Finding Courage in Creativity

Finding courage i n Creativity

Story by Holly Hunter | Photos by Jack Royer | Design by Kayla Craig

You’ve just woken up and it’s another day of avoiding the plethora of check-in texts from your friends and barely making it out of bed to get to class on-time. It looks like your anxiety has sparked again. However, you don’t have to live in this state forever.

One way students are learning to manage the stressors of college life is by trying art therapy. This is a technique utilized to help students express their personality and emotions through channels that traditional therapy doesn’t allow.

According to the American Art Therapy Association, “Art therapy is [a] … profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.”

Creative therapy is more than just using different art forms such as music or painting to cope with anxiety; it allows people to connect with their emotions on a different level. “It taps into another part of our brain that often we can’t tap into with verbal communication. Many of our early memories are implicit and non-verbal, and often when we experience trauma, it’s similarly difficult to talk about,” explains Amy Claridge, associate professor of Family and Child Life.

“Art therapy allows for a less direct way to communicate about complicated emotions and begin to make meaning of them,” she adds. This acts as a new form of opening communication channels about common issues college students are facing.

It’s known that a lot of people struggle with anxiety. In the U.S. alone, around 40 million people struggle with this mental illness, making it the most common according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Nobody should have to feel like they are alone in the fight against anxiety, even though it may appear at times like you don’t have any other choice. Art therapy can help students and people of all ages be able to express their emotions in a positive way.

“Art can be used for the greater good,” says Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Design, Rachel Hall Kirk. “Many artists make artwork for themselves. It’s great when we artists can guide others to use art as a means of personal expression and release.”

The Benefits for Students Art therapy isn’t just to treat people who struggle with anxiety. This therapy can help people of all ages with all different types of backgrounds.

“It can help people with degenerative diseases to stay physically active, and it provides mental stimulation to people with dementia or Alzheimer’s to keep their brains alert,” says Kirk. “Art therapy has been used in prisons to help rehabilitate the inmates to help them integrate back into society in positive ways.”

This new form of therapy has the power to help so many people. Ambree Hollenberry, senior Psychology major and future art therapist, explains that it “can be used in many different ways such as with individuals who have PTSD, ASD, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, anxiety, drug abuse and can also be used as a form of family therapy and even in hospitals for those who are terminally ill.” In relation to those facing serious diseases such as drug addiction, Hollenberry says that her “hope is to be a resource for those who seek healing and to give them the tools to be resilient and recognize that there is greatness in them.”

Art therapy can be beneficial because there’s something for everyone within this kind of practice. “[It] is not just for those with medical or mental health needs. It promotes all values and beliefs and strives to improve emotional, creative and even spiritual growth,” Hollenberry says.

Central currently doesn’t offer any classes for students who are interested in pursuing art therapy as a career which creates a lack of publicity toward what this field can do for people.

“I wholeheartedly believe the university should implement classes geared toward art therapy. These classes would do well where there is a high volume of psychology, family [and] child life and family consumer science majors,” explains Hollenberry.

Art therapy may not be for everyone who struggles with mental illness or other issues, but it can be very beneficial to the right people. A common misconception with this form of treatment is that you have to have something wrong with you to get this type of help. That’s not true.

Art therapy simply dives into a deeper level of those creative outlets for people who may need more assistance. Don’t feel afraid to reach out to professionals, friends or professors to see if art therapy is something you could try to help better your life.

To Be Young & InLove Story by Amy Morris | Photos by Kassandra Eller | Design by Sara Roach

If your significant other proposed to you today, would you say yes? Some people know immediately upon first glance if they are going to marry someone, while for others it can take years. Marriage is a lifelong commitment, and no one can predict the future or know for certain if they will always be happy in the partnership. When it comes down to it, statistics and uncertainty don’t seem to matter when two people are in love and ready for the commitment.

In this Q&A, PULSE interviewed three people who got engaged at a young age. Kristen Jones is a 23-yearold graduate student in Psychology planning to get married this August. Cassidy Walker, junior Graphic Design major, is engaged to Austin Nowak, junior Business Administration major with a specialization in Human Resources.

1. Did you always know that you wanted to get married at a young age?

JONES: No, this is actually my first serious relationship. We met my freshman year of college, so I didn’t think ‘oh yeah I want to get married in my early 20s,’ but we have been together for four years now and it just kind of made sense.

WALKER:No, I thought I would get married in my mid-to-late 20s.

NOWAK: I always had this funny feeling that I would be married a little earlier on. I didn’t know how exactly that was going to work, but I was like, ‘I think it is going to happen.’

2. What struggles do you face being married young?

JONES:Definitely the financial aspect because I don’t have a high paying job to be able to have an extravagant wedding or anything. I guess trying to figure out our lives and feeling pressured to figure that out quickly.

WALKER:People questioning our age. There is a little bit of doubt that goes into it since we are so young. People are like ‘oh, you guys will change, and things will be different after a while,’ but it is all about the commitment that we are deciding to make right now. We both fully know what that entails.

NOWAK: Worrying about finances and what that is going to look like in the future. Both kind of worked out in God’s timing. We both actually have really good jobs right now, so it’s really nice because it assures us that as we go into a season of marriage and we both will be able to provide.

3. How did you know this person was the one you wanted to marry?

JONES:I think after about a year in, we really connected and had a lot of similar values and passions. I just saw a lot of myself in him. I am really drawn to people who are similar to me and who I can share hobbies with.

WALKER: It sounds cliché but I just knew. A little bit further into our relationship we started growing in our faith together and having that foundation really solidified it. We really started talking about it early on, but having that foundation, having our faith together … really solidified that we could commit and make this work forever.

NOWAK: In the very beginning I didn’t want to be in another relationship. I wasn’t really following Christ at the time. Then when I pursued back into my faith, I struggled with this question of asking God whether He had somebody for me. That person specifically was Cassidy.

4. Do you think people who get married young face a negative stigma?

JONES: Yeah, I think they do. A lot of it is because people are uninformed, but I also think it depends on the situation. I think the stigma exists for a good reason. For some people they really shouldn’t be getting married young and for others it could make a lot of sense.

WALKER: I think there is somewhat of a negative view. People saying that ‘you guys are going to change and you don’t know what the future holds yet. You’re not even out of college, you don’t know what you are going to be doing.’ I think there is value in facing those challenges together though and being together as you change rather than ‘oh I am still going to change, I can’t commit yet.’

NOWAK: I think the big one is not only with people changing, but also the trust aspect. When you say ‘I do,’ that is commitment. That is a covenant you make. I think in everybody’s lives, we are all afraid of fully committing to someone. I guess the negative outlook is that fear and worry [of] saying yes to … forever.

5. What advice do you have for people who want to get married at a young age?

JONES:I think really just taking your time … we have been together for four years and it wasn’t an impulse decision. It’s really about being in a stable place in life and making sure that you can support each other.

WALKER: Don’t be dumb about it. Make sure you have enough money to be able to make a commitment. Financially you have to be able to support yourself. So, make sure you are ready, but don’t wait for the perfect moment. There is never going to be a perfect moment. If you are ready and have the right person, then make it work.

NOWAK: I say go for it if you are confident. A big thing is knowing the commitment and knowing it is ‘til death do us part. If you are worrying about finances, if you are worrying about the future, I mean you get [to] spend forever worrying about what is to come. It is all about trust.

 egnant? You don’t have to make decisions alone.

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