What is
creative arts therapy?
Creative Arts Therapy is a form of Psychotherapy, led by a trained arts therapist, with the goal of supporting your emotional and mental wellbeing.
It draws on creative approaches including art, drama, music and dance to support a range of wellbeing goals including:
- coping with anxiety and depression
- building resilience
- discovering personal strengths
- improving self confidence
- processing trauma
You
+ Your therapist
+ the art
= the healing process
Engaging with art can be innately therapeutic. Research has shown that just by playing with creativity we can reduce our stress hormones and improve our overall health.
Arts Therapy takes this a step further.
It involves a three part relationship - You, your therapist, and the art you are making.
The therapist supports you in your exploration of your creative work, with questions and prompts and an understanding of how working with certain materials and activities can help you to move towards your goal.
IT’S ABOUT THE PROCESS, NOT THE PRODUCT
So, forget about what your art teacher told you. It’s not about getting anything right or having things represented in a particular way.
It’s about allowing yourself to externalise the stories inside you. It’s about giving a voice, a colour, a shape to the feelings that may have held you back. It’s about re-writing the story and creating a new picture moving forward.