Creative Counselling combines traditional talking therapy with creative techniques such as art, music and movement. Everlight Psychology offers an art-based approach to creative therapy which can include using art such as drawing, painting or collage to explore your thoughts and feelings. Creative counselling at Everlight may also involve creative writing, art journaling, using cards, images and exploring dreams. It is important to note that you do not need to be good at art to benefit from creative therapy, the techniques and materials are a tool to access your feelings and explore the challenges you face. Rather than judging the work you create, you will be encouraged to explore what it means to you and how you felt while creating it.
Creative counselling can work well when individuals do not consciously know what the problem is or what might help, this approach can help explore the subconscious and is a useful tool to help communicate without words, which can be helpful if you struggle to explain or describe how you are feeling. Creative techniques can help you uncover feelings and emotions you did not realise you felt and can support you to process these feelings. A creative approach can also help you understand yourself better, look at a problem or situation from a new perspective, explore difficult experiences and communicate things that are hard to talk about.
Overall, creative counselling complements traditional talking therapy rather than replacing it completely. It is an approach aimed at individuals who are interested in more than one way to explore their thoughts, feelings and experiences.