Webster University student Emerald DuBose plans to help others through the arts.
DuBose is completing her Expressive Art Therapy certificate at Webster.
Expressive art therapy is a form of therapy that allows for self-discovery and expression through different mediums like writing, music, visual arts, drama, cooking, pottery and dance. People typically work with a trained therapist who guides them through the process and helps them understand their reactions to their experiences.
“It’s more beneficial [than traditional therapy] because not everybody is in the same place,” DuBose said. “Some people just physically cannot talk about it or cannot get the words out to express it. Expressive arts therapy kind of gives them the outlet to get it out without necessarily having to say anything.”
The potential of expressive art is broad and applicable to all age groups. This specific kind of therapy allows people to express themselves non-verbally while still releasing their emotions and addressing the root cause of any issues.
She wants to take expressive art therapy to the next level.
DuBose plans to open a community center emphasizing mental health that incorporates expressive art therapy after she graduates. She aspires to specifically target the center toward Black youth in St. Louis as a positive outlet for them.
“It’s just an all-purpose place for them to get into something that’s a bit more positive and more constructive, rather than going into the streets and getting affiliated with a gang or getting into drugs or guns,” she said. “Just giving them another option.”
Her “dream facility” would house multiple floors, each designed for and dedicated to a specific purpose. She hopes to include a gymnasium, art studio, music room and traditional therapy office spaces in the building.
“I want it to be like a kid in a candy store,” she said. “The possibilities are endless.”
Webster’s Expressive Arts Therapy undergraduate program requires each student to design, produce, and document an intervention project for their peers that follows the key concepts of expressive arts therapy and incorporates expressive therapy in some way.
Her project uses the therapeutic modalities of music, writing and photography in order to help guide her classmates through the theme of grief and loss.
The intervention project DuBose constructed requires each person to write a letter to someone or something they lost, and write what they wish they could have said to them. Students are then encouraged to read their letter to a partner in class and then use photos they bring in to explain each of the five stages of grief. She will walk her peers through the stages in depth and explain the realities of each.
She plans to post the results of the intervention project to a private Instagram account so she and her classmates can later reflect on the experience.
Director of Expressive Arts Therapy Carol Hodson believes DuBose has found a career direction that is in perfect alignment with the future she longs for. She said she uses creative approaches to transform difficulties into strengths, patience and clarity of intention.
“Emerald possesses an old soul. She perseveres with a heavy course load, life challenges, and deep faith. These traits, and a delightfully wry sense of humor will guarantee that she will be a ‘success’ in whatever way she defines,” Hodson said.
DuBose has realized that expressive arts therapy, while less common than traditional methods, has the potential to change someone’s life.
“Expressive art therapy is something that everyone can do,” DuBose said. “If you have any life experiences that you want to work through, but don’t really have the words to verbally do it, this is for you. If you have unresolved trauma and just don’t know where or how to work through it, this is for you. There’s no limit to the modalities that you can use to do what works best and feels right for you.”
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