Using Altered Art for Children Who Language Broker: Navigating Roles and Transitions

Abstract

This article will provide counselors with creative skills and techniques to use when working with children who function as language brokers. Children who language broker are utilized by their family to interpret and translate information within a new culture. Narrative therapy could appropriately be used with individuals who have undergone such a life transition; however, children who language broker may find it difficult to express their feelings through words. Therefore, incorporating creative therapies into the counseling process can be valuable in aiding expression. Utilizing creative therapies in conjunction with narrative therapy helps children tell their stories more clearly, thus raising their awareness and ultimately encouraging improvements in familial relationships. This paper will outline the use of mixed media to create “altered art,” which involves taking an object and modifying it in an artistic way as a form of self-expression. This specific process used shoes as a symbolic medium, to facilitate the ability of children who language broker to tell their stories and to navigate their roles and transitions. This article is limited to a review of literature and a single group case study of refugee children who function as language brokers. Further research is needed with formal measurements and within other cultures and environments.