From the Therapist's Chair: Dakota Becker on Expressive Arts
At Ensemble Therapy, we care deeply about the “why” behind our practice of counseling. We believe there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach to counseling; each therapist views the counseling process and their clients through a unique lens formed from years of education and experience.
This means that as a client, you can choose the counselor who is the best fit for you or your child. While this freedom to choose the best-fit may sound nice at first, it can be difficult to know how to choose when there seem to be so many ways to do therapy. Not only are there lots of theories on how to practice counseling, often the language behind counseling theories is difficult to understand and apply without any previous background knowledge.
As the client or the parent of a child client, you deserve to know and understand how your counselor practices therapy. Counseling exists for the growth and well-being of you, your family, and your community; therefore, counseling should be accessible and easy to understand for the greater public. In an effort to make our counseling practice more accessible and easy-to-understand for our clients, we want to introduce you to our counselors and their respective approaches to counseling.
Throughout the next several months, we’re going to take you through interviews with each of our therapists so you can learn the “why” behind their practice of counseling. This week, you’ll get to know a little more about Dakota Becker, Associate Therapist at Ensemble Therapy. We hope you enjoy getting to sit a moment in the therapist’s chair and learn a little bit about counseling from our eyes.
About Dakota
Dakota has been an Associate Therapist at Ensemble Therapy since March 2020. Dakota is originally from Dallas, Texas, and moved to Austin with her partner and beloved animals in the summer of 2019. She has had many years of experience with children of all ages and backgrounds. Prior to becoming a therapist, Dakota worked in early childhood education in which she served as a teacher in an inclusive classroom that supported children with a variety of abilities and diagnoses. Through her experience teaching and as a clinical intern within various settings, she has a wide understanding of supporting children with different abilities, diagnoses, and backgrounds. Dakota specializes in working with children with developmental disorders, grief and & loss, and emotional, relational, and behavioral concerns.
Dakota is passionate about play therapy and loves the beauty of truly believing in a child, showing them unconditional acceptance, and allowing them the freedom to fully express themselves on their journey towards growth and healing. Through utilizing child-centered play therapy as well as expressive art modalities, she strives to build a supportive and collaborative relationship with her clients to work through various challenges, concerns, and transitions. Dakota’s aim to support the whole child is shown not just through working with the client but also their caregivers by meeting them where they are and working to fit each family’s unique needs.
What is your theory/approach to therapy?
I practice from a person-centered framework and foundation, meaning that I believe all human beings have the potential for self-understanding and have the innate drive to move towards congruence and navigate their own challenges and obstacles if they have a genuine, accepting, and empathetic environment. Person-centered therapy operates from the belief that the client, whether adult or child, is the expert of themselves, their experiences, their needs, and their way of healing.
As a therapist, I have had extensive training and education in child-centered play therapy, which is the developmentally appropriate implementation of person-centered therapy and based on the evidenced-based research of Virginia Axline, Carl Rogers, Louise Guerney, and Garry Landreth. In Jaclyn Sepp’s blog, From the Therapist’s Chair: Jaclyn Sepp on Person-Centered Therapy, she outlines the core principles that guide my work with each of my clients.
As with person-centered therapy, in child-centered play therapy, I whole-heartedly trust in my clients’ own abilities to understand themselves, gain mastery over obstacles, and direct their own lives in emotionally healthy ways when given the appropriate atmosphere. Therefore, at its core, I approach my clients with permission to be themselves, with unconditional acceptance, and respect for their ability to solve their problems in a therapeutic environment through play.
Furthermore, my approach to therapy values that my clients’ experience is their reality; therefore, although I am expectant, during our time there is freedom from the expectations one often experiences outside of the therapeutic relationship. Whereas expectations focus on behavior and put value based on performance, expectancy is eager and based on unknown potential; it does not focus on the past or information about the child (Landreth, 2012).
Oftentimes, I have found that, both as adults in our own work or as parents seeking support for their children, we often look to the symptoms first. We may initially notice a “problem behavior” or lack of a desired behavior. We may find ourselves saying, “I wish I could get things together,” or “My child never listens to me.” While these feelings are valid, through focusing on the person rather than the problem, I strive to support my clients in processing and exploring what’s underneath the symptoms parents may see in their day-to-day lives. Through being with my clients and communicating that, “I am here—I hear you—I understand—I care—I delight in you!” we create a permissive environment for our clients to work through their experiences, needs, and feelings.
