What’s an Art Therapy session like? A San Diego Art Therapist explains.
As an Art Therapist in San Diego, there are some questions I commonly get asked. I think one of the most common questions is “What is Art Therapy?”. Another question I’m asked is “What’s an Art Therapy session like”? My first response is, “It depends” because there are several factors that come together in an art therapy session.
Who will be the Art Therapist?
The therapist you choose, whether in traditional talk therapy or in art therapy, is a big factor in what therapy sessions will be like. That’s because the basis for any mental health treatment begins with a therapeutic relationship. Additionally, a therapist’s training, experiences, and theoretical orientation will also impact what a session is like.
If you feel safe with the therapist you choose, then you will feel safer sharing the hard stuff. Part of feeling safe might be how the person speaks with you and how they explain the process of therapy. In art therapy, it might be a person who not only explains the process of therapy but also helps guide you in the use of art materials in ways that help you feel more at ease.
I encourage you, if you are interested in participating in art therapy, to seek out an art therapist credentialed through the Art Therapy Credential Board (ATCB). As a national credentialing board, the ATCB ensures the educational and professional standards needed to be a qualified art therapist are met and maintained. This is essential in any mental health field to provide an ethical standard of care and improve treatment outcomes.
Where is the Art Therapy session going to happen?
What a session is like is greatly dependent on where the art therapy session is conducted. I have been helping people, using art in therapy since 2009, and over that time I have facilitated lots of different types of art therapy sessions. Art therapy is conducted in medical hospitals, as well as inpatient mental health facilities. Art therapy is provided at group homes for foster children, drug & rehabilitation centers, as well as dementia care facilities. Personally, I have worked in a variety of locations, including shelters, schools, and homes.
In my early years as an Art Therapy student, and Marriage & Family Therapy intern, I earned hours with local hospice organizations. There were a variety of art therapy sessions. I would sometimes travel to patients’ homes or if a patient was in a facility, I would provide art therapy at their bedside. That often involved a tray and materials I could easily transport in a bag. For those patients, art therapy was an interaction with art materials that provided opportunities for choice, distraction, and a rich sensory experience. Sometimes it was an opportunity to connect with someone who was not a family member or part of the medical staff.
I also worked with bereaved families, often with children and/or a spouse, who lost a loved one to cancer. Those sessions were often in a home, sitting at a kitchen table, or the coffee table in the living room. One session was conducted while sitting with a young child in their backyard playhouse.
More recently, working in private practice, I provide art therapy to adults and children struggling with anxiety. Even though it’s an office setting it feels more home-like than a facility. There’s furniture, like a couch and chair to “talk”, but there is also a table, with seating and a “buffet of art materials”. There is a small kitchenette that provides clients access to a sink to wash their hands and rinse out brushes.
What art materials are available for Art therapy sessions?
Often, the environment or location will dictate what type of materials are offered. The materials also greatly impact the art therapy session experience. Offices and hospitals tend to work with "cleaner" clays, water-based markers, and paints. In my private practice office setting, clients are invited to choose materials they prefer, including a variety of markers, coloring pencils, oil pastels, crayons, and watercolors. Materials also often include an assortment of paper types and sizes along with “tools” likes paintbrushes, pencils, erasers, scissors, and glue.
A favorite medium of many people, in a variety of settings, is a box of magazines pictures to use when creating their own images feels too intimidating. Clients are sometimes surprised how photo images can spark a memory and/or communicate metaphorically about an issue they are grappling with in therapy.
You might also experience individual art therapy sessions in an art studio environment which invites larger expression and permission for messier processes that are often non-compatible with furniture-filled office spaces. For example, working with dusty chalk pastels, larger-scale paintings, and earthen clay/ceramics.
Number of People- Individual or Group Art Therapy?
A person’s experience of an art therapy session is different depending on if you choose to participate as part of a group or you choose to meet privately with an art therapist. Some people experience art therapy for the first time if they need to stay at a mental health hospital to stabilize. When I worked with patients at an inpatient facility, the “sessions” were mostly group art therapy. Patients would come to a large room, with tables and chairs, and work in more of a classroom environment.
Sessions here were sometimes referred to as “open studio” art therapy where patients were given many options, and were more self-directed in art creation, with the goal of self-expression. For other groups, there are “group plans” with prepared interventions or directives, or chosen themes. Individuals are given time for making art and time to process as a group. Processing may involve going around the room and sharing about what you created if you so choose to share.
In private practice, I provide individual art therapy, and family art therapy, usually with a parent and child. I use a more directive approach, where I provide some direction based on the needs of my client and their individualized treatment plan. Again, clients are given time to create art and time to talk about their art. The aspect of choice is very important, so within a directive, a client chooses what materials feel right for them. Additionally, clients can choose how much they want to share about their personal creations.
Complimentary consultation for Art Therapy in San Diego, CA
My name is Tami and as Registered Art Therapist in San Diego, CA I have helped adults and children tell their stories and share their emotions in powerful ways using creative expression. If you are in the San Diego area and are interested to learn more about my therapy services in-person and online please click here to schedule a free, 15-minute phone consultation. To learn more about how I use art therapy to help with anxiety and trauma, click here, to visit my Art Therapy specialty page.
To learn more about Art Therapy here are some links to other blogs I have written about the topic.