, the children dramatize a tree growing through the seasons, a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, a melting snowman that becomes water to nourish the seeds of spring’s new life. The children draw their own conclusions during discussion, and then paint a picture of their lost loved ones on the outline of a tree.

“We tell them that nobody knows why these things happen, nobody knows, not even grown-ups,” Ms. Curtis said. She also stresses that things can be happy and sad at the same time, that although 42 people were killed in the tornado, more than a million survived. She uses bubbles to illustrate that although the wind can be frightening, it can also make beautiful bubbles. “There’s a lot of happy in your life, and you don’t want to miss any of it,” she tells them.

In the fifth grade with Sarah’s classmates, Ms. Curtis used puppets to demonstrate the stages of grief – pretend, protest, pain and peace. The dolphin represents pretend because he always has a smile on his face, hiding his feelings, pretending nothing sad has happened in his life. The shark is protest personified as he bites angrily. The turtle is in so much pain, he is just too sad to come out of his shell. The gentle Florida manatee is peace. Puppets encourage dialogue, making communication easier for even the shyest child, she says.

“So many children in our Orlando area classrooms are expected to function normally day to day, carrying grief issues that are pushed below the surface. Horizons offers help free of charge. Over six weeks I see children expanding their horizons as we teach the stages of grieving, an understanding of their emotions, coping skills and how to let go of the wish and live in the precious present,” Ms. Curtis says.

Music, puppets, drama and art help the children safely express emotions and begin integrating their losses into their lives. Ms. Curtis began her work with grieving children because of a call from the Orlando diocese asking her to give a workshop on Drama and the Grieving Child. “Though I had taught drama all my life, I had never worked with bereavement groups. My research for the workshop convinced me that drama could be a powerful intervention in the grieving process. Through a friend in the diocese I heard about Hospice of the Comforter’s children’s program, and volunteered to help develop new creative approaches. I am now their drama consultant.”

Since that time, she has given a workshop on “Drama and the Grieving Child: An Emotional Balancing Act” at the National Association of Drama Therapists conference in New York and made a presentation on “Communicating with Bereaved Children: A Multiple Arts Approach” at the European Arts Therapies Conference in London.

She also makes presentations and gives in-service training to teachers, guidance counselors and other interested groups. In the future, she hopes to bring the program to more Catholic schools and possibly train volunteers to help children in each parish.

Anne says:

The negative destructive forces in our lives, the stressful emotions that come from sickness or bereavement, need a powerful antidote of positive creative forces: i.e., the Arts!

Studies have shown that being satisfied creatively improves our health. People possess creative powers that can be harnessed for healing. Adults need to maintain this ability to play creatively whether singing in the shower, dancing in the living room, creating poetry, or painting an imaginative landscape.

Psychosocial educators utilize arts activities to harness emotions and teach coping skills to bereaved children. Children naturally role-play or paint pictures of stressful situations in order to work through them. Bereaved children have overcome their grief by singing and dancing to “The Circle of Life.” Acting out the story “Where the Wild Things Are” helps them to cope with strong emotions, such feelings as anger and fear. Drawing feelings of traumatic events and then sharing the art is therapeutic and brings about emotional healing.

Research indicates attending live arts events has a positive impact on health. Step out and join the audience. Share emotions as you applaud and laugh! You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying overhead, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair [ancient Chinese saying]. Though creativity cannot keep emotional stress out of your skies, the Arts can help you understand, cope and fly toward new horizons.