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Children experiencing parental separation and divorce represent a particularly vulnerable group within the healthcare system. Research demonstrates that parental separation is associated with an increased risk of attachment disorganization, emotional dysregulation, and psychosomatic distress. At the same time, average waiting times of 19.9 weeks for child and adolescent psychiatric care impede timely therapeutic support.

Art therapy, as an arts-based therapeutic approach, offers a low-threshold pathway: through creative media, children can express emotional distress nonverbally and develop new relational experiences within a safe therapeutic framework. The therapeutic alliance – understood as the interplay of attachment quality, emotional safety, and mentalization – is considered a central mechanism of change.

This doctoral research project (University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany) uses a qualitative-clinical approach to investigate how the therapeutic relationship unfolds in art therapy settings with children aged 6–12 following parental separation. The study focuses on attachment-related dynamics, the role of creative media in relational processes, and the question of how art therapy can serve as a bridge between artistic practice and medical-psychological care.

This contribution aims to provide insights into how the Healing Arts – specifically art therapy – can forge alliances between arts and medicine to support the care of children under psychosocial stress.