Individual Expressive Arts Therapy

The expressive arts serve as a grounding container to experience emotion and process change in our lives.

The action-orientation of this mind-body approach supports integration for embodied safety and connection to the present.

By the use of “de-centering” and “intermodal transfer” individuals are able to leave their problems to create a new way of being. Through sensory experience and creative process, individuals gain embodied insights for healthy and meaningful change.

The use of intermodal transfer relates to using various modalities such as writing, movement, rhythm, beat, drama, eco therapy, art, etc. to complete “total expression”. Total expression supports the externalization of stressful emotional states and makes way for a more balanced and relaxed emotional state.

Though expressive arts techniques can be infused into regular talk therapy, a true expressive arts therapy session is typically a 1 hour (up to 3 hour) experience where a person first “fills in” the therapist on current needs, the therapist and client co-create a creative process, and then the therapist and client reflect on the experience related to the original “fill in”.

Not only is there an abundance of research supporting the de-stressing components of art, but there is a growing body of research supporting the decrease of anxiety, depression and trauma symptoms among various groups and ages.