Art Journal Vol IV: Spread 42 — Walking barefoot in the grass

Self-care is something that is deeply important to me, and I continue a practice I started in graduate school, which is to keep an art journal specifically for my self-care as a therapist. You can read more about that here and here.

Today was the last group for an intern that I have been working closely with. There was a running inside joke in the group "walking barefoot in the grass" and that is how I will always remember the group and the intern. For our "termination" group we did an intervention that I learned from a great mentor—Carol Lark. We painted watercolor paper and then tore off the four corners to make and envelope. We then ripped each of the torn corners in half (which made 8, or into more pieces—enough for each person in the group including the self). We then wrote a message to each person in the group—a message of hope, wishes or anything positive. The end of group was a ritual where each person was able to read their message to all the other group members and give it to them for their envelope. It was a great way for everyone to communicate how much the intern had meant to them, as well as for the intern to give back to the group (a transitional object of sorts). I glued my envelope in my journal to remember this group, the intern, and in many ways Carol.