"We recognized the role of imagination and ritual that is shared between contemporary psychotherapies and all ancient traditions. It was also evident that the arts are the bridging existential phenomena that unite ritual, imagination and dream-world in a way that no other activity can do.” –Paulo Knill
Art Therapy is a process encouraging expression and reflection through art making. It is a form of treatment using simple art materials. It combines the creative process and psychotherapy, facilitating self-exploration and understanding. Using imagery, colour and shape as part of this creative therapeutic process, thoughts and feelings can be expressed that would otherwise be difficult to articulate.
Art Therapy can sound intimidating to some people because we have all been conditioned to believe that only a special few of us have the talent to make 'real pictures' but Art Therapy is not an art test and therapists are not judges. If you think that back in time we were making pictures before we used words. Or think that you were dreaming in images as a baby and then you learnt to speak. So image is innate. It is rich and it is often where answers to the clever mind are found far more easily. Art Therapy accesses our internal world in symbolic form. It is a kind of a window to our inner life.
Sometimes people who have never drawn or painted can discover a new and rewarding way of expressing themselves. It is in this way that Art Therapy can be a discovery of the Self. To find out who you are.
Art Therapy is effective for people of any age. I have seen it change people's lives in subtle and dramatic ways. I work with individuals, couples, families and groups. If you are interested in the training I completed you can read about the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute in Canada here.
If you'd like to try Art Therapy or find out more contact me here.
“The task of therapy is not to eliminate suffering but to give a voice to it, to find a form in which it can be expressed. Expression is itself transformation; this is the message that art brings. The therapist then would be an artist of the soul, working with sufferers to enable them to find the proper container for their pain, the form in which it would be embodied.” – Stephen K. Levine