Expressive Arts Therapy

Expressive arts therapy builds confidence by providing a language to express yourself and a space to be seen in your authenticity.

Sensitive individuals often have a colorful, deep inner world, and sometimes words just aren’t enough to explain how we think and feel. Expressive arts therapy offers an avenue to connect with that part of us via visual art, movement, storytelling, drama, music, and more. When we can accurately represent our inner world, we allow ourselves to be genuinely seen by another. There are no expectations or standards to meet in expensive arts therapy. A mere willingness to be open to the process will lead way to revealing our true selves bringing us in alignment with love, joy, and liberation.

What exactly is expressive arts therapy?

Expressive Arts Therapy is a holistic therapeutic modality that uses various types of art (drama, music, visual art, storytelling, dance/movement, etc.) in conjunction to assist people with processing, expressing and healing their emotional wounds, as well as with exploring and understanding themselves better.

So, it is like art therapy?

Sort of. Both use creativity for therapeutic purposes. However, unlike art therapy, expressive arts therapy is not limited to one art form (i.e. visual 2D and 3D art). Expressive arts therapy uses all of the creative arts together, making it more potent.

Is it for me?

Expressive Arts Therapy can help with a myriad of mental health issues (some are listed below). Keep in mind, expressive arts therapy is not solution-focused, but rather process-focused. Expressive Arts Therapy is about letting go and being open to the process so that you can see what your intuition and unconscious present you with through the art. In expressive arts therapy, we consider these insights as gifts.

• feelings of low self-worth

• strong emotions

• anxiety/worry

• sadness and depression

• acute trauma (single event)

• complex trauma (interpersonal, continuous)

• identity exploration

• life transitions and changes

• fear of abandoment

• grief and loss

• stress and burnout

• spirituality

• relinquishment/adoption wounds

• understanding yourself

• and more!

Expressive Arts Therapy sounds cool, but I’m not a good artist.

No talent or skill necessary! Expressive arts therapy is not about drawing a beautiful picture or creating a perfectly choreographed dance. It’s about noticing how you feel in your body and putting that experience and emotion on the page or into your movement.

Why expressive arts therapy?

Our bodies store emotion, memory, and trauma. Each creative art form is a language and pathway to our internal world. When we use multiple art forms, we can access and express multiple parts of situation or experience to gain insight and to release the stress. In his book, “The Body Keeps the Score,” Bessel van Der Kolk, MD (2014) alludes to expressive arts therapy being more healing than just a single art form.

What would a session look like?

Sessions can look very different depending on what issue you bring that day. Some clients like to start off by checking-in through talk therapy. Once they have set an intention or have chosen an issue they’d like to focus on, I can facilitate an expressive arts therapy intervention, bringing in different modalities. Sometimes we could listen to music while drawing. Or I might have you listen to a song first, then draw, and then move to your drawing. In other sessions, we may do a check-in through the arts. An example might be a short meditation to tune into your body and then making a movement based on how you’re feeling or writing for a few minutes.

What about online therapy - what materials do I need at home to engage in expressive arts therapy?

Just yourself and an openness to explore. There are many ways to use the arts online or to use the materials I have with me. However, if you’d like to have some materials on your end to engage further, here is a list of items you could have available (starting with the most basic):

-paper

-pen or pencil

-colored pencils, markers, or crayons

-oil pastels

-watercolor or other paints (and glass of water, paint brush, painting surface)

-old magazines for collaging (bring a glue stick and paper)

-craft items

These items are by no means required.

I'm not sure about expressive arts therapy. Do I have to participate in order to work with you?

Nope! Therapy is about you and your needs. I offer traditional talk therapy as well, and we can discuss different approaches that may be best suited for you and your concerns.