Expressive Therapies
Expressive Therapies
A non- directive, experiential, relationship based approach for all ages that works with the body and emotions towards healing and growth. Supporting and facilitating self-knowledge, emotional acceptance and growth, and the optimal development of personal resources.
The Expressive Therapies Studio provides access to a diverse choice of symbols and materials that can support a person to move deeply into the self, revealing, exploring and integrating their inner and outer worlds, making healing and repair possible.
Inner regulation, understanding and integration builds from reflective exploration with a therapist alongside.
Through therapeutic companionship, the client can develop inner discoveries and resources, and build secure attachment within themselves.
Sand Tray & Symbol Work
The free and protected space within the contained world of the sandtray can support the exploration of hidden causes behind issues, and reveal new narratives and supportive solutions.
The symbols are imbued with meaning by the client. Working with symbols helps us to externalise our experiences and internal narratives, so we can make sense of our world.
The symbols, sandtray and expressive materials act as a bridge, or mediator, between the unconscious and the conscious. They also open the way for the therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client, and provide a non-verbal language for empathic communication.
This relationship in this ‘free and protected space’ enables the ‘ideal atmosphere for a childlike freedom’ that can bring us out from behind our defenses and into the light of day. (Dora Kalff)
The Body Keeps the Score! (Bessel Van Der Kolk)
Intense emotions and traumatic situations become imprinted in the body and memory.
Squid squirt ink when they get a fright.
The ink imprints on the cuttlefish bone and keep the score of its life's trauma.
While we can not erase the imprint, a clear slate for new narratives, experiences and growth lies ahead.
