My-Art Therapy; peace of mind therapy

Now more than ever is the time to reset - help heal your perceptions of painful or difficult situations in your personal and/or professional lives and create a preferred future.

Drawing on the transpersonal paradigm, My-Art Therapy focuses on Self-expression and Communication, and on Self-awareness raising.

Anyone who wants to better understand him- or herself, and anyone who wants to improve his or her relationships, mental wellbeing, and personal and professional resilience, will benefit.
Both face-to-face and online sessions and workshops are also available for staff in organisations and individual professional people who want to manage their stress better and resolve conflict in the workplace.This, in turn, will help them to better service people in the community.

My-Art therapy also assists self- and plan-managed NDIS participants and their carers, to aid in recognising and self-regulating sensory experiences, provide a relief from verbal communication demands, and exploring self-expression through visual and kinaesthetic communication.

Art therapy is a gentle, non-verbal form of therapy that allows you to reveal yourself, in your own pace and personal space, and to recognise and restore parts of yourself through creative expression. Art therapy is a therapeutic practice. It combines art and (transpersonal) psychology. It uses the creative process, artistic techniques and external artwork to support individuals to develop self-awareness, explore emotions and address unresolved conflict or trauma. The art therapist will choose and facilitate art activities that are helpful to you, help you to find meaning in the creative process, facilitate your sharing of the experience of image making, and for you to make sense out, gain insight into, and come to a resolve around your area of concern.

In general, art therapy is less threatening, less confrontational than traditional talk therapy. You can express your emotions easily and safely; only you know what you express in the artwork. It allows you to feel your emotions at a deeper level in the kinesthetic experience of art making; it allows you to express and communicate what is felt inside out. After having made the artwork, the art therapist asks you questions about the artwork in which you have expressed your issue. The questions are not directed at you, so you can more objectively and safely look at your issue, together with the art therapist. The artwork remains the object of conversation and you talk about the product you have created. In the process, you get the recognitions and you raise your self-awareness. The art therapist also encourages you to see the artwork from different angles, which allows you to see your story from different sides. Both 2-dimensional (e.g. painting, drawing) and 3-dimensional mediums (e.g. sandtray, sculptures) are used in the process.

All individuals have the capacity to express themselves creatively. You do not need to be artistically inclined or interested. In art therapy, the product is not important. There is no need to make pretty or accurately looking images. Art therapy aims to help individuals overcome emotional or psychological challenges to achieve a greater sense of personal well being.

For more information about my background, visit https://myarttherapy.com.au

You might also like to peruse my blogs on that website.

• It gave me a terrific lift and a reassuring self-confidence boost. I loved the sculpture I made; it is so representative of me and reminded me of my resilience. I have it on my work desk and consider it a personal treasure.

  C., QLD

• I absolutely loved this work in its entirety, even when I felt terribly vulnerable and challenged. The ability of the therapist (José) to subtly guide me to discover, challenge and recover things about myself, my inner thoughts and beliefs systems is so admirable. Then to be able to recognise strength amidst the chaos or inner resilience is a game changer for me !

  K., QLD

• Thank you so much for the morning Jose, my team enjoyed the art therapy workshop immensely and the staff have all said positive things about the activities, the reflections offered and your facilitation. It was a great finish to a big year but the start hopefully of a better 2021.

  Community organisation manager, QLD