Rehab centers are filled with patients who may struggle with the spoken word. Patients go into therapy without the ability to express their thoughts properly, but their minds are constantly producing new ideas that cannot be converted into speech. Keeping a journal can become a very important part of therapy for those who do not speak their thoughts well.
#1: Private Journaling
Someone who struggles with their speech may keep a private journal that is not to be shared with their therapist. The private journal is a place for patients to keep thoughts that are about family and friends. These thoughts may be so personal that they are not to be shared with a therapist. Any other thoughts that help with therapy may be kept in a therapy journal that is reviewed with the counselor at each session.
#2: The Therapy Journal
The therapy journal is a document that patients share with their therapist at each session. The thoughts that come to mind during the week can be expressed on paper for the therapist to review, and the therapist may ask questions based on what they see in the journal.
Patients may not know how to respond, but they are giving counselors information that will help in therapy. The therapy journal is the private property of the patient once therapy is over.
#3: Responding Inside The Journal
Counselors and their patients may respond to each other inside the journal. Someone who is extremely timid may not feel comfortable speaking in any way. The journal can become a place where the counselor and patient have a private conversation via the written word. The patient who needs extra encouragement may read that encouragement inside their journal, and the counselor can write homework inside the journal for future reference.
#4: Drawing
Patients who struggle with speech may choose to draw inside their journals. Drawings can become representations of things that have happened in the past, thoughts that cloud their minds and ideas that come to mind. Counselors are trained to interpret drawings from their patients, and a patient may reveal more about their past experience through a drawing than anything else.
Patients who like drawing may find the practice therapeutic. Keeping an art journal will help the patient express their emotions without using words, and those drawings could become magnificent works of art. Counselors are often extremely impressed with the drawings of their patients, and patients receive a boost in confidence when their work is praised.
#5: Recounting Memories
Patients who have trouble remembering things that happened in the past may use drawing or writing to recover those memories. The fleeting thoughts of a patient may become a story of drawing that accurately depicts a past life experience. The patient is not able to fully explain what happened, but the patient can create something that paints a clearer picture for the counselor. Every patient should feel free to draw or write as their memories come back to them, and the most painful memories are best expressed as art.
The journal is only the beginning of healing for patients in rehab. Rehab takes time, and patients must have something to occupy their time while they get clean. The journal can become a source of comfort for patients, and a therapy journal will help patients with their professional therapists. The act of drawing and writing is a primal instinct that can be used to recover the memories of the past, recover sobriety in the present and help counselors find peace with their patients. Sharing the journal is a simpler way of expressing vulnerable for the most shy patients.
ABOUT
Elliot Caleira is a freelance writer in the self-mastery and health and wellness spaces. When he's not writing you'll find him cooking or teaching Portuguese classes.
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