ART THERAPY

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My love of art developed from a young age and led to studying Art and Design as a degree while training to be a teacher in Lincolnshire. 

A natural break followed with 10 years of teaching and raising my family, but in 2012 I began to paint more seriously and now most days you will find me in my art studio with messy hands…and feet! 

Alongside my teaching and painting, I have spent the last 22 years studying and practising in a therapeutic role and this has led to working with art therapy and young people. 

For me, art is my therapy. It is the time when I focus solely on the task at hand and find myself totally absorbed in the present, leaving behind the ‘busyness’ of my brain and allowing some respite. . My favourite quote relates to this…

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls…” Picasso 

By using art as a way to connect with others of all ages, including trauma experienced young people, there has been improved mindfulness, attachments and self regulation.  Not confusing this way of working with the psychoanalytic relationships with art, but when art is used as the therapy itself, it can have great therapeutic benefits to those being creative. Art can be a mindful activity that encourages self esteem, self awareness, emotional resilience and can help with reducing distress and resolving conflict. 

Recent experiences:

• working 1-1 with adults
• working with trauma experienced young people 
• demonstrating to young people in education settings
• demonstrating for local art societies
• landscape, seascape and floral workshops for small groups of 3-10 people 
• staff training to review art curriculum planning and practice