By definition, the social worker’s job is to assist the needs of a society’s vulnerable members; including, and especially, children facing personal upheaval, family trauma, or life crises. Social work itself is an art – a practice that relies on creative problem solving and the ability to communicate beyond simple conversations. Social workers, particularly those whose practice focuses on the young, often nurture artistic traits used to engage even the most uncommunicative child. 

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The arts offer social workers an alternate route to the inner workings and daily concerns of a child’s developing mind. When a young person’s world is abruptly, and possibly permanently, disrupted by parental absence, addiction, divorce, mental health crises or death, he or she may retreat inwardly in an effort to protect themselves from the turbulence of their home environment. 

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By focusing on an immediate, unrelated creative task such as problem solving, while creating jewelry, the child gains confidence and the self-assurance to let their guard down with an invested social work professional or dedicated university student working on their masters who participates in the creative process alongside them.

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