Expressive Arts Therapy is a person-centered, relational and experiential arts-based approach to psychotherapy that engages the client through a process of creative self-discovery as a way to reconnect with their inner strengths and resources. Clients may explore issues through visual art, creative writing, poetry, drama, music, voice and movement as catalysts for personal inquiry and providing new perspectives for healing and growth. Expressive Arts Therapy provides a way of using the arts to help people with a variety of challenges; whether they be psychological, emotional, behavioural, or associated with life traumas, relationships or transitions. It holds the belief that everyone has the capacity to respond creatively to the situations that they find themselves in.
How often do we have moments or days when a lot of feelings may be coming up? Perhaps we’re triggered by a situation or an interaction with someone; either someone we don’t know too well or someone we do know really well, someone that we really care about, love and respect, and yet the interaction causes us to feel triggered and overwhelmed?
The art piece I’m sharing about here today is what I worked on in session with a client who was processing some really tough feelings. She came in having experienced a morning that brought up a lot of triggers for her. And, as we all know, triggers can often feel so overpowering that we can lose sight of the positive feelings and moments. And so this activity was really about bringing ourselves to a place where we could be present and begin to notice all of the moments, both the challenging ones and the ones that really were aligned with my client’s truest, most authentic self; the woman that she is striving to be–her best self. So, as we began the creative self-discovery journey, we began with pausing. Then noticing. And then welcoming then holding all of the feelings that began to surface.
Some of what came up in this image included these words:
- There will be tough days.
- I like myself even when I fail.
- Trapped
- Fragments of joy
- What matters most?
- I am allowed to make mistakes.
- Where does my anger take me?
- There’s still beauty in the broken.
- Pause.
- I truly tried.
- I keep showing up.
- Fiery moments of disconnect.
At the end of the art making part of the therapy session, just before we did some reflection and sharing, we brought in some Play-Doh to shape and bring some of the feelings that had come up into something more concrete. My client chose to use the Play-Doh to help her hold her recognized need to just pause and allow herself to be with her triggers, to sit with the discomfort, and to allow herself to experience the pain but not let it overpower or dictate to her.
Finally, the stone in the middle was chosen to hold my client’s feeling of pride; this beautiful recognition that she really was feeling proud of herself for showing up, for for handling that challenging morning the best she could, and for doing the work to continue learning about her triggers and how to grow with them and through them.
I’m feeling a lot of gratitude for my clients who are brave and keep showing up every week, as they are, with all that they bring. They come committed to their growth, saying things like: “I want to work through this. I don’t want to feel this way. I want to feel better. I want to do better. I want to understand more about why I respond this way. I wonder why I do the things that I do? Or why I have these thoughts? Or why these thoughts overwhelm me so much?”
And so this is just an example of a session where we really went deep. Not just into the details of my client’s exceptionally challenging day, how it unfolded, and the triggers that hit her hard, but also starting to get clarity about the impact of those triggers and exploring where they might be rooted.
I have to say that I am really proud of my clients. Each and every one of them who continues to show up for themselves and do this profound work. It’s such an honour and a privilege to hold this space and to learn and grow with them. This is a collaborative journey; one I feel so very blessed to be a part of. Alhamdulilah.