Abstract

Grief is a universal experience that can result from variety of losses throughout one’s life (Rogers, 2007). Losing a primary caregiver during adolescence, a critical developmental period between the ages of 10-19 years of age (World Health Organization, 2020), can be a difficult and life-changing experience. Through the unfolding of the grief process, the adolescent will also be experiencing significant cognitive, social and physical changes, as well as being faced with the developmental task of individuation and the formation of identity (Balk & Corr, 2009). Museum art therapy is an innovative development in public practice of art therapy, providing an novel opportunity to meaningfully engage with the collection and space in the therapeutic process (Henry et al., 2019; Treadon et al., 2006). Through bridging cultural spaces and art therapy, this model is centered on the belief that mental health and well-being are innately connected to building meaningful connections in a social and environmental context (Timm-Bottos, 2017). This research paper will address the question: how can weekly group art therapy in an art museum context support adolescents who have lost a caregiver in creating meaning from loss? The proposed 8-week intervention program design will integrate current narrative bereavement theories of the Meaning-Reconstruction Model (Neimeyer, 1998) and the Dual Process Model of Grief (Stroebe & Schut, 1999) to the therapeutic potential of the museum collection and space.