I Will Follow You: The Combined Use of Songwriting and Art to Promote Healing in a Child Who Has Been Traumatized

Abstract

This article describes music therapy services provided to a six-year-old child who had been physically and sexually abused. While the music therapist had been meeting with the child for over a year at the time of this writing, this report focuses on an intervention implemented over the course of approximately six months. It presents a new way of combining songwriting and visual art to facilitate emotional expression, specifically, the use of therapist-composed songs in response to the child's drawings. The drawings and therapist-composed songs are related to emotions that the child chose as being important for her healing. Several processes are explained, including (a) how the child was encouraged to use visual art, (b) how the therapist composed each song, and (c) how the child responded to the therapist-composed songs. The paper further summarizes the essential elements of this approach, including giving the child control of the process, providing validation and acceptance for the child and where she is in the healing process, increasing her self-esteem, and providing a healthy emotional outlet. Three audio examples are included with their corresponding drawings. The clinical considerations of establishing sufficient rapport with the child, already having a strong songwriting background, flexibility with the various ways a song can be written and the client's chosen level of involvement, and collaborating with an art therapist are included in the discussion of this paper.

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