Art Therapy 

 "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

Pablo Picasso

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Art Making and Art Therapy: 

 

Art making itself organically prompts us to connect with our mind, body, and souls. Benefits of creating art include increased mindfulness, reduced stress, increased creativity, increased brain plasticity and productivity, sense of purpose development, improves overall mood, increases problem solving skills, and builds self esteem. Art therapy utilizes psychotherapy to increase the healing and transformative components of art making.  

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​According to Cathy Malchiodi (2010), In art therapy, one’s inner-world images, feelings, thoughts, and ideas are consistently essential and primary to the therapeutic experience.  An art therapy session may look like an art class; however, goals and purpose are drastically different. Traditional art classes focus on technical skills and craftsmanship; as well as create art pieces with proper proportions, shading, and color. In an art therapy session, clients are prompted to explore inner experiences of emotions, perceptions, and imagination along with applied psychological theory and enhanced psychotherapeutic relationships. ​ 

 

Healing Benefits of Art Therapy: 

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• Anxiety reduction and stress relief 

• Increased mindfulness practice 

• Increased self exploration 

• Increased self esteem 

• Challenge perfectionism

• Increase frustration tolerance 

• Depression symptoms improvement 

• Increase emotional processing 

• Connect with others 

• Assist with Pain management 

• Connect the conscious and unconscious mind 

• Increase emotional identification skills

• Increase emotional regulation skills 

• Increase understanding and processing of trauma or stressful events 

• Increase left and right brain connection  

• Increase brain plasticity and productivity

• Increase creativity and problem solving skills 

• Connect with your authentic self ​​​

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Art Therapy Education: ​​

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***Effective and ethical art therapy methods are implemented by Board-Certified Art Therapist's (ATR-BC), Registered Art Therapist's (ATR) or a student who is actively pursuing

a career in art therapy (ATR-P).  

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Art therapists utilize a variety of integrative methods of expressive arts and communication through the use of the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC); which provides a framework for kinesthetic, sensory, perceptual, and symbolic therapeutic approaches that evade the limitations

of language, promotes connections between the conscious and the unconscious (Malchiodi, 2012). Extensive training and specialized education is the foundation for each art therapist to help meet their clients unique therapeutic needs. 

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If you’re interested in participating or learning more Art Therapy please contact us, we would love to hear from you!

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Other resources to Learn More About Art Therapy: 

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MN Art Therapy website: 

https://www.mnarttherapy.com/home

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American Art Therapy Association website: 

https://arttherapy.org/

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​​​​​​References:

Malchiodi, C. A. (2010). The art therapy sourcebook. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Malchiodi, C. A. (2012). Handbook of art therapy. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

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