Art Therapy
You can use art to expand your self-awareness in general, or to focus on and reconcile emotional conflicts that are blocking your way to peace and happiness.
Art therapy identifies process, form, content, and associations as reflections of an individual's inner self. The art therapist and the client work to explore the language, process and meaning of each artistic effort. Repressed, unconscious or emotionally charged material can be accessed more quickly than with verbal means alone.
Working in a physical and visual medium such as drawing, painting, or sculpting, helps you uncover unconscious or emotionally charged feelings that would otherwise be impossible to access simply through verbal means. These techniques work for children, adolescents and adults, and can be applied by art therapists to help individuals, couples, families, and other small groups to break unhealthy psychological and emotional barriers and nurture a sense of community.
No special skills or talent are needed to try Art Therapy! The Art Therapist guides you through the entire process, helping you select materials, identify themes and subject matter and use the artistic process in a revealing manner. It really works!
Download our brochure for more information!
Mesothelioma
Visit to learn how malignant mesothelioma patients are using art therapy to promote healing and reduce anxiety during cancer treatment.
Examples of Art Therapy Applications
For Children
Phobias and Social Skills Problems
Art gives both concrete and metaphoric form to fears and adverse social situations confronting children, allowing them to both understand and solve their problems.
Victimization Issues
Scary, embarrassing or taboo subjects can be given accessible form through art so the child feels safe while addressing threatening issues.
Loss/Abandonment/Grieving
The visual medium of art provides transitional objects for children moving through loss issues. It helps children move forward to new attachments while concretely leaving adverse situations or people behind.
For Adolescents
Substance Abuse
Use of alcohol and drugs often includes symbols of issues that can be expressed and explored in art therapy. Substance abuse masks feelings of anger, pain, and loneliness. Art provides a way to release these feelings.
Oppositional Defiant
Even when faced with behaviors like refusal to speak or drawing inappropriate imagery, art therapy can establish a means of expression for the adolescent.
Depression
Art therapy is an active, experiential therapy that challenges depressive symptoms and ideas. Imagery can also reveal suicidal ideations and plans.
For Adults
Marital and Family Dysfunction
Art therapy identifies communication patterns and family issues by making them concrete, external, and accessible.
Stress and Anxiety
Expressing loses, and the stresses of relationships and feelings in a visual form provide clarity and acceptance for the client. Communication is clearer and less distorted when expressed visually.
Location
Dianne Tennyson
409 Coleman Boulevard
Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina 29464
843.884.9479
jenndiann@comcast.net