What is Somatic & Creative Arts Therapy?

Life is multisensory and so are we. We use our eyes, ears, bodies, hearts, minds, touch, smell, imagination, gestures, voices and more, to interact with the people and places around us. While this is going on, our inner worlds are full of sensations, feelings, imaginings and ideas too and these aren’t always easy to put into words.

The work I do invites you to engage this amazing multisensory nature through making, drawing, movement, play, music and conversation. This is a therapeutic process that generates insight, healing, and self-understanding. Individually or in a group, you are offered a safe, engaging space to explore your inner and outer worlds – to give them form so that you can see them, hear them, pick them up, move them around, looked at them from different angles, consider them, sweep them away and reform them. It’s not about being “good” at art, it’s about your curiosity and expression. Together, we have creative conversations for your wellbeing.

Why do art therapy?

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The kind of things students and I have done together in our sessions:

• We’ve made marks on giant paper using paint, chalk pastels and charcoal.

• We’ve played handball, skipped, juggled to practice coordination, focus and experimented with rhythms and patterns.

• We’ve explored breath and settling through touch with objects like shells, stones, flowers & bark.

• We’ve painted, collaged, coloured & created detailed drawings over weeks.

• We’ve had conversations through sound at the piano - playing with fingers, elbows .and our feet.

• We’ve used fabric to express emotions & practice social skills.

• We’ve work with our hands using clay, folding & ripping paper.

• We’ve explored friendships & how to build relationships in a circle of elastic while singing covers to Beyonce.

• We’ve quietly innovated finger knitting and simple weaving techniques into 3D sculptures.

• We’ve rolled on soft balls to change perspective, explore mobility and relieve anxiety.

• We’ve described what life’s like at the moment with object sculptures on tables and hanging through a room.

• We’ve listened to music.

• We’ve shared stories & chatted.

It’s not about “being good at art” or even about “making art” at all. This is more about the process of being creative, not the finished product. It’s about exploring and playing in different ways -using your senses, trying things out, and seeing where it takes you. It can help you discover new ideas, look at things from a fresh perspective, learn something new, boost your mood, or even change the way you feel.