Art therapy teaches northeast Ohio kids lesson about fighting
On the bright side, PALS is soon opening a free group class for children with an incarcerated parent.
INDEPENDENCE, OHIO
Nine-year-old TJ Bell — squeezes into the gray armchair so that he’s cheek to cheek with his mother. Together, they read his list of the pros and cons of fighting, the problem that has brought TJ to this art therapy class at a trauma counseling center.
Under pros, he lists “releases anger temporarily, makes them shut up, teaches me self-defense.” His list of reasons why he should stop fighting is slightly longer: “Get suspended, get expelled, got in trouble with mom.”
And he adds one more. “I feel sad later.”
It’s the kind of breakthrough that his mother, Jennifer, has been hoping that TJ would make.
The fourth-grader is being treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder yet he has been suspended from his charter school for hitting children on two separate occasions so far this school year.
Jennifer worries that TJ’s out-of-school suspensions will cause him to fall behind his classmates.
The suspensions also mean that she has to miss work to be home with him or her older daughter, Miranda, has to miss school to be a babysitter.
So, when Jennifer learned about the art therapy offered by the nonprofit PALS, (Paper, Art, Letting Go and Self Actualization) agency, she signed up. TJ qualifies because his father is incarcerated, but his mother’s grueling battle with cancer and a fire that destroyed their old home are additional sources of trauma.
Paying for therapy isn’t easy. A single mother, Jennifer has a good job as a nurse, but her paycheck must cover the cost of bringing up three children still at home, a college loan, a mortgage, and a car.
She hopes that her health insurance will pay for TJ’s weekly therapy sessions although she has not met her $3,000 deductible.
On the bright side, PALS is soon opening a free group class for children with an incarcerated parent.
On this day, TJ tells his therapist that he wants a three-week break from art therapy classes.
His mother says he has told her that he is tired drawing and talking to the therapist.
His therapist agrees to the break on the condition that TJ promise during the three weeks to use his new coping skills, such as squeezing a stress-relieving ball, to avoid fighting with other children.
TJ sees one catch to making such a promise. That catch is his 15-year-old sister, Crystal.
“OK, I will try,” he says, “except with Crystal.”