Art Therapy
What is Art Therapy?
Art Therapy encourages the expression of feelings, dreams, memories and inner conflicts using simple art materials. Giving visual form to this internal world is often easier than using words alone.
Unlike traditional verbal counseling, Art Therapy invites the client to make images that may emerge from a deeper, more sub-conscious source than words do. The art making process helps by-pass old, limiting thought patterns and allows the therapy to flow more gently and freely. The creative process and the resulting images help bring our deepest feelings into awareness and allow for dialogue and healing insight to unfold.
Is Art Therapy Right for You?
Art Therapy is effective for all age-groups and diverse populations.
In Stephanie’s art therapy sessions, she focuses on helping
women in transition. If you are experiencing any of the following issues, Art Therapy may be very useful:
Divorce / Separation- Grief / Loss
- Pregnancy
- New Motherhood / Post-partum Depression
- Reproductive Issues
- Perimenopause / Menopause
- Weight Issues
- Medical Diagnosis
- Career Change or Loss
- Illness in Family / Aging Parents
- Creative Blocks
- Spiritual Exploration
- Loss of Identity / Self
During major life transitions, wounds can be opened – old and new. You may experience a disconnection from your Authentic Self leading to depression, anxiety, conflicted relationships or loss of self-esteem. You may find you are trying too hard to control a world that seems out of control.
How Can I Benefit from Art Therapy?
Art Therapy can help you bring wounds – old and new – into visual form. Through further art making and growing trust in your intuition, you can
create your own healing journey from within – these wounds can become gems!
Art Therapy offers you a way to re-connect with your Authentic Self. Spontaneous expression brings you into dialogue with a deeper, more intuitive part of your Self. When intuition is fully active, feelings are truly felt – expansion, release and relief can now occur!
Art Therapy encourages you to surrender control in a safe environment – it invites you to trust that your intuitive wisdom knows where to guide you.
Art Therapy may help you achieve the following:
Self-Awareness- Improved Self-Esteem
- Empowerment
- Self-Acceptance
- Self-Compassion
- Greater Joy
- Greater Creativity
- Playfulness
- Improved Relationships
- Deeper Intuition
- Un-Blocked Feelings
- Greater Energy
- Barriers to Success Removed
You are full of immense potential – for joy, wisdom, success and health. In Creativity, you have no limits!
What Happens in an Art Therapy Session?
Art therapy sessions provide a safe, non-judgmental space for this healing journey to unfold. Stephanie’s approach is gentle, joyful and client-centered.
This is your space! She offers generous amounts of room, paint and paper for your self-expression. During an Art Therapy session, you will paint while standing – this allows for a more active flow of energy. She provides high-quality, non-toxic liquid tempera paint in 12 glorious colours. These paints are water-soluble and easy to clean up. Aprons are provided.
Each session begins with a brief relaxation exercise – to clear the mind and to encourage mindfulness of breath and body.
Stephanie encourages her clients to use their painting process as a form of meditation: to let go of attachments to old thought processes, and to access and surrender to the deeper, more intuitive parts of Self.
You may choose to paint in silence, or to engage in dialogue. At the end of your painting process, we can discuss the thoughts and feelings that arose while you painted, and that may arise as you observe the finished (or unfinished) painting.
Each session concludes with a check-in about how you are feeling in mind, body and spirit – Art Therapy is a holistic process and it is important to ensure that you leave the session feeling well-integrated and safe.
Your art work is confidential and will be kept in a private place to dry until you take it home with you the following week.
Individual sessions are 60 or 75 minutes long.
Do I Need Art Experience?
No art experience is necessary. We are all born to create! Watch a young child paint spontaneously – without self-judgment, criticism or censorship.
Art Therapy is not concerned about making nice pictures. It is the process that is important. The heart needs freedom to express – to be spontaneous and authentic. Allow yourself this gift . . .
Rates
A free, 20 minute initial consultation is available for new clients. Email
stephanie@alchemyelixir.com
for more information.
Individual Sessions:
60 minutes: $110
75 minutes: $120
Group Sessions (3 – 4 participants):
90 minutes: $180
2 hours: $200
(prices include GST)
Extended Health Benefits Coverage
The British Columbia Medical Services Plan does not cover services provided by Registered Clinical Counselors or Registered Art Therapists.
A portion of the fees are reimbursable under some extended health plans. Contact your plan administrator directly to determine eligibility requirements, claim limits and claim procedures. Plan administrators may need to know whether a physician has provided a referral, the educational background of the practitioner, and professional registrations.
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