Art Therapy
"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way – things I had no words for."
Georgia O'Keefe
Disclaimer: you don’t need artistic ability to do art therapy because art therapy is about self-expression and not about drawing pretty pictures. (you can simply draw shapes and lines). The innate ability to make art is in all of us!
About Art Therapy
Art therapy is a therapeutic modality that utilizes art-making and psychological principles to address emotions and psychological issues. Art-making integrates mind, body, and spirit and involves kinesthetic, sensory, perceptual, and symbolic modes of communication that can bypass the limitations of language.
How It Works
Art therapists help people organize and express feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations through the creative process.
What It Does
An essential aspect of art therapy is that it allows for the visual transformation of feelings and events, thereby awakening and promoting our healing capacity in tangible ways. As a result, the image we create becomes a document of our healing process.
We work with an art therapist to explore our emotions and to understand conflicts or feelings that are causing us distress. In this process, art assists us in resolving such issues by developing insight and self-awareness, which enhance our ability to take the necessary actions in our healing journey.
Art Therapy and Trauma
Art therapy facilitates verbal exchange and helps develop a coherent narrative about the traumatic event experienced. Art also allows the slow emergence of traumatic imagery lodged in the body so that memories can surface safely and we can integrate them into the present. (Riley, S. 2004).