My person-centered approach to therapy is foundational in how I work with my clients, the modalities I use, and my overall beliefs about change, growth, and healing. Once I have established a strong therapeutic relationship with my client, I often begin to incorporate additional modalities to support the client in gaining awareness of themselves, exploring their identity and experiences, and addressing their unique and individualized therapeutic goals. One of the primary modalities I incorporate is the use of expressive mediums.
The expressive arts have such a significant power that helps transcend and connect with parts of ourselves that we may not be able to access in traditional talk therapy. While expressive arts are not exclusive to person-centered approaches, it does align with the core foundations through providing clients a safe space to explore their underlying feelings and connect to their unconscious needs and experiences. It can also be implemented with the same unconditional positive regard and sense of non-directiveness as experienced in person-centered therapy. Just as play provides words for our children, expressive modalities can become potential vehicles for communication and expression of one’s self.
As a Certified Sandtray Therapist by Texas State University, I often incorporate sandtray therapy alongside other expressive arts such as art, music, writing, etc. These approaches help my clients shift from their left hemisphere (linear/logical thinking) to their right hemisphere (experimental/creative thinking) to gain a “felt sense” of their experiences. Through these mediums, my clients are able to gain increased self-awareness, make connections, explore their beliefs, process trauma, and so much more. Furthermore, there is extensive research on the benefits of art in reducing anxiety, increasing self-esteem, regulating behaviors, improving social skills, and positively affecting executive functioning, mood, cognition, and behavior (Forrest-Bank et al., 2016; Meyer Demott et al., 2017; Perryman, Moss, & Cochran, 2015; Yoder et al., 2020)
“Play and verbal language are contrasting forms of communication. When a therapist insists children communicate their experiences, feelings, and thoughts cognitively and verbally, they are essentially asking children to translate their symbolic experiences into the therapist’s preferred medium of communication.”
– Charles E. Myers, PhD, Integrating the Expressive Arts into Counseling Practice
Because I believe in meeting my clients where they are, I want to offer therapeutic modalities that offer them the opportunity to express themselves when words are insufficient or inaccessible. Both my foundations of child-centered play therapy and expressive modalities allow for me to meet each client, whether child, adolescent, or adult, exactly where they are at and walk alongside them in their journey.
How did you come to practice from this theory? What drew you to it?
I found that I was drawn to person-centered therapy as the result of my own experiences in my mental health journey. When I looked back as to what helped me the most and where I found the most healing it was being met where I was with no expectations. I found that I had it in myself and ultimately needed to trust in my own abilities to navigate my circumstances while being supported with compassion and understanding. Furthermore, through my professional education at the University of North Texas, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to learn from leading play therapists, researchers, and world-renowned professors who met me where I was and walked alongside me, just as I do with my clients.
Additionally, through both my own personal work and professional work, I have found that there is such significant power in expressive modalities. As an adolescent who couldn’t put into words their experiences, music allowed me to find a sense of expression and connection when I felt like no one else understood me. As a therapist working towards becoming a registered play therapist, I continue to witness the healing power of symbolic mediums such as play and expressive arts.
What is your favorite thing about this theory?
As an individual who is passionate about creating an inclusive space for all people, it's important for me that my approach to therapy meets each individual where they are and in a manner in which provides opportunities to grow and have their unique needs met. Through using child-centered and expressive modalities, I am able to meet my clients where they are by trusting that they know what they need and focusing on the significant power of being seen and heard. I love that through this approach, my clients can be exactly who they are and feel accepted without any conditions or expectations on their identity and development as an individual.
“The universality of art supports the implementation of the expressive arts with any client, regardless of gender, ethnicity, ability, age, language, cultural identity, physical functioning among other forms of diversity.”
– Suzanne Degges-White, Integrating the Expressive Arts Into Counseling Practice
Expressive modalities provide a universal experience and transcend across various barriers. The arts provide another form of communication that is accessible to everyone regardless of their abilities, diagnosis, language, etc. and focus on providing healing in the process rather than perfecting a product. I love that every individual from every background has the capacity to benefit from creative expression in a therapeutic environment. Such creative expression allows them to tap into their unique experience, which is powerful when their reality may otherwise be invalidated or unseen due to marginalization, oppression, or isolation. Expressive arts can also be especially helpful for children when they are asked to be goal-oriented in almost every other area of their life. Through expressive arts, children can learn to be present to the process of creating and experience freedom from expectations. This can tremendously bolster their sense of autonomy, self-esteem, and intuition.
