Art Therapy
“How does that make you feel?”
“What are you thinking now?”
“What are you noticing in your body?”
These are questions often asked in a therapy session, but they aren’t always easy to answer. Feelings can be hard to put into words. Thoughts can go around in well-worn circles that don't lead to new insights.
Deep down, there may be more that you want to explore, express and understand but saying the same things over and over isn’t getting you there.
If you have ever felt frustrated that talk therapy was, well, too much talking, Art Therapy offers a profound opportunity to expand therapy.
What is Art Therapy?
Art Therapy incorporates art making into the therapeutic process. It facilitates the expression of images, thoughts, and feelings.
By activating your imagination and tapping into the subconscious, it opens up different avenues for discovery, awareness and understanding.
The brain thinks in images. When you listen, read, think and remember, you see pictures. Long before we could speak, your brain was recording your experiences in images. Images can speak to us. Images can speak for us. Colors, shapes and symbols can represent meaning.
Art therapy is not about making art. It is about tapping into your creative process to use the rich landscape that exists inside of you to expand the therapeutic process.
Art therapy can help you:
open new perspectives and promote insight
make meaning of experiences
increase decision making and problem solving
identify strengths and build self-esteem
promote emotional regulation and resilience
cultivate self-compassion
release stress and increase well-being
increase creativity
What can Art Therapy treat?
Art Therapy can be used as a stand-alone treatment or integrated with other treatment modalities, such as talk therapy, couples therapy or EMDR. Art Therapy is effective for treating:
Anxiety and stress;
Depression;
Trauma;
PTSD;
relationship issues;
and creative blocks;
and for building self awareness,
self esteem and self compassion.
If you are already engaged in creative endeavors or a creative business, such as writing, acting, music, design, content creation or filmmaking, Art Therapy can help:
Increase your understanding of your process;
work through blocks and self-doubt;
and stimulate productivity.
What does an Art Therapy session look like?
It might start like any other therapy session, checking in, identifying the focus for the session or letting it unfold. Art Therapy can be used to enhance and expand that process or it can be the main process.
I have an array of different materials I can offer you, from drawing and painting materials to collage. You get to pick what feels right for you, right for that moment.
I will either provide guidance, in the form of a prompt or directive, or you can use the materials freely to explore whatever you wish. The emphasis is always on the process of the art making, not on what the art looks like. No previous art making experience or skill is necessary.
After engaging in the making process, we will explore what was created and what you experienced. Both can reveal insight and powerful material that may never have been accessed through talking alone.
