Ballarat Art Therapy Group for Adoptees: Creativity, Connection and Community

By Marita Jacobsson ~ Counsellor, EMDR & Creative Arts Therapist

In the spring of 2025, eight courageous women engaged in a 6 session Art Therapy Program, co-facilitated by Masters of Counselling Student Eva Hoevenaar and myself and supported by VANISH Project and Support Worker SallyRose Carbines. Held in the wonderful rooms of Ballarat East Neighbourhood House ~ a radiant, light-filled venue with high windows looking out on established pine trees and gardens, the room radiated calm and space, giving the group flexibility to access and become familiar with the greater Barkly Square premises, now the venue for the ongoing Ballarat peer support group. This venue offered gardens and courtyards and quiet spaces, with a lovely community hum of other Saturday activities connecting people together.

As a creative offering, we launched the program with the metaphor of us all being on a shared journey together, like travelling down a river that may contain many tributaries, calm ponds or turbulent waters on the way to emerge in peaceful lakes, or right out to sea. We considered as a group, what we may need on this individual and shared journey and opened up to considerations each week, of where we were at on the ‘river’.

At the heart of the program was an arts-based inquiry process, integrating meaning making and psychoeducation through creative processes, that built upon each week and also allowed for emergence, so a structured program with room for ‘what is not yet known’ to unfold for each participant, as well as the group as a whole. This approach invited each participant to use creative modalities as tools for self-discovery, inquiring into preferences and needs for enhancing their wellbeing, their relationships with themselves and with others and strengthening their therapeutic supports. Participants were safely invited to delve into their internal landscapes ~ discovering new ways to express what can often feel inexpressible.

Sessions incorporated diverse creative modalities including:

• Clay vessel creation and painting/mixed media embellishment for emotional containment
• Mask-making exploring authentic versus adaptive self-expression
• Bilateral drawing and group mural work to deepen group formation & connections with self/others
• Stream-of-consciousness writing and keyword, haiku poetry responses
• Guided imagery, writing and printmaking to access inner guidance
• Tetra pack printing and connection to natural materials, as symbolic supports
• Collage work and group installations for integration, shared ceremony and meaningful closure

Psychoeducational elements included:

• Polyvagal theory & the ‘Window of Tolerance’
• Art-feeling journalling
• Psychological ‘Containment’
• Mindful Self-Compassion
• Embodied boundaries
• Parts work arts-based inquiry
• Francis Weller’s “Five Gates of Grief”
• Wise mind – Inner Resourcing

The group itself became a source of strength and warmth. Co-created by all involved, this space became one of welcome, witnessing and mutual care. Every person contributed not just their artwork, but their presence, curiosity and support for one another, by also sharing responses to each other’s art, by listening attentively to each other and by truly witnessing each other’s journey with respect and permission giving. There was a felt sense that everyone was both offering and receiving insight, empathy and encouragement. Some of the most beautiful moments were of shared silence, when everyone was creating around the table, whilst the afternoon sunshine beamed in and the heater gently hummed. We also found spaces for fun and shared laughter, as well as welcoming and accepting the myriad of feelings that arose on this unique journey.

Another source of nourishment was the delicious afternoon teas thoughtfully provided by SallyRose, which became a lovely ritual. These moments of everyone caregiving and receiving, further deepened the sense of connection and helped to foster a nurturing atmosphere. Masters of Counselling student Eva Hoevenaar co-facilitated the group with great skill, offering connecting stories from her personal life to naturally teach new concepts, exuding a calm, kind presence and attuned attentiveness to all the groups’ needs. Eva also led the group on many guided visualisation and meditation practices, which were a highlight for many in the program.

A case study ~ Shared with permission by Rachel

Rachel is an adopted individual who agreed to be interviewed by Marita, for a follow up conversation 6 weeks after the program finished, courageously sharing her reflections on the program for the purposes of deepening the program evaluation processes, which included various qualitative and quantitative tools. Rachel discussed having multiple diagnosed conditions including ADHD, Complex PTSD, anxiety and depression. Her background includes a history of severe abuse within the family she was adopted by, contributing to complex trauma presentations. Rachel described herself as historically being “a bit of a lone wolf”, and experiencing significant challenges related to her adoption experience. Rachel also described experiencing a sense of being “other” within her adoptive family, stemming from both explicit and implicit messaging about her origins and worth. She noted the Catholic family’s attitude that while they loved her, her birth parents were viewed negatively as people who “had a child out of wedlock and had to give a child up.” Other challenges for Rachel included complex trauma from both adoption-related experiences and chronic abuse, as well as struggles focussing and being “hard on myself”. Grief and loss related to losing both natural and adoptive mothers, as well as the grief of being an adoptee were also acknowledged as difficult threads in Rachel’s life tapestry.

