Art therapy is a type of counselling. However, instead of focusing on the spoken word like in other therapies, the art you create during the therapeutic process represents what is unspoken. Through working with the transformational potential of art, movement, sound, or play, new ways of seeing, feeling, and experiencing the world opens up to you, often bringing new perspectives and insights into your issues.
Benefits of Art Therapy
Art Therapy ignites all your senses by incorporating many methods which can be used singularly or in combination. Art Therapy can help address trauma from the past, alleviate anxiety/ stress, learning and behaviour issues, and promote growth and change. It helps adolescents with identity and self-awareness. ‘Art as therapy’ is beneficial for the young and elderly. Art Therapy can assist people with dementia or in aged care facilities, by unlocking their dormant creativity and helping them remember happy memories and connections with themselves and others. Art Therapy can help children express themselves in new ways and process emotions that they may be struggling with.
Art Therapy has the power to rewrite your story into a positive one.
My Approach to Art Therapy
I work with a person-centred and holistic approach, creating a safe and welcoming container in a tranquil space while employing Art Therapy techniques. This approach is suitable for children and adults with all abilities and disabilities. I have a warm, empathetic, and nurturing nature, this enables you to feel comfortable to achieve your dreams & aspirations.
There is no need to worry about being artistic, you just need an open mind and maybe sometimes some extra room for relaxation and fun!
I will invite you to use the materials of your choice, offering watercolours, acrylic paint, textas, collage from magazines or photos, clay, and natural objects from nature, or if you wish to bring something special with you to use you are most welcome to include that in your creating. You can also create a beautiful vision board or storyboard of who you are, what you would like to be or achieve or try expressive creative journaling. I also offer play and puppet making therapy, sand play. We can explore breathing exercises for you to practise during and outside of sessions to help support the therapeutic process. All of these approaches bring the opportunity to practise mindfulness and enhance wellbeing.
“I am here to sit beside you, encourage you, empower you, and support you. Most of all I am here to listen to you while witnessing your journey of metamorphosis.”
“Through connecting with art, the voice that is silent can suddenly become an explosion of new perspectives and meaning”.
ANXIETY & STRESS
Anxiety & Stress can be present at some stage in most people’s everyday life, whether this is due to
Job issues
Family issues
Relationship difficulties
Depression & Loss
Circumstances that are out of your control
Navigating through life’s up’s & downs
All these issues can cause many health problems, becoming debilitating and overwhelming.
If you think back to being a child, what did most of us do? Remember the joy of squelching the paint between your fingers, playing with clay, and being lost in the moment? You can relearn how to engage in mindfulness practices and embrace curiosity to look at your life through a different lens.
Art or expression is a great stress reliever, no matter the problem. Even if the expression is as simple as making lines, doodling on a page, or writing a word…. That is the beginning of change.
BEHAVIOURAL, ADHD, AUTISM, & OTHER RELATED CHALLENGES
Art Therapy can aid a child with these challenges, helping improve their general confidence and wellbeing. The calming effect of art expression can help address and manage behavioural problems at home and in school and in other group environments. By addressing inner emotional problems, Art Therapy for children can increase their self-awareness in a positive way and help them develop vital interpersonal skills.
ART THERAPY FOR CHILDREN & ‘ART AS PLAY’
Naturally and without too much thought, children express emotions and feelings through art and play. This is a huge part of how they learn and grow. Art therapy also can bring out a child’s symbolic language through story writing and imagination, roleplaying with soft toys, puppetry, or engaging in sand play and movement. Like adults, children can suffer from depression and anxiety, but it often manifests in different ways. When unaddressed, these issues can continue on to adolescents and adulthood, creating problems in their future relationships, and the family structure.
If some changes or worrying signs are presenting in your child, Children’s Art Therapy can help
Regulate emotions
Changes in mood
Connecting with others
Sleeping or eating changes
Temper tantrums
Dreams or nightmares
Difficulties with learning
ADOLESCENCE & TEENAGERS
This time of life can be very confusing, creating low self-esteem, body image issues and sometimes a loss of identity. As the adolescent brain is still maturing and the body is filled with hormones, risks, peer pressures and curiosities set in. Expressing through art therapy can benefit adolescents and teenagers to unwind, find their inner self, and reduce conflict within themselves and others.
DEMENTIA & AGED CARE FACILITIES
Creating engages the mind, body, and soul while sparking the creative part of the brain instead of the part where language comes from. Residents may begin by protesting and saying “I am no good at this,” then they usually become the ones to engage most enthusiastically, and promote Art therapy to others. Those with or without artistic ability can find an outlet to return to fond memories or re-ignite a skill that lay dormant. On many occasions, I have witnessed people changing on both a cognitive and behavioural level. Art Therapy for the elderly can help improve mood, attention spans, feelings of social isolation or depression, and develop self-worth. Art therapy processes provide a safe platform for residents with low vision or disabilities to still engage and have fun.
