Expressive Arts Therapy is a combination of psychotherapy and art-making practices that focuses on what is being expressed through the art and by the art-making itself rather than a focus on the outcome/product. Expressive arts practices use intermodality as a door-way to access deeper parts of the self, experience, mind, identity, spirit - or whatever one is interested in exploring. The art-making process can be a helpful tool in accessing and expressing experiences that are difficult to put into words, as well as transforming big and abstract ideas, feelings and concepts into tangible things that can be worked with. 

Intermodality is the moving between the different types of art-making to further expand the experience into whatever the art-making is working to conjure up, dive into, explore further or discover. This acts as a door-way into deeper parts of the self, experience, mind, etc. 

For example: Working with joy

You might start with drawing a picture of what joy looks like to you, you may focus on the colours and use pastels because you like the way they move. Then, you might make a poem based on what you are seeing and feeling in and from that image. Then, you might locate where you are feeling the feelings of the poem in your body. Then you might create a theme song for that part of your body and the joy within it.

My view on this is that there is no “good” art or “bad” art, only art. What makes something classify as good or bad is so subjective, but it also is not the focus of expressive art therapy. Instead, we will focus on working with art-making as a tool to explore, understand, express and experiment with different things that you are wanting to work with in therapy. We will be focused on the making, what that making feels like or means to you (in contrast to making something that others will think is appealing or will want to purchase). All skills are welcome - you do not need any training to make art here.

Please honour what works and does not work for you - self-determination and choice is key here. You get to decide what feels comfy and uncomfy for you and I will always try to do my best to listen, accommodate and meet you where you are at. If you need a break, a snack, to go to the bathroom - please please please, do that! Please be mindful and respect those you are sharing the space with. All supplies will be provided, unless stated otherwise in the promotional material or by Lex. If you have any concerns about accessing the space, please reach out to Lex. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a modality of talk therapy that works from the understanding that our thoughts, behaviours and emotions are all connected. My practice takes this understanding and builds on it - I work from the understanding that our thoughts, behaviours, emotions, physical sensations and spirit are all connected to one another.

Furthermore, we (and the respective parts listed) are in the soup of (and therefore, impacted by) the systems that have been built into our society (eg. the healthcare system, the education system).

While control over the systems and the power they hold over us is mostly out of our control, I feel that it is important to name and validate our experiences in response to the power that is held over us and the impact this can have on our mental health and wellbeing.

So, while I do use CBT skills in my practice, I try to be mindful in the ways that I am using those skills as to not invalidate the experiences and responses to systemic oppression that may arrive in our work together.