Are you making any new year resolutions, intentions, or goals? Art and creativity are a great way to deepen your exploration and commitment to these intentions or goals. Art-making about your goals or an intention is helpful for a few reasons: Encourages you to spend more time thinking about the resolution as you work on the art The art process can make the resolution feel more concrete Art-making allows you to explore your motivation, emotions, and thoughts around the resolution … [Read more...]
What Do You Do With The Art After Therapy?
The artwork that is created in an art therapy session can be a powerful thing, which means it’s important to carefully consider what happens to the artwork after the session. Art therapists are carefully trained in considering this, although sometimes there will be different approaches or practical realities to consider, so art therapists may not need this information. However, I know that many non-art therapists read this blog as well – therapists and counselors who are incorporating … [Read more...]
What Do You Need To Hold On To And Let Go Of? – A Creative Exercise
An important part of growth is being able to define what we need and want to have in our lives and what we need to let go of or keep out. Of course, the next part of the process – actually making these changes – is where the real hard work is done. But we cannot move toward a different life until we start to define how things need to be different. This is a creative exercise that I have found helpful for myself and with clients to explore what needs to change, what needs to stay the same, and … [Read more...]
Create a Safe Place
A feeling of safety is essential for mental health and well-being, but this feeling can be hard to connect with for some of our clients, especially those with trauma or significant anxiety. Art therapists are likely very familiar with the directive of drawing a safe place. Most of us learned it in graduate school and some readers may use it regularly with clients. However, sometimes it helps to have a reminder of some of our common art therapy directives, as well as explore why and how they … [Read more...]
Expressive Goodbyes – Group Therapy Termination Art Activity
A good termination can be an important final step in the therapeutic process. I find that creative arts can be a helpful part of termination, both to process the ending and because the art provides a transitional object that the client can take with them. When a member leaves a therapy group, I want to help the whole group to be able to process change and saying goodbye, as well as honor the progress and contributions that the departing member has made. While this can be done with … [Read more...]
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