Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses the creative process of making art to improve mental, emotional, and physical well-being. While particularly effective with children, art therapy is beneficial for individuals of all ages.
In art therapy sessions, individuals are encouraged to express themselves through various art forms, including drawing, painting, sculpture, and collage. The focus is not on artistic skill or creating a masterpiece, but on the process of creation and self-expression.
This may be a good fit if…
- ✓Words run out, or never quite fit what you are trying to say
- ✓You are a child or teenager for whom sitting and talking for fifty minutes is a lot to ask
- ✓Something happened before you had language for it
- ✓Talking about it makes you go blank or shut down
- ✓You process visually and have always known it
Key benefits
A way in that does not depend on words
Some experiences are stored as image and sensation. Making something externalises it, so you and the therapist can look at it together rather than trying to reconstruct it in conversation.
It lowers the stakes
Working on a page puts a small distance between you and the material, which is often exactly enough to make it approachable. Children in particular will show through an image what they will not say directly.
The nervous system settles while you work
Repetitive, absorbing, tactile activity is regulating in its own right. Clients frequently find themselves saying things at the table that they could not say sitting face to face.
You end up with something that stays
The work is a record. Looking back over months of images shows change in a way that memory of sessions does not.
How Art Therapy works
The Art Therapy Cycle
Making, looking, and talking, in a loop. The artwork becomes a bridge between feeling and language.
Create
Paint, draw, collage, or sculpt. No art skill needed; the process matters, not the product.
Look
Step back and notice what showed up: colors, shapes, what is missing, what is emphasized.
Reflect
Talk it through with your therapist. The image gives feelings a place to land before words.
Integrate
Connect what emerged to your life and goals, then carry it into the next piece.
How art therapy runs here
A session is not an art class and your therapist will not comment on technique. Materials are offered, sometimes with a prompt and sometimes not, and what you make becomes the thing you talk about, or do not. Nothing is interpreted at you; if your therapist has a thought about an image, they will ask rather than announce.
- Materials chosen for the person: clay and paint hold differently from pencil
- No requirement to explain a piece before you are ready
- Work kept safely between sessions, and yours to take whenever you want it
- Talk therapy woven in rather than replaced
Who it suits at Crown Counseling
We use art therapy most often with children and adolescents, with adults processing preverbal or early trauma, and alongside other work when someone has hit a wall in talking. It is not a lesser option for people who cannot manage real therapy, and no artistic ability is involved at any point.
What to expect
Art therapists are trained to guide the creative process and help interpret the symbolic and metaphoric messages often conveyed in the artwork. Children often view art-making as play rather than therapy, which can increase engagement and reduce resistance.
- 1
An unhurried first session about what brings you in, with materials available but no pressure to use them
- 2
An invitation to make something, sometimes to a prompt, sometimes open
- 3
Working alongside your therapist rather than being observed by them
- 4
Conversation about the piece led by you, not interpretation delivered to you
- 5
Your work stored securely between sessions
- 6
Sessions that combine making and talking in whatever proportion helps
Ready to start?
Tell us a little about yourself and we will match you with a clinician trained in Art Therapy.
Get matched →Therapists trained in Art Therapy
