EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY

“When it is working, you completely go into another place, you’re tapping into things that are totally universal, completely beyond your ego and your own self. That’s what it’s all about.” – Keith Haring

 

Creative Workshop Group as living sculpture.

Creative Workshop Group as living sculpture.

 

I love this description of EAT.

“Expressive arts therapy is the practice of using imagery, storytelling, dance, music, drama, poetry, movement, dreamwork, and visual arts together, in an integrated way, to foster human growth, development, and healing. It is about reclaiming our innate capacity as human beings for creative expression of our individual and collective human experience in artistic form. Expressive arts therapy is also about experiencing the natural capacity of creative expression and creative community for healing.” (Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective, 2003, Expressive Arts Therapy: Creative Process in Art and Life. Boone, NC: Parkway Publishers. p. 3)

In my practice I will latch onto whatever expression my client feels comfortable exploring and jump onto that ride. I have toys, doll houses, crayons, drums and a lot of patience, so my folks always feel safe in seeing where their imagination will take them. They know I am a kid at heart and my enthusiasm for play knows no bounds.

 

Expressive Arts Therapy Seminar at Greenhouse Therapy Center

Art Therapy with Menus

An exercise from a Rehearse For Life creative arts workshop in which blank restaurant menus were used as personal statements.

A doll’s house becomes a place to explore our family history- all under the watchful eye of Father Time.

A doll’s house becomes a place to explore our family history- all under the watchful eye of Father Time.

Hand to hand combat.

Hand to hand combat.

A giant Drum Circle of Expressive Arts Therapists.

A giant Drum Circle of Expressive Arts Therapists.

Ecstatically Dancing

Ecstatically Dancing

“Those who danced were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” -Nietzsche