Art and Mental Health

In this article I have highlighted some of my recent artworks and my approach to using art in a therapeutic way. I hope you will enjoy these images - I also hope that they might give you an insight into my ways of working and the value I place on connecting with the creativity that is our birth-right.

Over my history as an artist, educator and psychotherapist, I have found art to be both a joy and a solace - and a way of finding out about myself.

I have explored feelings, found symbols and used my visuality to find a meaningful narrative through challenging times.

We can all find other ways of knowing and communicating through the beauty of art. It is my hope to be able to share this art-based potential for creating and understanding. It is something with which we are all born - but for many reasons it seems to disappear or diminish as we grow up.

It can become devalued and forgotten, left behind with other childish things, yet it can also be rediscovered and cherished as a way of understanding ourselves better.

Sometimes, there are things that happen to us or things that sit in our bodies that are not available to ordinary language. These experiences and parts of ourselves are ineffable and unconscious, split off from everyday knowledge - yet they still influence our ways of being in the world.

That is where the language of art can help us.

We can find out about what we feel and what is going on for us through making paintings, constructing objects and playing with materials. We can get in touch with those parts of ourselves that have never been acknowledged or understood.

My hope is to share this unique way of knowing and understanding with everyone who seeks my help.