What is Arts Counselling?

People can’t always find a way to verbally express what is troubling them. Perhaps they lack the emotional vocabulary to describe their feelings or maybe don’t know exactly how they feel.

Art and play therapy can help navigate these obstacles because playing and being creative is a natural way that the individual expresses themselves.

Working in the metaphor with the arts can help to bring suppressed, deep-rooted emotional memories to the surface. This process allows me to gain a greater understanding of each person’s unique inner world. I can then validate their feelings and experiences through empathetic resonance. This helps them to feel deeply understood and connected.

During art and play therapy sessions, we work together in the space.
There are many different mediums available such as a sand tray, clay, paints, musical instruments and puppets, as well as the facilitation of poetry, dance and drama.
All of these different art forms encourage the individual to explore their feelings, experiences and relationships, in a relaxed and imaginative setting.

My training is integrative, meaning I studied lots of different approaches and methodologies within the counselling field; such as attachment theory, neuroscience, psychotherapy, transactional analysis and gestalt. This enables me to tailor my approach to each client’s specific needs.

Arts counselling can help to alleviate symptoms of difficulties around:

• Challenging behaviour
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
• Trauma
• Focus/ attainment at school
• Social relationships
• Self-esteem
• Attachment disorder
• Grief
• Rage and aggression