Creative and Art-Based Exploration in Therapy

Person sitting at a desk painting with watercolors, surrounded by plants, books, and art supplies, with a sign that says 'Creativity heals.'

The beautiful thing about art is the individual interpretation.

You do not need to be ‘good’ at art to benefit from art therapy.

Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy that uses a creative process of making art to improve a person’s physical, mental and emotional well-being.

Creative exploration can help bring attention to feelings, patterns or parts of your experience that may be hard to access directly.

- struggle to put feelings into words
- feel disconnected from yourself or your emotions
- find traditional talking therapy difficult at times
- process things visually or creatively
- want to explore patterns in a different way
- feel drawn to image, colour, symbol or metaphor
- want a gentler way to approach difficult experiences

Creative work may involve drawing, image-making, colour, shape, symbol, metaphor or simple visual exercises.

You do not need to be artistic. You do not need to know what you are making before you begin. The focus is on the process, not the finished piece.

Sometimes an image, shape or colour can hold something that feels difficult to say. Creative exploration can give us a way to gently notice, reflect on and understand what may be present.

This can take place during online therapy sessions, or during face to face sessions in your own home.