out of the box
crafts & art therapy
What is it?
This is a treatments which involves using arts-based activities in a therapeutic environment. You don’t need to have done these activities before, or have any particular skills or knowledge or artistic ability and people of all ages including children, teens, and adults can benefit from it.
This treatment is rooted in the idea that creative expression can bring healing and improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being resolving issues as well as develop and manage behaviours and feelings, reduce stress, and improve self-esteem and awareness. This in turn may promote personal development, increase coping skills, and enhance cognitive function.
Techniques used in crafts and art therapy can include drawing, painting, colouring, sculpting, or collage. As clients create art, they may analyse what they have made and how it makes them feel. Through exploring their art, people can look for themes and conflicts that may be affecting their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Also people may feel more open to talk about their issues when they are doing something with their hands and the counsellor is not fully focus on them.
What is it for?
For the most part, anyone can use art therapy. In a world where there is a multitude of ways to communicate and express one’s self, expressive arts therapy is yet another. It can be used to relieve stress or tension, or it can be used as a mode of self-discovery and:
Give you a safe time and place with someone who won’t judge you.
Help you make sense of things and understand yourself better.
Help you resolve complicated feelings, or find ways to live with them.
Help you communicate and express yourself, which might include feelings or experiences you find hard to put into words.
Provide ways of addressing painful feelings and difficult experiences without talking about them.
Explore their emotions, develop self-awareness, cope with stress, boost self-esteem, and work on social skills.
Improve mental, physical, and emotional wellness.
Art therapy can be used to treat a wide range of mental disorders and psychological distress.
Some situations in which art therapy might be utilized include: Adults experiencing severe stress, children suffering from behavioural or social problems at school or at home, children or adults who have experienced a traumatic event or more than one.
Some conditions that art therapy may be used to treat include: Anxiety, Depression, Cancer, Medical conditions, Aging-related issues, PTSD, Emotional difficulties, Eating disorders, Substance use, Family or relationship problems, psychosocial issues, Stress, Psychological symptoms associated with other medical issues
What is the cost?
£65 for 50 minute session
sand play & sand tray therapy
What is it?
Sandplay therapy is a nonverbal, therapeutic intervention that makes use of a sandbox, toy figures, and sometimes water, to create scenes of miniature worlds that reflect a person’s inner thoughts, struggles, and concerns.
Sandplay therapy takes place in box-like containers referred to as sand trays. The trays are filled with sand that clients use, along with miniature toys, to create a play world that reflects some aspect of real people and real experiences in their own lives or inner world. The client chooses from a large collection of toys and builds a small “world” in the tray. The therapist observes the choice and arrangement of toys without interruption, allowing the person to find answers within themselves.
After sandplay is completed, the client and therapist analyse and discuss the client’s toy choices, their arrangement pattern in the sand, and their symbolic or metaphoric meanings if desired by the client.
Upon discussion, the client often chooses to make changes to the world they have created in sand. This brings an opportunity to resolve conflicts, remove obstacles, and gain acceptance of self. By making changes in their make-believe world, clients are often empowered to make similar changes in their real world. Sandplay therapy may consist of a single session or last as long as several years.
The therapist’s involvement can be decided in collaboration with the client, not involved during the creating process for sandplay approach or actively involved in facilitating current experiences of awareness and growth for sandtray approach.
What is it for?
Sandplay therapy is often used with those who have suffered some form of trauma, neglect, or abuse. Although sandplay is especially well suited for working with young children, who often cannot express their inner feelings in words, it is also a technique that is helpful for some teens and adults who are having trouble expressing themselves and who may have suffered some form of severe or complex trauma.
Adults who have been traumatized and show limited response to other forms of therapy may respond well to sand tray therapy.
What is the cost?
£55 for 50 minute session