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​By Hillary Rubesin, PhD, LIMHP, REAT

This past February, I was honored to join the Board of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA), the accrediting body for registered expressive arts therapists. I first connected with this organization in 2006, as a wide-eyed, open-hearted graduate student ready to learn everything I could about arts-based healing.

Since that time, I have trained in and incorporated other modalities into my mental health work—somatic approaches, mindfulness, Internal Family Systems therapy, and beyond—but the expressive arts have always remained central to my practice.

A client session last week reminded me why.*

Our time together began with a grounding practice, meant to attune her body to the world around her. After this brief somatic meditation, I invited my client to notice if any sounds, images, messages, memories, or body sensations were coming to the forefront. She responded that there was a deep sense of movement in her body, which she wanted to externalize. The client asked me to bring over my jar of markers and a piece of paper, as her eyes remained closed. I watched as her hands blindly reached for the markers and pulled one out. She began to draw.

Her hand flowed across the page, swirling, twirling, quickly, slowly, following her breath and the movement within her body.

Unbeknownst to her, the marker she had chosen was white.

Part of me wanted to stop her, to help her switch to a visible color. Thankfully, I was able to ask this part of me to step back and simply let the process unfold.
A few minutes later, my client indicated she was ready to stop drawing and open her eyes.

As she took in the page, the white on white, she spent a moment in silence.

Then, she spoke:

“It’s still a blank page, despite everything that was drawn on it.”

This simple observation brought tears to both of us. For this client, who, like many of us, often wonders what her future will hold--and how her past and present experiences and choices will impact that future—the meaning was palpable. Despite everything that had happened before, her future was still unwritten.

The white on white was a powerful reminder that meaning is not always visible, and that the process itself can reveal truths that language alone cannot access.

What an honor to facilitate and witness this type of work. And, what an honor, also, to now serve the broader international community committed to the healing powers of the arts. 
 
*This story is shared with joyous permission of the client.

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