Creativity in Therapy

Inspiring therapists and counselors to be more creative

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Midyear Check-in Art Journal Exercise

With the arrival of July we have hit the halfway point in the year – a great time to do a personal check-in and assess how the year is going. Are you moving toward the goals you have for the year? Are you living with the intentions that you set at the beginning of the year? Is it time to recommit to your intentions and goals? Or is it time to change your focus? Art journaling is a great way to explore a midyear check-in – for yourself or with your clients – especially if you did some kind of … [Read more...]

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Expressing Emotions Through Creativity: A 6-Step Art Process

Using the art process to help clients express and explore their emotions is at the core of art therapy, but there are many different ways to do this. Sometimes the emotions are expressed unexpectedly or naturally arise from a directive that is not directly about feelings. For example, in “playing” with watercolors through a sensory-based activity, the client might discover that emotions are coming up in themselves or through the art. Or a prompt for a client to create a collage about family … [Read more...]

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Should Therapists Make Art in Session? 10 Things You Must Consider

People often wonder whether art therapists make art alongside their clients in session. I think this is an important issue to explore further, so I’d like to share some of my thoughts about whether therapists should ever make art in session. If you are a play therapist, counselor, or other psychotherapist that uses art in therapy, it is important to understand why you typically should not make art along with the client…and when the exceptions to that might be. If you are a trained art … [Read more...]

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Music and Mindful Art

  Making art that responds to music can increase sensory awareness, facilitate mindfulness, and encourage emotional expression. Last week’s guest post from music therapist Maya Benattar discussed the value of deep listening to music with our clients in session or for our own self-care and processing as therapists. This week I want to share about pairing music with art-making for another creative approach. A simple but powerful art therapy activity that you can do with clients is … [Read more...]

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Tree of Strength Art Directive

All of us have strengths that get us through difficult times, but we sometimes have trouble recognizing that they are there or remembering to draw on them. As therapists, we often spend time helping our clients to identify these strengths or build up their coping strategies. We want them to know that they can successfully get through a difficult time by using their inner talents and strengths, leaning on the support of others, and taking positive steps to cope with their emotions. In addition to … [Read more...]

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