Rachel had previously engaged in extensive psychological work with multiple practitioners and was actively seeing a psychologist during the Art Therapy program, feeling very supported by this person between group sessions. By attending the program, Rachel wanted to reconnect with her artistic expression, having been involved in art throughout high school, yet had stepped away from regular practice. Rachel described experiencing a profound sense of belonging and community within the group, particularly connecting with the shared experience of adoption among group members. She described finding “a sense of community that I never really felt on that level before” as well as visibly creating new connections in the group, through shared interests. She characterised this as an “accepting, belonging space” where there was “just a knowing that you shared with each other” among the adopted women participants.

She valued not having to explain or justify her experiences, stating “you don’t have to say anything too much or too deep because, you know, like, you get this sense… you just sort of know.” This unspoken understanding around shared experiences of adoption, family complexities and associated stigma, created a unique therapeutic environment. Rachel reported significant positive changes as observed by her partner, who noted key improvements ~ expressing to Rachel: “I’m finding you a lot more grounded…” also noticing in her, that she is more focussed and more present within herself. Rachel also reflected “I’m just… being gentler on myself, not being so hard on myself and therefore being gentler with him”. This expansion in self-compassion is a beautiful testimony to Rachel’s growth and healing, understandably enhancing her relationship with herself, her partner and imaginably others in her life circle.

Rachel expressed a strong satisfaction with the program, describing it as “a really big part of my year” and something that she “got so much out of.” Rachel renewed her connection with her arts practice, buying new watercolours and began experimenting with them, completing her collage started in the final session, framing it and hanging it prominently for herself. Rachel expressed that she found the Art Therapy sessions provided a valuable outlet for expression and a way to “just shut my mind down” ~ given her ADHD diagnosis. She described art as her historical “safe place” where she could “express myself and just lose my mind” and noted that the program helped her reconnect with this coping mechanism that had been important in her younger years. Rachel expressed absolute enthusiasm for continuing with both the Ballarat support group and future Art Therapy opportunities.

Rachel reflected deeply on her collage (pictured above) created in the final session, offering her meaning making of this art piece with the following insights shared in her conversation with Marita.

Rachel:

• …realised she had subconsciously created three circular water holes cut from textured wallpaper, drawing from her previous experience with Aboriginal Central Desert Artists.
• …interpreted these symbols as representing “my three families: my natural family, my adopted family and the family I’ve made for myself as an adult”
• …connected her colour choices to her life story: purple representing her childhood bedroom colour and discovered a connection to her natural Mother’s favourite colour
• …linked orange and purple combinations to desert sunset imagery, connecting to her identified “happy place” in the desert
• …shared her love of Egyptian symbolism, explored with printmaking and collaged here, reflecting her long-standing fascination with that culture, demonstrating the multi-layered personal meaning embedded in the creative process.

Rachel continues to manage multiple diagnosed mental health conditions and her complex trauma history, with support. While significant improvements were noted, she acknowledged ongoing work required in trauma processing. Ongoing grief and loss related to both mothers and adoption grief was shared as ongoing and needing honouring, with Rachel identifying grief as “a big part of it” for herself and other group members. Rachel noted that despite varying levels of openness among participants, there was a common thread of grief related to adoption experiences that resonated across the group.

The program did not replace clinical services, yet seemed to complement Rachels’s individual psychology sessions and she expressed great enthusiasm and suggested carefully considered ideas for future programs, to ensure they can meet the varied needs of the adoptee community. Rachel (a pseudonym), provided informed consent for inclusion of her artwork and the details shared here and we are deeply grateful for her brave willingness and generosity in sharing her experiences and reflections of the Art Therapy program for the wider VANISH community.

In summary

Each arts modality offered another lens through which to view the self and one’s relationships with others and another pathway toward each person’s preferred way-of-being. Overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with seven of eight participants reporting that the program “completely” met their expectations and one indicating it “mostly” met expectations. Participants consistently described the group as calm, supportive and emotionally safe, highlighting a strong sense of belonging fostered through shared creative practice and lived experience. Many reported feeling heard, accepted and supported, which enabled meaningful engagement with both the art-making process and group dialogue. Participants valued the gentle, calming and honouring facilitation style, with guided meditations frequently described as grounding, meaningful and a highlight of the sessions.

There was something special that emerged in this group ~ a tapestry of shared stories, courageous exploration and meaningful inquiry. Woven through this work, participants were not only navigating personal challenges, they also developed and deepened nurturing connections with each other. A common theme from the evaluation feedback shared was that the group experienced a positive ripple effect in their lives, in a myriad of ways. Sessions were designed to not only allow for emotional expression and exploration, but also to introduce new concepts and practices that support long-term wellbeing. Group members expanded their own creative wellbeing toolkits, all learning and growing individually and collectively as a group ~ imaginably nurturing ‘seedlings of change’, that they can continue to connect with, well beyond the program’s conclusion.

On behalf of my co-facilitator Eva, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for this honour and privilege to co-creatively journey with all involved, as well as receiving the enduring support of VANISH Project and Support Worker: SallyRose Carbines, Student on placement: Eva Hoevenaar and the wider support of VANISH. 

By Marita Jacobsson, Counsellor, EMDR & Creative Arts Therapist