Art Psychotherapy

Art psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses art to facilitate expression, reflection, exploration and interactions within the therapeutic context.
In the UK, Art Psychotherapy is taught at a master's level (MA). Art Psychotherapist is a professional title protected by law and is statutory registered and regulated by Health and Care Professional Council (HCPC).  Art Therapy is a powerful and flexible psychotherapy, which can use art and art-making as part of the therapeutic process.

Images can ‘talk’, helping you to see things in different ways or even help you to see things in a way you haven’t seen before.
The artwork keeps a record of your progress throughout therapy. At any time you can go back to see, reflect upon or continue work done in previous sessions.

Art can be fun and therapeutic itself but, in the presence of and facilitated by a trained and skilled psychotherapist, it can also help you to reflect and convey your thoughts,  feelings and heal.
This is a particularly helpful when words alone cannot express all; for instance when working with children or adults to process trauma.

Art psychotherapy does not depend on words alone and it can be helpful to anyone who may find difficulty in expressing themselves verbally.
An image can tell a lot better and in a lot more detail what could take a long time and be complicated to say in words.
An image can often reveal the complexity, interlink and integrate the many facets of the self.

Art therapy is not about art, it is about expression!

There is no expectation to use art either.

You do not have to be good at art: you have to want to express!

Art materials are provided, but you can bring your own art materials, objects or photographs to work on or from.

Art Therapy Derby offers individual art therapy sessions to:

- Children and young people
- Adults
- Families
- Other therapists and helping professionals (in training or in practice)