Art Therapy Sydney
What is Art Therapy?
Adrian Hill coined the term after noticing the benefits drawing had on the healing process while hospitalised for tuberculosis.
He went on to lead drawing and painting classes for other patients who, he believed, took their minds off of their ailments and relieved their mental distress.
After World War II more and more soldiers were coming home with noticeably different behaviours and personalities. Art Therapy became an important tool in treating these soldiers who seemed to cope better with their trauma once they could create images that expressed their inner feelings. In many ways, their art was a way to release the pent up emotions and memories that haunted them from combat.
As the benefits of art therapy on soldiers became more prominent, therapists began to wonder how art therapy may be used to benefit the general population. Gestalt therapy and other approaches began adopting art exercises into their practices.
The Science behind Art Therapy
The brain contains 100 billion neurons in different clustered regions. Research done by the Human Connectome Project shows that mindfulness increases the interconnectivity of the connectome—the network of widely distributed neural connections in the brain. Another set of studies shows that the level of connection in your connectome—the level of integration—is the best predictor of well-being.
All regulation—like regulating your emotions, mood, attention, thoughts, behaviour, relationships, or even morality—appears to be dependent on integration in the brain. So the more connected your neural mechanisms are, the more integrated you will be and the more self-regulating you'll be in all these areas of your life.
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Dr Daniel J Siegel, drew on this research to compose The Wheel of Awareness, a visual metaphor for the integration of consciousness.
When we produce art we move beyond the 5 senses learning to control attention and choosing where to place it, bringing new powers of concentration and focus. Benefits of art therapy include improved mental and emotional wellbeing as well as reduced stress. Higher levels of empathy, emotional intelligence, intuition and interpersonal skills. Benefits in physical health and one can expect a reduction in anxiety and depression.
Who Are Arts Therapists?
Arts Therapists are university trained health professionals who use creative processes to help people explore feelings that may be hard to get in touch with or put into words.
They utilise visual and creative arts in conjunction with psychotherapeutic and psychological tools to diagnose mental health and improve a client’s well-being.
Mural from Art Program at Macquarie Prison
From a young age, I was drawn to personally doing art for therapeutic value. Over the years I combined my formal education in a bachelor of social sciences, certificates in youth work as well as community services while working in each of these fields with a diverse range of people.
Having conducted group art therapy sessions for community organisations as well as individually through my counselling business I offer a service that is honed through education, experience and my intuitive giftings.
