Expressing Stress and Emotions Through Creative Journaling

For 7 years,  I worked as a case manager for a private child placing agency.  During this time, I provided one to one counseling with teens and tweens with regard to their physical, psychological, and emotional development.  I also taught independent living/life skills to teens and tweens.  Further, I provided case management to teen moms at a crisis pregnancy home.   During this time, I used scrapbooking techniques to help teens deal with stress and emotions.  Currently, I provide parent and family support to youth and families in distress.  Through the years, I have learned how to use creative journaling to process and deal with stress and emotions (happy and sad ones).  I teach this process to youth 5-18 on a weekly basis.  The practice that we will use in my Outschool class is one of simply identifying feelings, naming them by responding to journaling prompts and then creatively working through them with various arts, crafts supplies and journaling techniques.  The simple process of creative journaling can be a stress relief in itself.  An opportunity to share is always provided and always optional and sharing should be appropriate for the setting.  If a learner is verbally sharing content that is not appropriate, that learner will be muted.  The technique that I teach is a productive way to manage stress and strong emotions.  It is not intense such as a one to one counseling relationship with a mental health professional would be.  I will show empathy and listen intently to learners and notify parents when needed of issues beyond the scope of our journaling class. Lastly, it is my policy that what is shared within the group is confidential, yet, learners should be mindful that classes are taken in common areas and discussion may be heard by non class members.