Art with Heart – Chill & Spill
Art with Heart makes therapeutic books for children and teens using a blended approach that helps children draw, write, and ultimately overcome the hardships they face. Using our books, children are encouraged to engage with their emotions through cognitive behavioral, narrative, and art therapies along with social and emotional learning skills. Art with Heart’s evidence-based approach has proven that by completing an entire book, children and teens will learn increasingly about themselves, identifying their support system while building a vocabulary for their emotions.
Chill & Spill is Art with Heart’s book for teens who are reluctant to talk about their feelings. This might mean that they are in crisis or experiencing depression, or it might mean they’re stressed out at school and unsure of who to talk to. This sample page is an example of the book’s exercises and something you can print out to try with or give to a child. These pages aren’t typically offered alone, as the books are designed to guide children through a progressive healing journey. In the page provided, teens who might be reluctant to share aloud are given an opportunity to write about themselves instead. This helps them begin to trust the book and, in turn, the process of expressing themselves on the page.
By spending some time alone with their feelings, children may be more willing to approach parents, guardians, or othe adults close to them with more openness later. For that reason, Art with Heart recommends allowing the project to be self-directed, but you can also print two copies and work side by side.
To purchase Chill & Spill or another Art with Heart book, visit artwithheart.org.
