Writing Out the Inside Helps Children "Children and adolescents can tranform some very negative emotions and painful experiences through the writing process. ...they often gain a new understanding of themselves and their world and are able to make substantive changes in their perceptions, cognitions, and behavior." Thus concludes John Allan and Judi Bertoia in their new book, Written Paths to Healing: Education and Jungian Child Counseling (Spring Publications). These authors worked for years as counselors to assist classroom teachers in constructively using writing exercises and related activities that would evoke the natural healing power of children's psyches. Now they share their methods, results, and insights of that work that will be of interest to parents as well as teachers. "A central tenet in Jungian psychology" they explain, "is the importance to an individual of maintaining a balance between inner and outer worlds--that is, the inner world of feelings, desires, and needs and the outer world of work, relationships, and community. Much of the curriculum in education has focused on memory and skill acquisition. To a great extent it has ignored the inner world of symbol, image, fantasy, and creativity." The authors describe many ways teachers can encourage the exploration of the inner world. The most important tool they can use to enhance this exploration is the journal, one that allows for picture drawing as well as writing. During the week, the students can take time out to write in their journals. They are not to write about science projects, but about their inner life. A special opportunity for teaching arrives when a child doesn't know what to write, for such moments represent a loss of contact with the inner world. The teacher can reflect the child's feeling about this predicament and make a suggestion: "Yes, I know it sometimes can be difficult to know what you want to write. Why not put your head down on your desk for awhile and let your mind wander. Where does it go?" Dreams are another natural topic for journal writing. The very act of writing down the dream is an affirmation of the dream's importance. Putting dreams on paper helps get the feelings out, so the child can gain some distance from them. The teacher can respond to the sharing simply by reflecting the dream story and the related feelings. With upsetting dreams, asking the child to imagine a different ending can be helpful in supporting the development of the ego's coping skills. No further "psychoanalysis" is needed. The exchange between teacher and child, vicariously experienced by the entire class, serves to normalize the feelings that dreams express and model ways of dealing with them. Guided daydreams are also useful exercises for the classroom. In one exercise, for example, the teacher asks the children to imagine encountering a sign pointing to a "path of healing." Afterward, the children write a story about what they experienced. Generally, the theme of "the journey" has symbolic meaning for them. Confronting and overcoming obstacles along the way becomes a symbol for how they respond to frustrating situations in life. Exploring creative solutions in stories increases the children's coping skills in life. If the teacher will provide the appropriate context, the children can work out many issues in their stories. For further information, contact John Allan at 5780 Toronto Road, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1L2 Canada. |