What is Art Therapy?
Art is a language that can communicate thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Art therapy uses that language to visually communicate feelings that are often too intense and painful to put into words.
Art Therapy combines creativity and psychology in a process that moves the emotions out of the body and onto the art work. Then together, you and the art therapist explore what the art work is saying and make sense of what happened within the experience of art making. The focus is on the art making process and the meaning of the art work, not the artistic ideal of a finished product.
A qualified Art Therapist has completed a Masters level degree that also qualifies them as a Psychotherapist. Art is used as a powerful therapeutic tool to help you connect to your feelings and express emotions and thoughts.
You are never alone in the art making, you’re supported by the Art Therapist to help you make sense of the process and what you are saying through your art.
In “Art Therapy, Trauma and Neuroscience” (2016, p:6), Juliet King discusses the three primary elements of Art Therapy as being-
1) The process of creativity is healing and life enhancing.
2) The art materials and art methods used affect self-expression and can assist with self-regulation.
3) The therapeutic relationship, in combination with verbal and non-verbal communication in the art-making process, provides an environment that can facilitate healing and change.