Expressive Therapies Support Services

Description of Services Expressive therapies use art, music, dance/movement (or other physical recreation activities), drama, or poetry/creative writing in an integrated way to foster human growth, development, and healing. The Government seeks a contractor to deliver expressive therapy as a complement to individual counseling and behavioral interventions provided at CSOSA. The contractor will provide these services to offenders who may also be participating in group interventions focused on changing criminal thinking, anger management, substance use, education, and employment skills development. The contractor will engage in expressive arts therapy to assist group participants in a variety of verbal and non-verbal expression in order to assist participants in exploring and potentially transforming emotional and social issues that are barriers to successful completion of a behavioral intervention and ultimately a period of probation or supervised release. The contractor may emphasize one or a combination of expressive therapies in their approach. Art Therapy - encourages clients to use art media, images, sound, digital photography, videography, computer-generated images, and the creative process as part of a therapeutic process to reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, develop social skills, manage behavior, solve problems, and reduce anxiety. Music Therapy - provides clients with activities geared toward creating music, music production, singing, moving to, and or listening to music. These activities provide clients with opportunities to express themselves in verbal and non-verbal ways in order to increase motivation to change and engage in activities that promote education or healing. Drama Therapy - uses a drama/theater process, products and associations to achieve therapeutic goals. Drama therapy provides clients with opportunities to tell his or her story to solve a problem, achieve a catharsis, extend the depth and breadth of inner experience, and increase flexibility in ways to address personal challenges. Dance/Movement Therapy - uses movement, dance, and other forms of physical activity to help clients draw a connection between body and mind. These techniques are intended to help clients increase mind-body awareness so that they may use movement to facilitate healthy feeling, cognition, and behavior. Poetry/Creative Writing Therapy - relies on reading, discussing, and creating poetry or other forms of literature to help clients gain understanding of their feelings, develop empathy, enhance motivation, clarify personal goals, and identify alternative solutions to common challenges in personal behavior and relationships. Integrated arts (also known as multimodal) therapy - involves two or more expressive therapies to foster awareness, encourage emotional growth, and enhance relationship with others. While it emphasizes the interrelatedness of the arts, it integrates a variety of activities that may consist of any of the aforementioned types of expressive therapy. These types of expressive therapies are used to complement traditional psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and other behavioral interventions. The application of expressive therapies is intended to facilitate clients: Self-direction and action toward behavioral change. Emotional reparation Personal meaning and understanding Sense of well-being Development of healthy conflict resolution skills Flexibility in perceiving thoughts and emotions that precede behavior Awareness of and skill in applying mind-body solutions to mood disorders or stress Healthy attachments with peers, family, and intimate partners.