Frequently Asked Questions

✨Do I have to be an artist to engage in Creative Arts Therapy?

NO! You do not have to know how to paint or draw or have any special artistic talent. If you can scribble with a crayon, make a sound with your voice or make gestures with your arms and hands (or feet!), you can engage in Creative Arts Therapy.

✨Who is Creative Arts Therapy for?

For everyone of ALL ages and abilities. Lauren has extensive clinical experience supporting individuals from toddlers through to seniors. You do not need to have challenges with mental health or disabilities to engage in or benefit from Creative Arts Therapy.

✨How is Creative Arts Therapy particularly good for folks with disabilities (NDIS participants)?

Sessions are tailored to support NDIS goals, enhance emotional regulation, improve verbal and non-verbal communication skills, build new skills to enhance daily living, build confidence and resilience, and support whole-person development.

✨What is the difference between Therapeutic Art and Creative Arts Therapy?

Therapeutic Art (or Art as Therapy) can be viewed as a leisure activity for self-care, mindfulness and well-being. Therapeutic Art can be explored independently, in your own time, or in a small-group setting. Sometimes, making art in the company of others is the therapy! There is often a series of prompts that inspire creative exploration and self-reflection. It is considered a more top-down, surface-level approach. Space can be held by Arts Therapists, Artists, Support Services or Community Service providers.

Creative Arts Therapy (or Expressive Arts Therapy) uses various art forms as vehicles for creative expression, including visual arts, dance and movement, drama, sound and music, and more. The therapist helps determine which art form/s best support the expression, regulation, processing, and release of emotions. The Creative Arts Therapies can stand as an individual therapy (i.e., Music Therapy) or can be combined together in a multimodal manner (i.e., using Dance and Music while painting)

The emphasis is placed on non-verbal expression and on what emerges through the process; it is adapted to suit the client’s support needs, interests, age, cultural background and lived experience. It is often supported by Counselling/Talk Therapy as part of the whole-body process and integration. It is considered a more intentional, bottom-up, or inside-out approach, with benefits experienced in the short term. The relationship between the therapist and the participant is carefully observed and considered, hence space can only be held by a trained Creative Arts Therapist or Arts Psychotherapist.

Arts Psychotherapy follows the same principles as Creative Arts Therapy but is considered a deeper approach, with a deeper exploration of recurring symbols, stories and patterns. Internal and external resources are formed to help folks create sustainable, intentional change in their lives. Benefits are experienced over the long term. Again, space can only be held by a trained Creative Arts Therapist or Arts Psychotherapist.

✨What is Somatic Therapy?

Soma means “of the body” in Latin. Somatic-focused therapy (or Somatics) is an approach that tunes in to the body’s physical sensations and inner signals. When used alongside Creative Arts Therapy, these physical sensations can be named through the use of images, metaphors or symbols. These images can then be brought further into conscious awareness by the participant by exploring them in a number of creative ways - be that some form of visual art, poetic word, an expressive movement or sound.

This can also be flipped: the therapist can offer a symbol or metaphor for the participant to reflect on and sense within their body.

✨What is Sensorimotor Therapy?

Sensorimotor means the ability to coordinate sensory input with motor actions (physical movement). Closely related to Somatics, Sensorimotor Therapy is an approach that explores how the body responds, or does not respond, to external or internal sensory stimuli.

When working with individuals with neurodevelopmental or neurological disabilities, Sensorimotor Therapies help strengthen their fine and gross motor skills through sensory play, art-making, and expressive movement. This, in turn, can help them discover new pathways for what their bodies can do, build on their capacity, and enhance their daily living skills and quality of life.

When working with trauma-related disabilities, sensory play, art-making and expressive movement can slowly and gently aid the body and the nervous system in completing stress response cycles, effectively regulating and “rewriting” the body’s stories from adverse events.

The therapist's goal is to observe and, where appropriate, mirror the nuances of the participant's body language, bringing them into an awareness of their movements to invite further exploration and insight.

✨What does Neuro-Affirming practice mean?

A Neuro-Affirming practice views neurodivergence as natural variations in human biology, not “deficits” that need to be “cured” or “fixed”. Participants are encouraged to explore their unique brains and bodies, celebrate their strengths and abilities, and find tools and resources to live a sustainable, thriving, and authentic life.

✨What is Transpersonal Therapy?

The transpersonal has been defined as experiences in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche or cosmos.

In Lauren’s personal approach to Transpersonal Therapy, any conversations, creative imagery, cultural rituals or expressive movements related to mainstream religion, spirituality (inc. matriarchal, earth-based paths), non-ordinary states of consciousness (e.g., dreams, meditations), or even beyond-the-human encounters are welcome and can be safely explored with interest, compassion, and curiosity.

✨What does an “average” session look like with Lauren?

For some, a session may start with a gentle check-in and a conversation about what they would like to explore that day. This may involve a small ritual, such as a mindful body scan, gentle breathwork, or lighting a candle or incense. This conversation can lead to creative exploration, purely guided by the participant. Or sometimes, Lauren guides the client with a specific directive or modality. Lauren often takes notes or captures “keywords” in an open notebook that participants can read at any time to support their own insight and meaning-making or further enhance creative activity. Photos of the processes and outcomes are taken to support record-keeping and serve as a reflective tool for participants. Lauren then guides the participant through a series of prompts to explore the creative process and the completed outcome.

For others, the check-in and conversation are minimal, and participants are encouraged to explore the materials in the art room or in Lauren’s “Magickal Art Suitcase” and create from whatever emerges for them in those moments. Notes and “Keywords” are still recorded, and photos are taken, and the process and completed outcome are still explored using a series of prompts.

In some sessions, more conversation is involved, while in others, it’s all about the art-making or moving in companionable silence. Both or any variation in between is OK!

✨How much talking is expected in a Creative Arts Therapy and Counselling session?

The power of Creative Arts Therapy lies in nonverbal expression, which is well-suited to individuals with disabilities who have limited verbal communication capacity. That said, if you are highly verbal, Lauren is there to support you with classic talk therapy counselling approaches!

✨Can you eat or drink in session?

Lauren strongly encourages drinking water, tea or coffee, or eating (healthy!) snacks during sessions, as these often support sensory, emotional and energy regulation.

✨What happens with the visual artwork that is created?

Many artworks that clients wish to keep end up going home with them.

If the client wishes to keep the artwork, but it is not ideal for them to take it home, it is stored privately on-site in the clinical space or, for home or school visit participants, placed inside a container or folder for Lauren to look after in her home office.

Sometimes, as part of the psychotherapeutic process, a body of work is created over several weeks and is held onsite or collated in a container or folder for Lauren to look after, and brought out at a later date for exploration and reflection.

With the participant’s permission, any unwanted artworks are gently and lovingly destroyed or recycled, and, more often than not, are destroyed with the participant’s assistance as part of the therapeutic process.

✨What happens if a visual artwork is left incomplete?

Sometimes a visual artwork is completed in one session; sometimes it is an ongoing process for weeks or months, or it is not completed at all. And that is OK! That is how creativity works - it is all embraced!

✨What happens to photos that are taken in session?

Photos are often taken during sessions to support Lauren’s clinical record-keeping and to serve as a therapeutic tool that provides insight for the participant. Lauren always asks the participant for their permission to take photos.

DISCLAIMER:

The above responses to FAQs are based on Lauren’s own code of ethics, subjective understanding of and education around Creative Arts Therapy and do not reflect the opinions or knowledge of all Creative Mental Health practitioners.