Therapeutic videography

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · J. Lauren Johnson · 2015

What it is

"Therapeutic videography" is not a single manualised therapy with a founder. It is an umbrella for using video cameras and filmmaking in therapy. Its main current form is therapeutic filmmaking: clients plan, shoot, edit and screen their own short films, alone or in groups, with a clinician. The…

Format

• Typical formats in the sources:
• I Was There (veterans, US). Four consecutive half-days, up to 15 participants per workshop, split into small groups of 3–4 that each make one film. Day 1: camera skills and filming exercises. Day 2: topic sharing, group discussion, forming groups and choosing a theme. Day 3: writing, acting and…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Professional frame. No regulated profession or protected title exists for therapeutic filmmaking or videography, and no single credentialing body was found.
• Training. Ma'aleh runs a one-year certification with separate tracks for filmmakers and for certified therapists. Johnson founded the Therapeutic Filmmaking Institute in Alberta, Canada; its training content was not found.
• Who should deliver it. The method should be delivered within an existing clinical licence: for example, a UK HCPC-registered art therapist (BAAT) or drama therapist (BADth), an AATA/ATCB-credentialed art therapist, a licensed psychologist, or a counsellor. When the work involves trauma narratives it should not be run by filmmakers alone. Every programme described paired film professionals with an on-site clinician.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Disturbing content in the chosen film. Preview everything first.
• A dominant member steering the theme toward their own trauma. Isolates left without a group.
• Impulsive posting. Online comments that re-traumatise. Employers or ex-partners finding the film.
• Frustration when no photo prints. Keep the task within reach. Also note whether the skill generalises outside the game.
• Intellectualising as a way to avoid personal material. That is fine early on, but move gradually toward the group's own lives.

Problems the guide addresses

• Stuck: no story, blank page, "nothing to film"
• Camera aversion and resistance to being seen
• Overwhelm, flashback or dissociation during a shoot or screening
• Group conflict, friction, dominance and creative disagreement
• Non-adherence: missed sessions, unfinished films, dropout
• Self-harm, suicide or violence in scripts
• Ruptures: the client feels exploited, misrepresented or "edited"
• Regret after screening or distribution
• Children and young people
• Touch, staged contact and acted violence

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.