What is art therapy?
Art therapy is a specialized form of psychotherapy that uses art making and creative expression to support healing and recovery. My approach to art therapy is embedded in a relational-cultural framework. This evolving feminist framework supports the belief that individual suffering takes place inside the larger context of social inequity, including systems of oppression like white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, ableism, heterosexism, and transphobia, among others. As a practitioner, I work to be mindful of issues related to culture, power, and identity, including how these may manifest in the therapeutic relationship. From a relational-cultural lens, we recognize that trauma often happens in the context of our relationships. We seek to use the therapeutic relationship itself as a space that can promote emotional repair and healing from these relational wounds, including suffering that emerges from the loss of a sense of safety or belonging. Therapy becomes a place to build trust, explore relationship patterns, look at personal boundaries, understand formative relationships, practice authenticity, engage conflict, and process fears. We use art making and creative self-expression in session to process and move through feelings, build self-esteem, deepen insight, and learn skills for emotional soothing and coping practices.