Last month I got a tour of the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center from its director, Jim Hayes, when I visited to interview him for a Closer Look story. One side of the center in Urbandale houses the children’s therapy services, also known as C.O.O.L. — an acronym for Children Overcoming the Obstacles of Life. And one of the coolest things about C.O.O.L. is an art therapy wall that helps young clients to express their feelings by flinging paint on the wall. 

The idea started with a therapist at the counseling center back in 2001 when it was located at 39th and Ingersoll in Des Moines, said Keli Hill, director of Clinical Services for C.O.O.L. Since then, hundreds of young clients from about age 6 on up have used it, as have some adult clients. 

It began when a teen client didn’t want to come to therapy and refused to talk and participate. Experimenting with ways to get him to participate, the therapist told the boy, “All I want you to do today is throw paint on this wall.” He did — and loved it — and he started talking about some of the things he was struggling with, Hill said. 

“Kids do really well when they can throw that hurt and yuck on the wall and just kind of leave it there,” she said. Often, they begin talking once the paint starts flying. “It’s therapeutic that way; it’s also therapeutic when they see the wall; they recognize that lots of other people have stuff going on, too.” 

A side benefit is that the resulting wall is a remarkable, ever-changing piece of art. Some kids have attached crafts they’ve made to the wall. There’s even an old retired guitar that had belonged to one of the therapists attached to the wall, after a young client suggested putting the instrument there when it was no longer playable. 

“Everybody has their own reaction” to the wall,” Hill said. “Some kids look at it and say, ‘Wow, I want to do that,’ and some are a little more anxious about it. But once they get started, everybody loves it. It just feels good.”