Art that Tells the Truth: Creative Methods in Guidance and Counselling

Creative Methods are a shortcut to what we didn’t know we knew. In working from a student’s or client’s own imagination and psychological material, a person discovers who they are and what they need to expand and move forward.

This enriching and inspiring book on creative methods demonstrates the power and effectiveness of the creative approach in guidance and counselling settings. The twenty chapters in this volume focus on the importance and joys of play, creative expression, and imagination in effective learning: as we develop, observe, and interact with our own creations we can arrive at fresh insights by tapping into the wisdom of the unconscious mind. Creative methods often provide a new perspective on difficult emotions and allow us to perceive what they’re trying to tell us. Chapter topics include the following: Embodied Theatre Ecology; the Use of Poetry with Clients Recovering from Anorexia; Retirement Life Writing; the Value of Metaphors in Grieving; the Construction of New Narrative Identities in Careers; Dance Movement Psychotherapy as an Approach to Depression; Psychodrama and Philosophy in Learning Self-care by Encountering the “Unknown Other”; Artistic Tools for Psychotherapeutic Work with Children and Youth; Temporal Chair Work; Identity Learning through Paintings; and the ways in which Poetry can Help us Bridge Cultural Divides and Inform Career Learning Practices.

This volume will be of value and interest to students, researchers, teachers, professionals, and practitioners of psychology, behavioural sciences, mental health, counselling, and education. The chapters in this book were originally published as special issues in the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling.

Reinekke Lengelle is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Athabasca University, Canada, and a Researcher at The Hague University, The Netherlands. Her book Writing the Self in Bereavement: A Story of Love, Spousal Loss, and Resilience won the Best Book Award for Ethnography in 2021 and the International Qualitative Inquiry Book Award in 2022.

Deirdre Hughes is Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, Institute for Employment Research (IER) in Coventry, England. She is an international careers practitioner researcher and senior policy adviser. She led and co-edited an international series of Special Issue Journals on behalf of the British Journal for Guidance and Counselling. In 2012, she was awarded a Queen’s Honorary Medal (2012) for her services to lifelong guidance.

Liane Hambly is an international career coach, supervisor and educator of career development professionals. She is co-author of the best-selling book Creative Career Coaching, Theory into Practice (2019) and works with organisations worldwide to strengthen the confidence and skills of their practitioners.