Creative art therapy as a self care tool
I interweave the creative exercises I gathered in my Art Therapy training as part of my online or in-person self care sessions and workshops. Working with the imaginative and creative realm allows us to explore new potentials in caring for yourself and others.
We make, create, sculpt and draw for many different reasons. For some, it’s a hobby to enjoy, a way to de-stress, for others it helps with concentration.
I spent 3 years studying Art Psychotherapy and working with a range of patients in health care settings, all of whom were rebuilding their lives in some way post injury or diagnosis. In this therapeutic setting, art became a medium through which the patients came to terms with their new lives, mourning the loss of a life that no longer existed and finding a way of navigating their new circumstances.
From this experience, I saw first-hand how powerful the creative process can be in mending and healing us through the trials and turbulations of life. When we lay our inner world out on the page, when we put shape and colour on to feelings, experiences and dreams, something shift and moves in the cosmos.
I also saw creativity not just as something that could heal, I saw it as a way of tapping into self-awareness and self-determination, allowing individuals to take back a sense of agency in their lives. Art psychotherapy can be the most beautiful tool to assist people to look back and make sense of their lives and make changes in their present.
It is from this place that the Self-care (R)Evolution evolved! Through the creative process we get to engage with aspects of ourselves that we may not see in day to day life. Whether we are drawing or painting on paper, sculpting a form or moving characters around in space, we can enter the world of imagination and play with our current situation or envision something completely new.
The sense of freedom and play in the creative process allows us to push our boundaries about what is possible and what is not. It allows us to ‘see beyond’ where we are and expand our horizons into dreams not yet imagined.
