My approach to art therapy is mindfulness-based and somatically orientated.
Activities aim to bring you into closer connection with your body- how it feels, how it moves, what it is telling you, your natural healing impulse. We use art to observe your experience with compassion to better understand how you are organised… and explore what else might be possible.
Art practices are underpinned by the principles of Hakomi.
Resourcing
Resources support us to remain present with ourselves rather than becoming fully swept into an overwhelming feeling. It could be a crystal in your pocket, the memory of a loving grandma, breathing-in golden light, noticing the symmetry of a plant or reminding yourself “I am safe”. We create a physical object which helps us tap into this more expansive state. This object can be taken home, or used to support regulation in future sessions.
Guided Drawing
This is a mindfulness-based practice guided by your own healing impulse (whether you believe you have one or not). We trust the hands and the body’s wisdom to discover what is needed. Through movement and expression on the page things begin to shift; energy is released, insight is gained, stuckness is brought back into life, compassion can filter. Guided Drawing is one of the many gifts from my training with Cornelia Elbrect.
Drawing and IFS
This is a combination of art therapy and Internal Family Systems developed by Ruth Culver. IFS understands that people have many “parts”… and also an essential Self possessing qualities such as compassion, curiosity ad calm. By mapping parts on the page we better understand the complexity of our system, and are supported to shift into an observing Self-state. By meeting the parts with Self energy, understanding their positive intentions and releasing emotional ‘burdens’ greater compassion and freedom is found.
Clay Field®
The Clay Field® is a very specific way of working with clay, within a wooden box (the field). This humble lay-out, offers a powerful opportunity to explore your non-verbal and pre-verbal world. Working in the Clay Field shows us how we habitually orientate to ourselves and the world… and more importantly gives a body-based opportunity to explore what else might be possible. The Clay Field is particularly helpful with early childhood trauma and difficulties with emotion regulation such as ADHD. This is a deeply embodied therapeutic experience.
Clay
Clay can be moulded into any shape to express an internal experience, and then be re-moulded endlessly as we explore what is possible and what is shifting within us. As we re-shape/smooth/squish/build-up the clay, new possibilities are revealed. Working with clay in this way is like entering into a reciprocal relationship, a conversation or dance, with a receptive and generous partner. Being earth itself, clay also supports a sense of grounding and connection with the natural world.
(All images shared with permission)
This gives a taste of what’s possible… but creativity is by it’s nature divergent and generative. We might instead use collage for future mapping and identity formation; animal figurines to explore family relationships; fabric/seedpods/feathers/paint to create a healing space for you inner-child.
A bit about me. I have a long-standing passion for art-making and it’s therapeutic application, both personally and professionally. My passion for incorporating art into therapy came while living in the Northern Territory for 6 years. Here I spent many hours learning and practicing basket weaving. While collecting materials and natural dyes in the bush, the link between art-making, nature and therapy became beautifully clear. I aim to support people to tap into their own organicity, and healing impulses, through their art sessions. One of my greatest gifts in being an art therapist is that I am not artistically skillful! Art therapy is messy, clumsy and experimental; as is life.
I have completed a certificate of Initiactic Art Therapy and a certificate in Clay Field Therapy with Cornelia Elbrecht at the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy. I have further specialised in the application of Guided Drawing to complex trauma, and completed several trainings with Ruth Culver in the integration of Internal Family Systems with drawing.
