122 NATURE-BASED EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY
A clinical story
Mary (not her real name) was a ten-year-old child with whom I
(Melia) had worked since she was five. She had been removed from
her biological mother’s custody due to severe neglect, sexual abuse,
parental drug abuse and domestic violence. She had been living in
a therapeutic foster home for five years, but her older foster parents
could not adopt her and wanted her to have a loving permanent home
that would last beyond their years. Instead, they would become her
forever grandparents. Upon becoming legally cleared for adoption,
Mary began visiting potential adoptive parents. The stress of this
experience led to her becoming violent and controlling, effectively
scaring off all potential adoptive parents. On walks outdoors she
became obsessive about saving earthworms that were drying out
in the heat. Even at a theme park she ignored the rides in favor
of saving worms. Carefully, she would pick each one up and throw
it into the moist, shaded grass. Her art had likewise become more
violent in content and expressed a lack of control. Soon, on walks,
she was visited by many dragonflies who would hover around her
and land on her head and shoulders. I shared with her the medicine
of the dragonfly from Animal Speak (Andrews 2002 [1993]) and
this helped to create a shift. Dragonfly medicine acknowledges the
burden of early emotional trauma but is recognized as a bringer of
hope and light among many cultures. In a ceremony with her foster
parents and the Department of Social Services worker, we grieved
the impending change and its inevitable challenge and gifted Mary
with a dragonfly totem necklace to symbolize transformation and
hope for the future. In the coming weeks, Mary began putting energy
toward what she wanted: a home and a place to belong. We invited
her to become a full participant rather than a powerless victim of
the process. She soon became eligible for a family funding grant
and eventually was adopted by her second cousin, who respected
her need to go slowly and build trust over time. This year she is
graduating from high school with plans to become a medical doctor.