Expressive Arts Therapies

Expressive Arts Therapies use digital media or traditional arts and crafts materials to help clients express themselves more effectively. Therapists use art therapies in conjunction with traditional psychotherapy in clinical settings for clients of all ages to promote mental health.

Writing, movement, drama, music and other forms of art is used as part of several integrative mental health interventions and complementary practices. The logic behind expressive art therapy is that people often find it easier to express themselves in symbols, pictures and movement. By allowing this artistic expression, clients can express their thoughts and emotions easily, while finding the path to transformation, recovery and wellness.

If you are looking for a therapist who offers Expressive Arts Therapies, please browse our list of practitioners below..

Play therapy uses the client's internal self-healing mechanisms to access unconscious and conscious experiences. The therapist forms a relationship with the client and encourages him or her to explore life events that affect his or her current life experience.

During play therapy, the therapist works at the client's pace. Talking is secondary to play in this form of therapy, and as such the client is encouraged to play while the therapist observes.

Play Therapy is suitable for adults too, as it helps them to relearn self-exploration, which enhances physical and cognitive behaviours. Play therapy gives children and adults freedom, increased creativity and life experience.

If you are looking for a therapist who offers Play Therapy, please browse our list of practitioners below..

Bio-Energetics aims to resolve emotional issues and helps clients to reach their potential and to enjoy a pleasure-filled life. A form of psychodynamic psychotherapy, bio-energetics focusses on the mind-body connection and therapists consider the client's structure, breathing and movement patterns in therapy.

Psychotherapists who practice bioenergetics are very aware of the psychological defences that also appear in the client's body. The body's unique structural patterns in which the muscles inhibit self-expression. Bioenergetics psychotherapists believe that each physical expression has meaning.

During a bio-energetics session, the psychotherapist will introduce the client to exercises and other physical expressions that can help the client explore the freedom of releasing those patterns and to recover some of the repressed feelings inside of them. The result is that the client will become more free and spontaneous and enjoy life feeling safer and healthier with a strong connection to his or her inner self.

If you are looking for a counsellor who offers bio-energetic therapy, please browse our list of practitioners below..