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Why art psychotherapy?
Art therapy provides a safe space to explore emotional issues using the language of art media. If you play mindfully and honestly the materials will provide a language that is yours alone. Only you will know the truth of your expression. As an art therapist I sometimes feel like Aughra from Jim Henson’s wonderful film The Dark Crystal. She’s the odd keeper of secrets. As well as plentiful bad-hair days she communicates in riddles – art’s like that! An art therapist is also a bit like the karate kid’s coach (Mr Miyaki or Mr Han). Mr Miyaki’s favorite phrase was ‘Look eye! Always look eye!’ You will find that like them art therapists often don’t say much and what they do say can be a little cryptic. Clients often tell me my favorite phrase is ‘Don’t think. Just follow what the materials suggest you do’. Your hands will know what needs to be done in response to your emotional needs. 'Often the hands know how to solve a riddle with which the intellect struggles in vain' (Jung, 1969). In art therapy the materials represent a microcosm of your world and you move and act through their small and safe frame. They provide a neutral and non-threatening setting. Your hands will know what to do. The therapist helps you to trust your instincts and will accompany you on a journey through your emotional landscape. You take control of your feelings but you don’t travel alone. Using simple art materials in art therapy you can practise life skills. Safe from the critical judgement of normal life. The judgement practised in art therapy is an inner feeling of aesthetic understanding. It’s an adventure that makes your senses sharper and the journey of life more meaningful. Your art therapist can help you to express the inexpressible in a language you create all of your own and will keep you safe in a confidential, non-judgemental, although sometimes colourful and messy space. |
The materials in art therapy provide a language that remains fluid. No set meanings can be attributed to colours or lines or shapes. When you make something in art therapy it means whatever you want it to mean. The materials are transformed into what really matters to you. The work can be very simple but it can also be hard to face. That's why I call it brave art. This work can transform how you feel and think. It is brave art. Imagination matters. “I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.” Albert Einstein |
What happens in art therapy?
When you join me for a one-to-one therapeutic art session the relationship becomes a three-way process - you, the art materials and me. It provides a unique visual and tactile focus on your issues. Usually in counselling or therapy the relationship is two-way. In an art therapy session the materials enable your imagination and your actions to become an active part of your healing and growth process.
When you are present in a one-to-one session, I am there in the capacity of an ‘accompanying you’ while the art materials can take on a role as the ‘other’ you. This is a totally different psychological power balance for therapy and transformation. The format maintains a focus on your thoughts and feelings from your unique emotional and mental circumstances.
When you are present in a one-to-one session, I am there in the capacity of an ‘accompanying you’ while the art materials can take on a role as the ‘other’ you. This is a totally different psychological power balance for therapy and transformation. The format maintains a focus on your thoughts and feelings from your unique emotional and mental circumstances.
My Art Psychotherapy Services - Ballymena Northern Ireland
Taster session
It is not unusual for adults to be intimidated by art materials. Many believe they can’t draw a straight line. Surprise yourself with what you can do with simple art tools. Discover how your inbuilt creative energies can express deep embodied knowledge. The materials offer you unique access to your own personal matters. Find out how you can make your personal issues accessible to change. The answer to your problem is within. Only you hold the answers.
45 minutes, free
Single Session of art therapy
1 hour @ £60
Starter package
A gentle introduction to transformative change: This short course will enable you to experience a range of art materials. Discover the deep language of your senses and find new ways to express your feelings. Talking about problems may take you in circles. Exploring your personal issues through colour, line, texture and shape can give those issues form. This means of working with inner matters puts power into your hands. You will find that you have new ways to approach old behavioural patterns.
Six hours (at £50 each) to be experienced within a six week time frame
Intensive Commitment to Self Care
Running for a minimum of three months, this support package comprises twelve hours of studio contact @ £50 per hour.
Lasting Change
Make yours a life worth living. Treat yourself to a long-term development programme. You will be supported to make deep and lasting changes to the way you live your life.
A six month programme of studio practice with a minimum of three hours each month @ £45 per hour.
Premium package: claiming clarity
In this workshop I offer a single powerful creative encounter during which you will be gently guided to engage with simple art materials that resonate with one of your core issues. This will enable you to glimpse how you might find ways to take control of one issue that deeply matters to you. The personalised crafting of materials that resonate with your feelings will allow you to externalise aspects of your innermost concerns and to confront them anew, yet at a slight (and safe) distance. Handling materials with the help of an artist-therapist reaches levels of understanding beyond the scope of words. It is an understanding unique to you. Your art-making processes link with your emotional and mental issues. The different perspective to approaching personal matters can shift you to new levels of understanding. Your hands can lead your thinking towards new solutions to your complex problems.
90 minute session @ £75
Taster session
It is not unusual for adults to be intimidated by art materials. Many believe they can’t draw a straight line. Surprise yourself with what you can do with simple art tools. Discover how your inbuilt creative energies can express deep embodied knowledge. The materials offer you unique access to your own personal matters. Find out how you can make your personal issues accessible to change. The answer to your problem is within. Only you hold the answers.
45 minutes, free
Single Session of art therapy
1 hour @ £60
Starter package
A gentle introduction to transformative change: This short course will enable you to experience a range of art materials. Discover the deep language of your senses and find new ways to express your feelings. Talking about problems may take you in circles. Exploring your personal issues through colour, line, texture and shape can give those issues form. This means of working with inner matters puts power into your hands. You will find that you have new ways to approach old behavioural patterns.
Six hours (at £50 each) to be experienced within a six week time frame
Intensive Commitment to Self Care
Running for a minimum of three months, this support package comprises twelve hours of studio contact @ £50 per hour.
Lasting Change
Make yours a life worth living. Treat yourself to a long-term development programme. You will be supported to make deep and lasting changes to the way you live your life.
A six month programme of studio practice with a minimum of three hours each month @ £45 per hour.
Premium package: claiming clarity
In this workshop I offer a single powerful creative encounter during which you will be gently guided to engage with simple art materials that resonate with one of your core issues. This will enable you to glimpse how you might find ways to take control of one issue that deeply matters to you. The personalised crafting of materials that resonate with your feelings will allow you to externalise aspects of your innermost concerns and to confront them anew, yet at a slight (and safe) distance. Handling materials with the help of an artist-therapist reaches levels of understanding beyond the scope of words. It is an understanding unique to you. Your art-making processes link with your emotional and mental issues. The different perspective to approaching personal matters can shift you to new levels of understanding. Your hands can lead your thinking towards new solutions to your complex problems.
90 minute session @ £75
