Understanding Children's Drawings

When: 20 & 27 March 2024

Time: 9am to 1pm AUDT (Melbourne local time)

Where: on Zoom

Duration: 8 hours in total

Cost: $140 AUD

Hosted by: PHT and Lauren Snailham

Children’s drawings are a very powerful therapeutic tool. They provide a window into a child’s world, their thoughts, feelings, dreams, desires, fears and so much more. We cannot take drawings at face value and attach meanings without taking all things into consideration. This is one of the many reasons why we need to have a more informed and educated approach to drawings and their use in therapy.

If you would like to learn more and go on this journey of discovering the mystery and brilliance of drawing in therapy, then join us. This workshop is jam packed with researched information and practical exercises. It will be a busy but amazing day of sharing and learning. This workshop is based on the content and case examples in Cathy Malchiodi’s book “Understanding Children's Drawings” (permission granted by author).

We’ll be looking at:

Historical Perspective of children’s drawings
- Drawing as a measure of Intelligence and Personality
- Multidimensional approaches to Understanding Children’s Drawings

Children’s Drawings in Context
- Motivations
- The Process
- Materials
- The Environment
- The Relationship

Working with Children and Their Drawings
- Narratives
- Personal Beliefs
- The Therapist's Role
- Talking
- Making Sense of the Drawing and the Process
- Resistance

Responses to Sexual or Violent Content

Developmental Aspects of Children’s Drawings
- Developmental Levels
- The Importance of Developmental Levels
- Creative and Cognitive Capacity
- Unusual Drawing Abilities

Emotional Content of Children’s Drawings

- Diagnosis and Treatment
- Complex Content
- Projective Drawing Tests and Art-Based Assessments
- Themes and Narratives in assessment

Trauma, Abuse, Dissociation, Trauma, Resilience and Catastrophic Events 

Interpersonal Aspects of Children’s Drawings
- Family Drawings
- Family Members
- House Drawings Relationship with the Therapist
- Gender and Drawings

Somatic and Spiritual Aspects of Children’s Drawings
- Somatic Conditions Expressed
- Colour and Somatic Conditions
- Beliefs about Illness and Drawings
- Special Considerations
- Spiritual aspects

- Expressions of Terminal Illness, Death and Dying

Concrete Expressions

Ethical Considerations
- Confidentiality and Display of Children’s Drawings
- Ownership
- Safety
- Storage of Art
- Ethical Issues and the Use of Projective Drawing procedures with Children
- Legal Implications of Drawings Made during Therapy