MARCH 2017

ARTS & entertainment
Artistic
Therapy
BY WEAM NAMOU
Cassidy Kassab
Always having been drawn to
service and art, Cassidy Kassab
found a way to naturally
combine her two passions into the
career of art therapy. The 25-year-old
Michigan native received her BA in
Studio Art from Oakland University
and is currently working on her MA
in Art Therapy at the School of the
Art Institute of Chicago.
“You can use art in the healing
profession,” Kassab said.
Art therapy is a method of psychotherapy,
involving the encouragement
of free self-expression, through
painting and other artistic ways. Clients,
facilitated by the art therapist,
use the creative process and the resulting
artwork to explore their feelings,
reconcile emotional conflicts,
foster self-awareness, manage behavior,
reduce anxiety, and increase
self-esteem. A goal in
art therapy is to improve or
restore a client’s functioning
and his or her sense of
well-being.
“People don’t go into
this field to make money,”
she said. “They go into it
because it’s truly who they
are, it’s a calling. You have
to want to serve people.”
Although contemporary
art therapy is a fairly new
practice, art has been used
since the beginning of human history
as a medium for communicating
thoughts and ideas. The oldest cave
painting was found in El Castillo cave
in Cantabria, Spain and dates back
40,000 years to the Aurignacian period.
Though researches are uncertain
as the exact purpose of the cave drawings,
it has been theorized that they
were likely used as part of religious
ceremonies or to reach out to others
in the area.
The youngest of four children,
Kassab was born in Rochester to
Sam and Faye. Being open-minded
and having a healthcare business
themselves, her parents were very
supportive of her career choice, although
they didn’t fully
understand it.
“Eventually, they understood
that it’s a counseling
profession,” she said. “It’s
important to acknowledge
that our Chaldean Assyrian
Babylonian ancestors have
an extensive history of an
art practice. It’s unfortunate
that art is not as respected
or as valued in our culture,
and in a lot of cultures, not
just in the Middle East.
That’s because art is a luxury.”
She explained that when people
come from Iraq to the United States,
for instance, their life’s circumstances
cause them to focus on ways they
could feed and support their family,
raise their children and put them
through college. Those who finally
have the opportunity to go to college,
will often choose careers that will
help support their family.
But Kassab points out that, regardless
of the vocation one chooses, creativity
is an important skill than can
increase one’s IQ, helps calm the brain,
and has many other beneficial factors.
According to Hennessey & Amabile
(2010), creativity is a concept
Clockwise from top left: Passion; Padre Pio; Sacred Heart; Art on display; Agnus Dei.
of individual differences, which is
intended to explain why some people
have higher potential to provide
new solutions to old problems than
others. It leads people to change the
way they think about things and is
conceived as the driving force that
moves civilization forward.
Kassab’s main passion is digital
media and graphic illustration, but
she also works with mixed media
including ink, watercolor, oil, and
acrylic paint. She works heavily with
religious and spiritual concepts, as
well as political and human rights
activism. Her most recent body of
work is entitled Building Relationship
where she created a survey and
submitted it to all the therapists and
clients at DePaul Family and Community
Services, asking them, “What
is it that helps you feel connected to
your client or therapist?”
The therapists and clients responded
similarly. Their main interests
in having a strong relationship
included comfort, humor, understanding
and empathy, strength and
perseverance together, and affirmation
and validation.
Kassab said the most challenging
part of art therapy is burnout, which
happens with a lot of mental health
professionals.
“You’re not only using your mind
and skills, but all of your senses to
deliver a service,” she said. “It can
at times be emotionally draining, so
I learned to take care of myself in
a very intense way in order to constantly
be available, with compassion,
toward those I work with.”
Kassab plans to return to her
community in Michigan, after she
graduates this May, and start a type
of arts ministry.
“I’m interested in creating a program
for refugees and doing traumabased
work for children and adolescence,”
she said. “When you are
dealing with trauma, it’s very difficult
to assimilate to a new country based
on what you experienced.”
To serve this community best, she
wants to learn Arabic and Sureth so
she can better communicate with the
refugees.
“They say that if you can understand
poetry in another language,
you can provide therapy,” she said.
“That’s because if you can understand
the nuances of the poem, then
you can understand the nuances of
another culture.”
30 CHALDEAN NEWS MARCH 2017