Why art therapy?
We experience the world through all our senses, so why restrict how we express our experiences and emotions only to words? Sometimes, only talking can keep us telling and re-telling the same stories, but without experiencing any real change. If we use the art process to ‘see’ our story or ‘do’ something tangible with our feelings, this can offer new insights and embodied experiences, and we begin to sense the possibility of change. Using the arts for healing has been practiced by societies for millenia, and now neuroscience research has illuminated the extraordinary impacts of the arts on the brain.
How does it help?
Working with art therapy:
- engages and connects the body, mind and emotions to heal emotional wounds, resolve trauma and find physiological and emotional regulation
- stimulates vitality, health, authentic expression, creativity and playfulness
- offers us diverse languages to connect to, express and befriend our emotions
- integrates multiple brain areas to create new neurological pathways for more flexible thinking
- offers a space to tell the stories that cannot be expressed in words
- helps us identify and integrate parts of ourselves that have been walled off
- reveals habitual patterns of thinking, connecting and disconnecting so we can understand how these patterns hold us back
- provides safe but playful ways to take risks and experiment with new ways of relating and being
- opens our minds to our potential by acknowledging and celebrating our gifts and strengths
- connects us with our longings so we can live the authentic and unique expression of who we are.
What to expect: What happens in an art therapy session?
We work with diverse materials – paints, pastels, clay, paper, fabrics, wire, nails, natural materials… Each has its specific sensorial quality – colour, texture, smell, sound – and a myriad ways of processing to serve one’s needs in that moment – dropping ink into water, spreading thick, vibrant paint, tearing paper, moulding clay, or stitching soft fabrics. We may use other modalities such as poetry, gesture and movement to enrich the expressive process.
At the beginning of a session, we talk a while about how you are and what is important to you in that moment. A particular theme or need emerges which we can take into the creative process. I may offer a specific activity or material to work with, or you can follow your own curiosity and instinct to choose for yourself. We might create together or in parallel, or you may work alone with me as your witness. We might talk during the process or reflect together afterwards on what sensations, emotions or thoughts have arisen.
Concerns we can address:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Trauma
- Relationship to self
- Relationships
- Boundaries
- Interpersonal conflict and connection
- Self-esteem and shame
- Sexuality and gender identity
- Loss and grief
- Life transitions