This ground-breaking book explores the theoretical, clinical and training application of integrating mindfulness with all of the arts therapies, and includes cutting-edge contributions from neuroscience. Written by pioneers and leaders in the arts therapies and psychology fields, the book includes 6 sections that examine mindfulness and the arts therapies from different perspectives: 1) the history and roots of mindfulness in relation to spirituality, psychotherapy and the arts therapies; 2) the role of the expressive arts in cultivating mindful awareness; 3) innovative approaches that add mindfulness to the arts therapies; 4) arts therapies approaches that are inherently mindfulness-based; 5) mindfulness in the training and education of arts therapists; and 6) the neuroscience underlying mindfulness and the arts therapies.
Contributors describe their pioneering work with diverse applications: people with cancer, trauma, chronic pain, substance abuse, severe mental illness, clients in private practice, adolescents at camp, training dance and art therapists, and more. This rich resource will inspire and rejuvenate all clinicians and educators.
Shaun McNiff PhD, ATR is the Provost and Dean of Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. An internationally-renowned figure in the creative arts therapies, he has written many critically-acclaimed books including Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination,Educating the Creative Arts Therapist and Depth Psychology of Art. Dr McNiff has been honoured on many occasions for his pioneering contributions to the creative arts therapy field, and he is the 1997 recipient of the America Art Therapy Association's Honorary Life Member Award.