1 Newport Academy

Goals for today:

2 Newport Academy

◇ To help you gain insight into the creative process

◇ To look at new research emerging around brain mapping

◇ To help better understand the use of creativity in your/ your clients life

◇ To give you some take away ideas of how to use creativity in your life/ work

A Creative Experiment…

3 Newport Academy

◇ Unfinished picture….

◇ Break up in to groups… everyone needs a pencil or a pen and one piece of paper per group

◇ What do you think influences creative thinking?

4 Newport Academy

◇ What is creativity exactly?

◇ Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible or tangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary work, or a painting).

5 Newport Academy

◇ The Creative brain ◇ New Paradigm

6 Newport Academy

Science’s paradigm shift in creative thinking…

The Neuroscience of Creativity:

7 Newport Academy

The brain is, unsurprisingly, much more complicated than a simple left/right binary, and new research is illustrating that creative thought can be determined by how effectively the brain can communicate between different regions that usually work separately.

Creativity is really all about the connections!!!!

Connections in the brain and connections

With self and connections with others…..

We Know That Creative Thought Must Contain:

8 Newport Academy

◇ Divergent thinking: the ability to think of many original, diverse and elaborate thoughts at once

◇ Convergent thinking: the ability to logically evaluate, critique and choose the best of these thoughts

◇ One has to tap into their core self, without fear◇ Cognitive Flexiblity. Able to switch from one viewpoint to another

Recent Study by Beaty , 2018

9 Newport Academy

◇ Looking to unearth the neurological signature of creativity, using sophisticated approaches to identify the neural network activity, the "brainprint" as it were…

◇ They scanned 163 Australian participants, having them perform two different cognitive tasks.

◇ 1.“Object Characteristics Task” (OCT), basically just describing something without embellishing at all. Not creative.

◇ 2. And people were rated on their answers when asked to come up with unusual uses for random objects, looking at uncommonness, remoteness, and cleverness to come up with an overall score on divergent thinking. They also completed a battery of questionnaires about their actual creativity: the Creative Achievement Questionnaire, the Biographical Inventory of Creative Behavior, and the Inventory of Creative Activities and Achievements.

Interesting Findings:

10 Newport Academy

◇ First, they found that self-reported measures of creativity correlated well with measured creativity performance, confirming the validity of self-report.

◇ They also found that the “Big Three” brain networks were key to the most creative thinking. The default network (related to brainstorming and daydreaming), the executive control network (which activates when a person needs to focus) and the salience network (known for detecting environmental stimuli and switching between executive and default brain networks).

The Big 3 Creative Networks:

11 Newport Academy

◇ I. The Default Mode Network is what's happening in the brain in a resting (but not sleeping) state, the brain’s “idle state.”◇ Active during day- dreaming and mind-

wandering

◇ when thinking about others

◇ remembering the past

◇ planning for the future

◇ Studies have shown that in depression, anxiety disorders and other mental health issues, this region of the brain can be overactive.

The Big 3 Creative Networks (cont’d)

12 Newport Academy

◇ II. The Salience Network determines which sorts of things tend to be noticed, and which tend to fly under the radar. In PTSD, for example, the salience network is constantly scanning for threats.

◇ III. The Executive Control Network monitors what is going on, manages emotional parts of the brain, directs resources like attention, and oversees decisions and choices (the filter). ADHD and other mental health issues impact this area of the brain.

13 Newport Academy

While

Key Areas of Activity in Brain Scan:

14 Newport Academy

◇ Limbic Area: supports a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, and olfaction.[4] Emotional life is largely housed in the limbic system, and it has a great deal to do with the formation of memories.

◇ Prefrontal Cortex: This brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior. The basic activity of this brain region is considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals

◇ Parietal Lobe: involves sensation and perception and the other is concerned with integrating sensory input, primarily with the visual system.

What About The Teenage Brain?

15 Newport Academy

◇ We know that the brain is not fully developed until our mid- late 20’s◇ Adolescence is the 2nd biggest period of development next to infancy◇ Adolescents start to have the computational and decision-making skills of

an adult (if given time and access to information)◇ But in the heat of the moment, their decision-making can be overly

influenced by emotions, because their brains rely more on the limbic system (the emotional seat of the brain) than the more rational prefrontal cortex

◇ My question to you: In your work with teens, do you see this heavy reliance on limbic responses as having a positive or negative impact on their creativity?

Lets Talk About Creativity…

16 Newport Academy

Picasso said that “all children are born artists…..”

I believe this whole heartedly.. The issue is that we grow out of our born creativity…why? We become worried about what others will think about our ideas, or even worse, what they will think about us! Mistakes are stigmatized and are deemed wrong.. The fear of being wrong actually kills creativity…Remember, creativity takes courage!!!

