ART

There are many methods used in helping children and adolescents find their voice. As a child therapist, I use paint, clay, sand trays, music, story telling, poetry and any other medium that a child responds to.  All clients have free access to the tools in the room. They may use as many or a few as they like and can use them while we talk, to exemplify what they want to say or to explore yet unsaid feelings as many feel art is the fast road to the unconscious mind.

Below is more information about the different mediums we use and why they might be helpful for your child.

paint

Paint allows children to show their stories and feelings in a more visceral way. Unlike art classes at school, the therapist isn’t expecting a child to be at any kind of artistic level, there is no expectation a child must be “good at art”.

We are just hoping that in having the time, space and freedom to explain their life experience in a new way the child may liberate themselves and show in an abstract or literal way what they are going through.

In putting those things on paper, the child has already externalised them and as they are now at arm’s length they can be explored more safely as both the therapist and the client are looking at a third place together.

CLAY

Clay has amazing sensory qualities and can calm the body and mind, which can help children struggling with anxiety or who have experienced bodily trauma.

It can also be used to give children a safe way of expressing angry feelings as the therapist holds safe boundaries as they child explores their power and how deeply they feel.

SAND TRAYS

Sand trays, as they sound, are small sand pits that are used as another visual method to see what a child is feeling inside.

The therapist will have a box of figurines and small toys that can be placed into the sand tray by the client, to illustrate how they feel or set the scene of a story.

This gives power to the client as they can set up this little world in any way they choose, often showing a lot about the child’s inner world.

The child can tell stories directly from their life, but often children use characters and metaphors to keep a safe distance as they explore their life experience with the therapist.

STORYTELLING

Storytelling either using therapeutic books, characters the child identifies with or the therapist writing personalised therapeutic stories for children can be a very healing experience.

In reading the child a story that sounds like something they have been through, empathising deeply with the characters in the books and exploring the themes in the session, a child can feel truly heard and understood.

This can allow them to carry on their life with messages from the story, feel seen or just accept an element of their life or personality they may have been struggling with.

POETRY

Poetry may add to a session as either the therapist or client can bring poetry that shows the client’s experiences in a concise, well-articulated way or clients can write poetry in the sessions if they feel that it might be a good medium to put their feelings forward and verbalise them.