Programming

TAP programming addresses, 1) untreated mental health issues, 2) resistance to traditional models of therapy, 3) passive use of electronic media, 4) lack of technical, collaborative, and interpersonal skills, and, 5) lack of evidence-driven, technology-based mental health programming.

TAP animation therapy groups are co-lead by an art therapist and a computer animator. Each group cycle begins with youth-driven narratives, and ends with the completion of an animated segment. TAP uses a professional three-dimensional computer animation software package (Autodesk's 3D Studio Max) as a compelling, age-appropriate medium for self-expression and technical skill acquisition.

TAP group co-leaders work in tandem to create a comprehensive program promoting adolescent development. To use an example from a current group, after instruction in basic components of computer animation, a group of court-involved offenders are creating an animation that entails a graffiti artist being arrested. During a rough interrogation, the graffiti artist character 'snitches' on one of his peers. After leaving the police station, the graffiti artist is killed by the person he 'snitched' on. During the technical creation of this animation, the youth have voluntarily disclosed their feelings about 'snitching.' Of particular interest have been open discussions around potential alternative 'states-of-mind' in relation to the 'snitching' character. This example reflects a main premise of art therapy: uncomfortable and/or repressed feelings are easier to speak on if they are first given form through metaphor and narrative. The expressions of intolerable as well as ambiguous feelings are further facilitated by the youth's pleasurable engagement with the technology. The emerging capacity to develop emotion-regulation skills (as evidenced by the youth's exploration of the 'snitching' character's emotional state in relation to his actions), in the midst of emotionally-laden experience (encouraged by the content in the youth-driven narratives) is perhaps the optimal outcome for TAP's therapeutic programming.