Art Therapy

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses art-making and the creative process to support emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. It invites self-expression and self-discovery, offering a powerful way to explore and process emotions, trauma, and life experiences.

Art therapists are trained to apply evidence-based, trauma-informed interventions, expressive arts and play offers a holistic and embodied pathway for healing as individuals

  • Informed by the Brain–Body Connection
    Expressive arts therapy integrates neurodevelopment and neurobiology to support the reconnection of sensory and emotional memories, helping individuals process trauma through both body and mind.

  • Supports Self-Regulation & Co-Regulation
    Creative, action-oriented methods help individuals manage their experiences by building their internal resources and supporting co-regulation in safe, therapeutic relationships and group settings.

  • Helps Identify and Ameliorate the Body's Experience of Distress
    Trauma is stored in the body, expressive arts applications invite embodied exploration. Art-making helps individuals notice, express, and gently shift somatic responses, honouring the body as a resource rather than a problem.

  • Establish & Support a Sense of Safety, Positive Attachment & Connection
    Reconnecting with a sense of safety is central to trauma-informed practice. Expressive arts approaches are used to help individuals recover a sense of well-being internally and in relationships with others.

  • Focusing on the Individuals Resilience & Strength
    Expressive arts interventions are life-affirming and honour individuals capacity for resilience and personal strength by encouraging mastery, with a goal of moving individuals self-perceptions from victim to survivor to "thriver".

  • Respects the Individuals Choice of Self-Expression
    Arts-based approaches offer a range of expressive interventions, allowing individuals to choose how or if to share their experiences using metaphor, imagery, or symbols that feel safe and meaningful to them.

  • Facilitates Meaning-Making & New Narratives
    Art therapy helps people express the unspeakable, explore new perspectives, and reshape their stories with self-compassion, agency, and hope.

     (Malchiodi, 2020)

What Happens During an Art Therapy Session?

Always in collaboration with the individual, we work together to explore what holds the most importance or interest to you, this may be a goal, topic, issue or experience you bring to the session.

As an arts therapist, I am present, attentive and open to guiding and exploring your experience alongside you, offering invitations to use various art mediums and modalities.

I ask guiding questions and make observations about what I see or what is being said or not said by the individual. I do not interpret your images, instead we work together to explore what your images mean to you.

The art therapy session and your creative experience is about empowering you to trust your intuition, to connect with your knowing and bring you to your own self awareness and your potential for change.

What Art Therapy Is…

  • Experiential, interactive and encourages you to express your feelings using various art materials in a way that feels right to you - there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of doing it

  • Subjective; we all have our projections, perspectives, representations and meanings that will influence the way we see the images, others and the world around us

  • Encourages self-reflection as you verbalise your unique associations to each image, mark and creative expression you produce. This is explored in an open-ended way, to support your curiosity to what unfolds and choosing to be non-judgemental and compassionate towards yourself.

  • Being in the here and now, the present moment and following your bodily impulses or curiosities toward whatever medium or modalities you’re drawn to. Choosing to be open to exploring creative impulses within that may be wanting to tell a story through symbols, images, words, movements and music.

What Art Therapy Isn’t...

  • A judgemental space or about producing beautiful works of art

  • Art therapy isn’t just about making art, it encourages and challenges you to work with cognition, emotions, your body and internal systems with a trained therapist applying psychotherapeutic approaches

  • You don’t need to be an artist or good at artmaking to engage with art therapy

  • Art therapy is less about the final artwork and more about your creative process and the discovery of meaning the creative process reveals for you.