◇ “Drawing God” story of 6 year old in art class

◇ Kids will take a chance, they’re not frightened of being wrong; but studies show, that by high school, most teens have lost that capacity… think about the first time you were laughed at by a peer/ adult…

◇ The truth is that as children grow up, the educational system focuses more on their heads than their hearts… Authenticity needs to be cultivated through creativity

Creative Interventions for Teens..

17 Newport Academy

◇ The “who am I” ?

◇ The “What is my role going to be” ?

◇ The “What do I believe about me”?

◇ Try this.. Describe yourself in 3 words…

Our kids struggle with who they are..

According to Erikson, Adolescence is a period of struggle between identity vs. role confusion..

◇ At Newport Academy, we have found that exposing our teens to creative, experiential and adventure based therapies, helps facilitate authentic connections with self, peers and families. Authentic connections increase creative thinking….and vice versa…

How can we cultivate creativity?

Especially with teens that are struggling with trauma/ attachment wounds? Not to mention the teen that can manipulate talk therapy…

What is Authenticity?

18 Newport Academy

\

With self:

*What do you believe in?*What do you believe to be true about your core self?*What do you love to do?*What are your gifts?*What is your story?

With others:

*How do you share yourself?*Holding space*Empathy*How do you share your beliefs?*How do you connect best?*How much do you trust/ can you be vulnerable?

Ways to foster creativity…

19 Newport Academy

◇ Provide experiences, in school, to target emotional expressions in out of the box ways

◇ When teens are being creative, they are 100% present.. And that is where the healing happens…

In your groups/ sessions try these tips:

Encourage creative problem solving… Ask open ended questions, provide an array of mediums to work with and encourage the idea that it’s not about “talent”

◇ “Break the rules…” try to engage these kids in ways that they don’t always associate with school/ therapeutic environment..

◇ Encourage messiness!! Teens are more authentic when they are experiencing things with their bodies.

Don’t be afraid to be real…

Invite your teens to create, by engaging in the process with them ..we are asking them to be vulnerable, you need to as well….

◇ There are a slew of creative interventions (movement/ art/ music/ play) you can use with teens to help foster authenticity….The next few slides are some of my favorites!

20 Newport Academy

◇ Anything with toilet paper!!! Make a web, they have to hang on and throw it to a peer…without breaking it… then have them unwind it without speaking.. Talk about the more people connected, the stronger the web…

21 Newport Academy

3 Bodies/ 3 Feelings….

22 Newport Academy

◇ I created an outline of a body… (see example) photocopied it and gave each student three of them, and gave them 3 feelings to draw (1 on each “body”) (Love, fear, stress, anger, sadness etc..)

◇ I asked them to use colors/ drawings that represented the feeling and asked them to focus on the parts of their bodies where each feeling manifests…

Feelings to a 13y/o girl

23 Newport Academy

M&M Game

24 Newport Academy

◇ give 3 M&M’s to each group member… Have a topic chart separated out by color: Red=Love, Yellow=School, Orange=friendship, Green=family, Brown=+ decision, and Blue=not good decision

◇ Have them pick a color from the 3 they have and tell a story to the group about that topic…they can eat the candy after telling their story.. go around the entire circle until all M&M’s are eaten

Inside/ Outside boxes, Collages or Masks

25 Newport Academy

◇ Use old magazines/ newspaper etc. to cut out words/ images that represent you on the inside vs. how you think others perceive you on the outside…Glue them on the inside/ outside of the object respectively..

◇ Process the activity after the boxes/ masks/ collages are completed..◇ Do they match? Why or why not? Are your feelings about who your are

true?

◇ Ins

26 Newport Academy

Create an Album Cover

27 Newport Academy

◇ Find out who they listen to and what type of music they prefer…

◇ Ask them to create an album cover that represents the soundtrack of their life…Focus on creating a title and artwork that best represents this..

◇ Have them share it with the group

◇ This can also be done as a group project

Draw this….it’s amazing….

28 Newport Academy

◇ Draw a tree...use as much of the paper as you want.. ◇ Add a knot hole◇ Add your age at the top of the tree◇ Add zero at the bottom◇ What does that knot hole symbolize, which age would it have been, and

was there a significant event that is meaningful to you (positive or negative)

◇ I did this at a team building meeting in an alternative HS… This was one of the Sp. Ed teacher’s drawings.. She shared with the group a very powerful story after she named the significance of the age around her tree knot…the power of vulnerability is what brings us together as humans….

29 Newport Academy

◇ Draw an image that describes you and your friends…..

30 Newport Academy

31 Newport Academy

Draw an image of who you are vs who you want to be…

32 Newport Academy

17 y/o boy, PTSD defines his “whole life”…vs. a path to the light….notice the flip of the nail vs the path…the power of creative expression!!

33 Newport Academy