People sometimes wonder if art therapy is actually for them if they are not already a practising artist. They may have never engaged in art-making since school, may feel pressure to create something aesthetically pleasing or feel unfamiliar with certain art materials. This is a shame as creativity and art-making should be accessible for everyone.

An Art Therapy session might start with a conversation between you and your therapist, where you share what is on your mind that day. This may then move into art-making to explore the feeling further. The images people create are as varied as they are. Sometimes a diagram, an expressive abstract image, a self-portrait, something symbolic, archetypal, or something entirely unexpected. This image can then be used to connect with the embodied feeling further, gain support or explore a new perspective.

Any materials can be used for Art Therapy. A simple pen and paper, crayons, oil pastels, poster paints, clay. You don’t even have to create the images yourself. Working using found images from magazines, photos or postcards can create powerful metaphors for therapeutic reflection.

Below are four postcard images from my collection. They each show a landscape, but they are very different, and evoke different emotions. Ask yourself which one you are most drawn to? Does this say anything about how you are feeling today? Or what is happening in your internal world? Would you change anything if you could?

Image Credits:

Coming From Mill by L S Lowry
Crib Goch Ridge and Snowdon/Y Grib Goch a’r Wyddfa by Dave Newbould
Unknown
Livets dans/The Dance of Life by Edvard Munch