Being Yourself in Therapy

(An intro to our Expressive Arts techniques, and how they support you)

Have you ever doodled on your notebook in school? You may have gotten caught by your teacher with them saying you weren’t paying attention. You may have been confused by this, because you truly were paying attention! Drawing on your notebook was helping you stay focused in class without being completely overwhelmed by everything else happening in the room. When you weren’t able to doodle anymore, your mind drifted and then you really weren’t paying attention to the teacher. 

This same feeling can come up in traditional therapy settings. Sitting across a room from a therapist who expects you to maintain eye contact and keep your hands at your side can feel impossible! And your brain might not work that way. You may need to be doing something else to help you stay present. And that is awesome! (And we don’t expect eye contact or still hands, either.)

Expressive arts can be a very helpful tool that lets us keep present in session while letting our brains work the way that feels best for them. This might be painting while sharing a memory or making a clay sculpture that represents something important to you. It may even simply be doodling on a paper in order to feel present!

Therapists at The Hope Preserve understand that lots of people don’t  thrive with the traditional talk therapy norms, so we focus on making a space that invites  feeling present in whatever way works best for you . We have various sensory objects and many other expressive art tools that allow you to feel comfortable in session and in control of your experience.