What is Art Therapy? 

Art Therapy is a psychotherapeutic intervention that uses art as a tool to communicate and heal.

It creates a sense of meaning from your experiences.

The artwork helps to tell your story.

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How does Art Therapy work?

Art therapists aim to provide a supportive, safe and therapeutic environment which encourages the development of a co-operative and trusting therapeutic relationship. A person does not need to be good at art to benefit from Art therapy. Art therapists work to support an individual to use art materials if they are unsure how to begin.

 

Art making accesses the same sensory areas of the brain that holds traumatic experiences. It’s a bottom up approach, brainstem (sensory) to limbic (emotional). The process of Art Therapy helps to connect both hemispheres of the brain. We tap into the right with creativity and use the left to help make meaning of experiences.

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Art Therapy works with symbolic meaning and metaphor. Art making helps an individual to work through their experiences in a non threatening way. It helps an individual to apply words to their physical creations, reintegrating the left and the right hemispheres of the brain. It is also a somatic experience, connecting mind, body and soul. 

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Art Therapy aims to provide:

• Opportunity for safe and contained self- expression

• Development of emotional resilience, self-esteem and confidence, self-awareness/coping skills

• Build on strengths, open up and enhance communication

• Art Therapy process can offer alternative ways to express thoughts, feelings and behaviours

• Provide access to your inner world

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Benefits of Art Therapy:

• You don’t need to be an artist to do Art Therapy

• The modality is flexible and adaptive, we can work with any age group

• We meet the individual where they are at, person centred

• It can feel non evasive

• It can have a meditative quality

• It can be a somatic experience, can unlock and release memories stored in the body at the individuals pace

• Can help to make sense of experiences through symbolic meaning

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HCPC and BAAT Registered

• Art Therapists are registered and regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council and The British Association of Art Therapists

• Art Therapists adhere to HCPC and BAAT code of ethics and the supporting Principles of Professional Practice and Guidelines

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