Art Therapy/Art Psychotherapy is a therapy treatment that involves a creative process to gain self-awareness and self-reflection. Creativity is already a source of mental health help to many people, whether it be journaling, playing an instrument, on a pottery wheel or acting in a play. As I am known as an Art Psychotherapist I will refer to the proffession this way during the blog.
Curious clients often ask if art #psychotherapy is like an art class. This statement is an understandable surface observation. However, the goals and purpose of art psychotherapy are for a very different reasons. An art class teacher will ask the students to draw a still life or draw something they can view and get proportionally from a live model. In art psychotherapy, we ask you to #investigate your #inner selves, e.g. #feelings, #perceptions, and #dreams.
You wouldn’t think that working in a sand tray would make so much sense; using three objects and the movement of the sand helps me explain my family and where I fit in so well.
Quote from a client during art psychotherapy
Do you need any art experience?
Art psychotherapy can help you explore these feelings and perceptions through #imagination. You can come to art psychotherapy with no previous experience of #art, #drama, #music or #dance and still be able to participate. You do not have to understand skills and techniques in any form of the arts.
Art psychotherapy has unique qualities for #rehabilitation,
#transformation and #self-exploration.
While you may learn new skills automatically, this is not the emphasis of art therapy. The focus is on expressing inner questions, feelings, and ideas through #play, postcards, motion, role-play or images, and simply talking if wanted; our basis of training is through talking therapies. That is also available if you would like to leave the creativity to another day
How to find an Art Psychotherapist?
There are many online therapist/psychotherapist searching tools;
Art psychotherapists will register for regulation purposes. It is one of the protected therapy titles, and it is illegal for a therapist to call themselves an 'Art' therapist or 'Art' psychotherapist without training. You can check someone's registration in England by searching the person name in either of the following:
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