Exploring Art’s Role in a Multimodal Group Intervention for Combat Veterans: Facilitators’ Perspective

This study examined how non–art therapists utilize art within a multimodal therapeutic intervention program for combat veterans. Through thematic analysis of interviews with 17 facilitators, the research explored their perceptions and practices of art integration. While facilitators initially positioned art as secondary to verbal therapy, they identified multiple therapeutic benefits, including trauma processing, emotional regulation, and group cohesion, thus positioning art as a multidimensional tool. Facilitators also developed intuitive rituals around the art, attributing special contributions of art to the groups. The findings have contributions for art therapists, such as the ways that the facilitators utilized arts to concretize a shared reality narrative resulting from a traumatic group event, and have implications for the use of arts in shared reality group work. The findings suggest opportunities for enhancing trauma and group intervention through structured integration of art therapy principles into existing therapeutic frameworks.