Art Therapy

What is art therapy?
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses visual and tactile media as a means of self-expression and communication. Art Therapists aim to support people of all ages and abilities and at all stages of life, to discover an outlet for often complex and confusing feelings, and foster self-awareness and growth. Clients do not need to have any previous experience or expertise in art.

What can art therapy help with?
Clients bring a wide range of concerns including abuse, trauma, neurodiversity, relationships, school issues, creative processes, emotional dysregulation, confidence and low self-esteem.

Who can benefit from art therapy?
Art therapy is suitable for anyone who is willing to use art to express their feelings. It can be especially helpful for those looking for a creative way to move forward when they feel stuck in life. It can help people reflect on long standing dynamics, issues from the past or simply find a different way to understand yourself and others.

Who is an Art Therapist?
An Art Therapist (or Art Psychotherapist, both titles are interchangeable) is someone who has undertaken a training in Art Therapy approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). In the UK, Art Therapists are statutorily regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council and must be on its register in order to practice legally.

Why use Art?
Art therapy participants use art to express their experiences, to find the words to articulate how they have been affected, and to support their wellbeing, and any social, emotional and mental health needs.
When our lives are affected by adversity, it can have an impact on our wellbeing – but this experience may be difficult to put into words. Because of this, art therapists are often able to work with people who have not been able to access talking therapies. In this way, art therapy helps to ensure that no one is left behind. Art has long been known to have therapeutic properties. When creating visual images, people ‘draw on’ the right side of their brains – the same side that is used before spoken language develops. It is where visual memories are stored.
Using art materials to make images which can be thought about with a qualified and registered art therapist may help to relieve difficult or painful feelings and can help increase general well-being. Sometimes it can be difficult to talk directly about difficulties and feelings so communicating through another medium may be easier or more appropriate.

Sometimes words can’t be used or found to describe thoughts and feelings but the processes involved in image making and the images themselves can help to do so.

Sometimes words alone don’t seem to be enough but images and words together may be able to convey what one wants to say.

Sometimes there are just too many words – and they can get in the way of being able to be in touch with emotions. These are just some of the reasons for the ‘Art’ in art therapy.

Therapists Specialising in Art Therapy:

Elspeth Scott