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Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi
Art therapy is a therapeutic method that allows the use art making as a path to balancing the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual body states. It combines traditional psychotherapeutic theories and techniques with an understanding of the psychological aspects of the creative process, especially the affective properties of the different art materials.
Art therapy integrates the fields of human development, visual art―drawing, painting, sculpture, and other art forms―and the creative process with models of counseling and psychotherapy. Art therapy is used with children, adolescents, adults, older adults, groups, and families to assess and treat the things like anxiety, depression, and other mental and emotional problems and disorders; substance abuse and other addictions; family and relationship issues; abuse and domestic violence; social and emotional difficulties related to disability and illness; trauma and loss; physical, cognitive, and neurological problems; and psychosocial difficulties related to medical illness. Art therapy programs and art therapists are found in a variety of settings including hospitals, clinics, public, social service, and community agencies, wellness centers, educational institutions, businesses, and private practices.
According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is based on the belief that the creative process involved in making art is on a basic level healing and life-enhancing. Art therapists use the creative process and the issues that come up during art therapy to help their clients increase insight and judgment, cope better with stress, work through traumatic experiences, increase cognitive abilities, have better relationships with family and friends, and to just be able to enjoy the life-affirming pleasures of the creative experience. The term art therapist is reserved for those that are professionals trained in both art and therapy and hold a master's degree in art therapy or a related field.
Art therapy emerged as a distinct profession in the 1940s when hospitals and rehabilitation facilities increasingly began to include art therapy programs along with traditional "conversational therapies", recognizing that art making enhanced recovery, health, and wellness. Since then, the profession of art therapy has grown into an effective and important method of treatment and assessment with children, adults, families, and groups in a variety of settings. Currently, the field of art therapy has gained attention in healthcare facilities throughout the United States and within psychiatry, medicine, psychology, counseling, education, and the arts.
Please contact us for therapy, classes and training information.
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