Also known as expressive arts, this is the use of the creative arts as a tool for enhancing wellbeing and personal development. ‘Creative arts’ is an umbrella term, with common types including art-making, movement, role-play, writing and music. However private sessions are made to suit the individual, and are often art based but with the integration of storytelling and imagery for example. Other counselling or therapeutic modalities may then be used to pick up on findings from the art-work. And you do not need to be good at art; it’s nothing to do with realistic drawings!

From depression to learning difficulties to chronic pain, having an outlet for authentic expression is a key to moving forwards. Words alone can act as a barrier for articulating all that is within, whereas art-making and other creative disciplines have a truer, more direct route to accessing feelings. In guided art-making a person may gain a deeper level of self-awareness, explore relationships with the self and others, and make the unconscious conscious so as to move forwards in life.