Creative Connection for Groups

Person-Centered Expressive Arts for Healing and Social Change

Natalie Rogers, Ph.D.

ISBN 978-0831400958
$43.95 paperback

In the Creative Connection for Groups Dr. Natalie Rogers brings us a practical theoretical, and spiritual joining of the expressive arts and the person-centered approach for groups. Specific guidelines and explorations merge the values, purposes, and methods of both fields. Facilitators learn how to ap- ply this work in a wide variety of situations. The powerful images illustrate case material and the extraordinary effects of this profound group process.

Ultimately, this book is about courage, cre- ative expression, compassion, cooperation, and raising the collective consciousness to heal the planet. No small order. Yet the dy- namic, humanistic process of person-cen- tered expressive arts fosters in individuals and groups the ability to achieve this goal as they become authentic, self-actualized, and empowered. The forceful element of creative expression brings individuals personally and collectively into their strength, honing the ability to envision a brighter future and act across political or antagonistic boundaries to a more peaceful, all-inclusive way of being.

The Creative Connection for Groups is the life-synthesizing work of Natalie Rogers, illuminating the way of comprehensive artistic expression and healing through the support, challenges, energy, and wisdom of groups. The work is amplified and affirmed by the contributions of a world-wide community of colleagues who join Natalie in celebrating a shared vision of creative collaboration in all spheres of life.
- Shaun McNiff, University Professor, Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Integrating the Arts in Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice.

A remarkable and pioneering achievement! This will be the definitive training tool for all group therapists and facilitators using the creative and expressive arts.
- Dale G. Larson, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Counseling Psychology, Santa Clara University
The Helper’s Journey: Working With People Facing Grief, Loss, and Life-Threatening Illness

Here is a source book of such compassion, depth, and practical wisdom that its span and influence could extend even to healing the hurts of nations. Fascinating in concept, rich in design, it is a work that brings the expressive arts into groups resulting in personal and collective healing and transformation. As a pro- fessional in the field of social artistry (human development in the light of social change), I know of no other work that provides such a comprehensive and useful array of methods. Here is the primer in ways to use the arts to cross the great divide of Otherness. Here is the originating genius of Natalie Rogers’s life work that follows upon her father, Carl Rogers’s own breakthroughs in making creative connections between people. This book can make a profound difference in our response to the unique challenges of our time.
-Jean Houston, Ph.D., UN Consultant in human development, Passion for the Possible

This book is an outstanding new contribution to the fields of counseling, psy- chotherapy, group work, personal growth, and the expressive arts. The Cre- ative Connection for Groups demonstrates the importance and vitality of per- son-centered expressive arts as a major approach to psychotherapy and group facilitation as well as a vehicle for personal development and social change. With its 445 pages of personal narrative, theory, detailed professional proce- dures, moving examples, numerous illustrations and photographs, and appli- cations to a wide variety of settings, populations, and cultures, Natalie Rogers and her colleagues have given us a tour de force on applying person-centered expressive arts to group settings.
- Howard Kirschenbaum, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and Former Chair, Counseling Program, University of Rochester, The Life and Work of Carl Rogers