Expressive Arts Therapy

Expressive Arts Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that engages clients in an exploratory process of open-ended play using the arts interchangeably in order to reconnect with one’s self and with the world by using kinetic, audial, visual, musical and language arts-based interventions providing an objective container for exploring personal matters. 

For some people who have a hard time articulating what they are feeling, self-expression through art can be useful. Expressive arts therapy draws from a variety of art forms, and this integration of methods can help access emotions. 

This type of therapy can be especially useful for people who may not be able to vocalize what they feel. 

Journaling, storytelling, reading literature and poetry, as well as making life maps, videos, and memory books are all forms of expressive art therapy; helping clients review and make meaning of their lives; this is a way to tell their life stories, as well as work through and heal from traumatic experiences. 

• Playing music

• Listening to music

• Writing lyrics

• Theater or improvisation

• Reading or writing poetry

• Journaling

• Reading fiction

• Drawing

• Painting or fingerpainting

• Sculpting

• Dancing

The therapeutic work is based on the creative process, not on the final result, therefore, it is not necessary to have a background or training in the arts to benefit from this expressive therapy. Throughout the process, you learn new and different ways to use the mostly nonverbal language of creativity to communicate inner feelings that were not previously available to you by simply thinking or talking about them.

At the core of expressive arts therapy is the concept of poiesis, the Greek root word for poetry, which refers to the natural process of moving from everyday expectations into the world of imagination and creativity that results in art-making. Art comes from a deep emotional place within you. Creativity becomes the pathway to the expression of inner feelings, leading to a process of self-discovery and understanding.