Together we can decide whether working creatively would be beneficial to you. This approach to therapy is particularly helpful for trauma survivors, who may be unable to verbalize or put in words their feelings or experiences. Oftentimes, the impact of traumatic experiences are deeply hidden from conscious awareness as a way to protect us from the pain of those events. Working creatively with a wide range of mediums opens the way to a gentler and less threatening way of accessing those emotions which may be buried deep within.  Research has also shown that trauma can often get stuck in the body. Whilst painful emotions and memories can be trapped or stored on a cellular level, the impact of those traumatic events may still be experienced as physical symptoms. In other words, the body remembers what the mind cannot. An effective and safe way to release or discharge these stuck emotional energies or memories is through somatic work. Here, creative work can be a useful way to help give expression to these experiences and can be a key part of the healing process.

We may work together creatively in several different ways, including:

• Working creatively with symbols, pictures, cards, stones, figures, puppets
• Sand trays, drawing, painting, etc.
• Working with journaling, storytelling, fairy tales, poetry, bibliotherapy, phototherapy, and other similar approaches.
• We may also work with EFT or Tapping breathwork, and guided visualization.

If you find this way of working helpful I may ask you to do some artwork or other exercises to explore your feelings, both in session and between sessions.