Expressive Arts Therapy is an arts-based approach to psychotherapy AND ENERGY PSYCHOLOGY that engages and supports the client through a process of creative expression to help them reconnect with their inner resources.

2. When the tongue fails,
Art Therapy starts

3. 
 The classical art therapy is about drawing, painting,
sculpture and collage
 Expressive Art Therapy integrates two or more
expressive therapies (Music: Dancing, Singing,
Drama: Acting, Literature: Poetry, Story writing and
telling to foster awareness, encourage emotional
growth, enhance relationships with others and to
effect positive changes in the psychological, physical,
cognitive, or social functioning of individuals with
any health problems.
Difference between Art Therapy and
Expressive Art Therapy

4. 
 Dr. Albert Mehrabian, author of Silent Messages, conducted
several studies on nonverbal communication. He found that
7% of any message is conveyed through words, 38% through
certain vocal elements, and 55% through nonverbal elements
(facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc). Subtracting the
7% for actual vocal content leaves one with the 93% statistic.
Most of our communication is
NONVERBAL

5. 
Conscious vs. Subconscious

6. 
 Art therapy is based on the assumption that visual symbols and
images are the most accessible and natural form of
communication to the human experience.
 Art expression is a form of energy traveling in a communicative
manner between your body, mind, soul and the chosen
medium.
 Art therapy transforms inner healing and visibly connects you
with what is subconsciously buried; allowing for a clearing and
cleansing of emotional holding patterns while grounding you
into your body.
Art Therapy – the Super Highway to
the Subconscious

7. 
 Through drawing and painting, elderlies become capable of
delving into long forgotten memories.
 Art therapy programs help elderlies exercise their brains.
Music (ADHD & Mozart) and Drawing has shown a 70%
success rate improving the memories of patients with
Dementia and Alzheimer.
 Stimulating the body through free-style dance can ward off
Dementia just as physical exercise keeps the body fit. It
transforms from pain to happiness! Music is the Rhythm of
Life!
Art Therapy for Elderlies

8. 
Expressive Art of Dance

9. 
 Provides a non-verbal safe medium of communication and a
protected space.
 Supports psychosocial and emotional needs of patients and
their families in a creative way.
 Provides developmentally-based interventions to educate
children about death and dying.
 Allows patients and families to express their feelings about
death and the dying process.
 Provides pain and symptom management.
 Helps decreasing anxiety while increasing opportunities to
express feelings.
 Helps facing the diagnosis/prognosis.
Art Therapy for the dying and
their families

10. 
 The responsibilities of caregiving create enormous pressures (e.g.
psycho-emotional: anticipatory grief, compassion fatigue) and health
risks resulting in a physical or mental collapse, called BURNOUT. Self-
care becomes an essential part of a caregiver’s life.
 Art Therapy helps with letting oneself go and giving up the defenses,
which were built up in order to survive.
 Studies of a group experiment with caregivers, as it developed within
the group process showed the effectiveness of drawing art, in making
inner turmoil and emotional trauma accessible to consciousness and
in providing participants with more viable modes of relating to
others, to the life/work experience as well as to oneself.
Art Therapy for Caregivers

11. 
 It is vital as helping professionals to recognize the symptoms of
secondary trauma and compassion fatigue.
 Through Self-Care it is possible to establish and maintain a
healthy balance between professional work and personal life.
 Develop a solid network of professional and personal friends
with whom an Art Therapy Group can be formed to meet
regularly.
 Strengthen creative outlets such as drawing, painting,
photography, dance, acting, writing, crafting, and other similar
stimulating activities.
 Visual journaling assists emotional reparation and supports self-
regulation and stress reduction.
Art Therapy: Self-Care

12. 
 How Do I Feel Today? This is also called a “feelings journal.” Spend a little time each
day drawing using colors, shapes, lines or images.
 Spontaneous Imagery. Create a scribble or free-form lines and looking for images
within those lines.
 Non-Dominant Hand Drawing. Experiment to see what emerges.
 Working Within a Circle. Start a “mandala journal.”
 Photo Collage Journaling means collecting your favorite images, words or quotes from
magazines or books, and/ or print memorabilia. It also can be a creative
diary/scrapbook. (Vision board vs Vision Book)
 Intention Journal with a particular intention in mind [e.g. a gratitude practice or a
goal].
 Altered Book/Altered Story Re-writing of old novel or children’s storybook]
Self-Care Exercises

13. 
Examples

14. 
It’s been a great pleasure for me to speak
at your meeting today!