What is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses creative art expression as a tool to enhance emotional and mental well-being. Through application of psychological theories, the creative process is used to provide a client with a deeper understanding of themselves, their current situation and can help improve mental health, cognitive ability and sensory-motor function.

Art therapy provides a safe place to express feelings and emotions through various art materials (clay, paint, pastels, charcoal). Using conversation with the creative process, individuals can gain new perspectives into existing difficulties often allowing for more effective strategies for change to be implemented. The non-verbal aspect of art therapy allows for sharing thoughts, feelings and emotions that can not be put into words. This exploration of the meta verbal can bring our unconscious thoughts and feelings into our conscious tangible world.

Why Art Therapy?

Art therapy has the ability to cultivate emotional resilience. Practicing art therapy can foster self-esteem, promote insight, enhance social skills as well as improve cognition and sensory motor function.

When it comes to art therapy, no previous artistic experience is needed. We are all creative beings - we are born creative and we will die creative. Sometimes in life, we can get ‘stuck’, and exploring our creativity can help with that. Art therapy can help us get our flow back, connect with ourselves and the world we live in again.