Thank you to the following sponsors:

Greg & Karen Austin
Renee Getner
Tim Salapek & Lora Gibb

Family Services of Warren County plans to develop and grow our School-Based Art Therapy Program, which has supported Warren County School District students through mental health challenges for the past two years. This program focuses on innovative therapeutic techniques that can benefit even students who struggle with traditional forms of therapy and demonstrated extraordinary outcomes, but is at risk of ending this school year due to a loss of grant funding. In light of the escalating mental health needs of our student/faculty population and an increase in student suicide statewide, this program has provided pivotal support during difficult times.

Between 2021 to 2022, the state of Pennsylvania saw an 11.3% increase in the overall suicide mortality rate (NCHS, 2023, February 15). “In 2021, 22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year” (CDC, 2023, p.68). In December of 2021, Warren grieved the deaths by suicide of two local high school students. Shortly after and in the wake of tragedy in February of 2022, a 23-year old teacher at Warren Area High School also died by suicide. Area mental health practitioners flooded into the schools to provide therapy to students, and FSWC participated by offering both art therapy and talk therapy. Art therapy provided a nonverbal means of bereavement and processing for students who were not able to verbalize their needs or emotions during this unprecedented time. Laura V. Loumeau-May impactfully articulated the following regarding art therapy:

“As a nonverbal, sensory-based, enactive modality with narrative and symbolic potential, art making within a therapeutic relationship can access aspects of trauma experience that evade verbal processing. Brain research supports art therapy as a treatment that promotes hemispheric integration, linking the verbal with the nonverbal while containing affect.” (Loumeau-May, 2019).

In short, art therapy can treat mental health issues, specifically trauma and grief, in ways that conventional talk therapy cannot. The Warren County School District (WCSD) recognized the significant and positive impact of the therapeutic artmaking experiences provided and secured a 2-year federal grant allowing WCSD to contract with FSWC to create a clinical art therapy program, but this grant is now coming to a close, and with it, the art therapy program is at risk of closing. Since its inception, the art therapy program has increased 77.4% in the number of students served between its first and second year of operation (84 students in 2022-2023 and 149 students for the 2023-2024 school year). A total of 36 art therapy groups were facilitated in the 2023-2024 school year. Student-reported overall mood improved 144.2% during the course of group and individual art therapy sessions. It is common for students to report a willingness to seek out art therapy services due to a de-stigmatized view of art therapy as a mental health service. As one elementary student shared with her mother when beginning services, “I don’t need therapy: I need art therapy!” Other students who have participated in the art therapy program share the impact of their experience:

What is one thing you learned while in art therapy?

“To love myself.”

“Yes, I learned how to love myself more, and to talk about my problems more.”

“Definitely my goal: How to communicate better. How to handle things instead of lashing out. Overall how to cope better.”

“I learned that there are ways I can turn negative thoughts into positive ones.”

“I learned to be happy, not to care what other people think about me.”

“I learned that just because you’re having a bad day doesn’t mean it’s always going to be like that.”

"That I'm not alone and it's normal to feel the emotions I feel."

"That I am the only one that can fix my past or complete my future."

"One thing I have learned is how to find a safe place and talk things out through art."

Anything else you want to share about your time in art therapy?

“It was definitely fun. We did a ton of fun stuff.”

“I learned how to get over my fears.”

“It was just really helpful to me. I don’t think I can put it into words.”

"It helps."

"I really enjoyed having someone to talk to."

The gap in services in the school created by the loss of this program will create an increase of demands on community providers and remove innovative services for students that may otherwise not have access to them. Your donation will assist us in maintaining a valuable and influential service in our schools.

In addition to providing services in the schools we would like to expand the program and offer services at community sites and offer the opportunity for internships for Art Therapists.

heART Art Therapy Gala