Creative Arts in Counseling a richer and more relevant text. Yet this book continues to be user friendly in a pragmatic and well-organized way, punctuated with examples and activities. It is engaging while maintaining a scholarly base.
Enjoy!
—Samuel T. Gladding
Acknowledgments
Writing a book is similar to many other activities in life. Some say it is like having a baby and that the labor involved results in a newness that is breathtaking and well worth the time and nurturing that went into the process. (My wife disagrees with this analogy and says that being pregnant and then a mother is completely different. I imagine many other women would agree.) I like to think of the writing process as similar to a good group experience. In productive groups, many people share valuable information and give you important feedback. In addition, groups usually occur over time. Psychoeducational and task groups help participants produce a product either directly or indirectly (and it is not a baby!). Ultimately, the outcome is both an interpersonal and a personal experience. The group that has helped me formulate ideas, gather knowledge, and put together this sixth edition of The Creative Arts in Counseling contained some of the same individuals who helped me with the previous editions as well as a few new ones.
First, I want to thank Carolyn Baker, the associate publisher of the American Counseling Association (ACA), and the ACA Publications Committee for accepting my proposal for a sixth edition of this text. Carolyn has always been a joy to work with and kept me on task once again in a timely and professional manner. In addition, my sincere thanks goes out to Nancy Driver, ACA’s digital and print development editor, who not only read every page of this text but made excellent suggestions for improving it. Like Carolyn, Nancy is a first-class professional. Next, I want to thank Dr. Richard Hayes for encouraging me to write the first edition of this book back in the early 1990s. Without Richard’s suggestion, I doubt this work would ever have been written. I also want to thank the reviewers and editor of the initial edition of this text, Drs. Howard S. Rosenblatt, Stephen G. Weinrach, JoAnna White, and Elaine Pirrone. They were honest and straightforward in their appraisal of the manuscript and offered constructive thoughts that made this work far better than it would have been otherwise. In addition, I want to express my appreciation to Wake Forest University counseling graduate students—Katie Anne Burt, Dan Barnhart, Michele Kielty, Mary Beth Edens, Regan Reding, and Deborah Tyson, in particular—for contributing ideas and thoughts on counseling and the creative arts. Katie Anne, Dan, and Michele were especially helpful and industrious in locating the latest research on the creative arts and were meticulous proofreaders. In addition, I wish to express my gratitude to recent undergraduates at Wake Forest University in my class on the creative arts in counseling, especially Kristen Berry, Kaela Griswold, and Anna Glaser.
Finally, I am grateful to clients and colleagues over the years who have shared creative ideas with me and helped me to focus more on the importance of the arts in counseling. I especially appreciate the support of my wife, Claire, and our three children. They humored me with jokes and goodwill while this book was in process. I am truly a fortunate individual to be surrounded with so much that is good, growth enhancing, and artistic.
About the Authors
Samuel T. Gladding, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His academic degrees are from Wake Forest (BA, MA Ed), Yale (MA), and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (PhD).
Before assuming his current position, he held academic appointments at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Fairfield University (Connecticut). He was also an instructor of psychology at a community college and director of children’s services at a rural mental health center, both of which were in Rockingham County, North Carolina. He is a licensed mental health counselor in North Carolina, a national certified counselor, a certified clinical mental health counselor, and a former member of the Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling and the North Carolina Board of Licensed Professional Counselors.
Dr. Gladding is the author of a number of publications on counseling, including Becoming a Counselor: The Light, the Bright, and the Serious (2021), Counseling: A Comprehensive Profession (2018), Family Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice (2019), and Groups: A Counseling Specialty (2020). He is the former editor of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work. He has served as president of the American Counseling Association (ACA) as well as three of its divisions: the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), the Association for Specialists in Group Work, and the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. He has also been president of the American Association of State Counseling Boards and Chi Sigma Iota (Counseling Academic & Professional Honor Society International) as well as chair of the American Counseling Association Foundation.
Dr. Gladding has received numerous recognitions and honors. He is a Fellow in ACA and the recipient of ACA’s Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person and Arthur A. Hitchcock Distinguished Professional Service Award. He has also received the Chi Sigma Iota Thomas J. Sweeney Professional Leadership Award and the Association for Humanistic Counseling Joseph W. and Lucille U. Hollis Outstanding Publication Award. In addition, Dr. Gladding is a recipient of the ACES Outstanding Publication Award as well as the ACES Leadership Award. Furthermore, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Creativity in Counseling and the Research Award from the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. He is also a Fellow in the Association for Specialists in Group Work and received this association’s Eminent Career Award.
In 2008, the Association for Creativity in Counseling named its Inspiration and Motivation award after Dr. Gladding. In 2015, ACA named its Unsung Heroes award after him.
Dr. Gladding has worked with counseling colleagues in Malaysia, Estonia, Australia, Singapore, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Sweden, Austria, the West Indies, and South Africa and was a Fulbright Specialist to Turkey and China. He is married to the former Claire Tillson and is the father of three adult children. He enjoys the arts, creativity, and humor on a daily basis.
Chapter 1 History of, Rationale for, and Benefits of Using the Arts in Counseling
Journey
I am taken back by your words to your history and the mystery of being human in an all-too-often robotic world.I hear your pain and see the pictures you paint so cautiously and vividly.The world you draw is a kaleidoscope ever changing, ever new, encircling and fragile.Moving past the time and through the shadows you look for hope beyond the groups you knew as a child.I want to say, “I’m here. Trust the process,” but the artwork is your own.So I withdraw and watch you work while occasionally offering you feedback and images of the possible.
—Gladding, 1990b, p. 142
Chapter Overview
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