How does your theory view people and their capacity for change and growth?
In child-centered play therapy, the person of the child is the focus rather than the presenting concern. This informs the belief that children and individuals are the experts of their lives and possess an innate drive towards self-actualization. To break that down further, I believe that all people are capable of growth and change when supported within a therapeutic relationship.
As a therapeutic modality, expressive arts affirms the person-centered belief that people can heal in various ways. Expressive arts can give clients a voice to express themselves and subsequently contribute to their sense of personal-growth, healing, and self-awareness.
What client is your theory best suited for?
While most associate the benefit of expressive modalities with individuals who are creative in nature, you do not have to be gifted in the arts to find healing and growth through its use. Through using mediums such as drawing, painting, sculpting, crafting, music, writing, and sandtray clients are able to reach aspects of their inner world. While expressive arts can put clients in contact with their emotions and experiences, artistic mediums can also provide a buffer between them and their complex inner world when they feel too close to their difficult feelings and experiences.
Expressive arts can be used for a variety of presenting concerns, needs, and experiences and further research has indicated significant benefits for those who have experienced trauma, chaos, or turmoil as well as for individuals who are neurodivergent, children and adolescents processing grief or other big life transitions, and in supporting individuals with anxiety, depression, or medical trauma.
References:
Axline, V. M. (1969). Play therapy. New York: Ballantine Books.
Degges-White, S., & Davis, N. L. (2011). Integrating the expressive arts into counseling practice: Theory-based interventions. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
Forrest-Bank, S. S., Nicotera, N., Bassett, D. M., & Ferrarone, P. (2016). Effects of an expressive art intervention with urban youth in low-income neighborhoods. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 33(5), 429–441.
Homeyer, L. E., & Sweeney, D. S. (2011). Sandtray therapy: A practical manual (2nd ed.). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Landreth, G.L. & Bratton, S.C. (2019). Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) Treatment Manual: An Evidence-Based 10-Session Filial Therapy Model. 2nd Ed. New York: Imprint Routledge.
Landreth, G. L. (2012). Play therapy: The art of relationship (3rd ed.). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Perryman, K. L., Moss, R., & Cochran, K. (2015). Child-centered expressive arts and play therapy: School groups for at-risk adolescent girls. International Journal of Play Therapy, 24(4), 205–220.
Meyer DeMott, M. A., Jakobsen, M., Wentzel, L. T., & Heir, T. (2017). A controlled early group intervention study for unaccompanied minors: Can expressive arts alleviate symptoms of trauma and enhance life satisfaction? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 58(6), 510–518.
Miranda D'Amico & Corinne Lalonde (2017) The Effectiveness of Art Therapy for Teaching Social Skills to Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Art Therapy, 34:4, 176-182, DOI: 10.1080/07421656.2017.1384678
Laura Lindsey, Phyllis Robertson & Beth Lindsey (2018) Expressive Arts and Mindfulness: Aiding Adolescents in Understanding and Managing Their Stress, Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 13:3, 288-297, DOI: 10.1080/15401383.2018.1427167
Urquhart M, Gardner F, Frederico M, and Sanders R. Right brain to right brain therapy: how tactile, expressive arts therapy emulates attachment. Children Australia https://doi.org/10.1017/cha.2020.30
Yoder, A. M., Somerville, T., Pincente, D., Oglesby, K., Spangler, P., Ehlers, D., Kledzik, S., & Pickowitz, J. (2020). The effect of school-based creative expression group therapy on the self-concept of female adolescents. Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling, 6(1), 37–53.
Interested in booking a session with Dakota?
WRITTEN BY DAKOTA BECKER, LPC, RPT™, NCC, IPT-CST (SHE/HER/HERS)
Dakota is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Registered Play Therapist™ (RPT™), National Certified Counselor (NCC) and Institute of Play Therapy Certified Sandtray Therapist (IPT-CST). She received her Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of North Texas through their nationally known play therapy program as well as has her Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development.
