Art Therapy allows people to express feelings on any subject through creative work rather than with speech.
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Hi I’m Cheree, I’m a wife, mum to two gorgeous red head girls, dog and coffee lover and I live on the beautiful south coast in Kiama. From a young age I’ve always been creative, designing dresses for my barbies or painting my bedroom cupboards. Turning to art has always been something that gives me solace and space to release any emotion and allow the growth that I’ve needed. So it made sense to turn my passion and knowledge into a career that helps others achieve a better well-being and fuller life. Now I’m a qualified Art Therapist, HH Dip (A.TH.) and member with IICT. Prior to this my background has been in fashion & textiles, working as a designer in Australia and internationally for over 15yrs. In the past 3 yrs I took a new turn in my life and began a journey in personal development, learning about self help, mental health, behaviours and how our mental models can determine our outcomes. From here I discovered the power of Art Therapy.
I’m also continuing my knowledge and studying a Diploma of Counselling with AIPC (Australians Institute of Professional Counsellors). I’m extremely passionate about helping others and I believe Art Therapy can be beneficial in our journey towards healing or understanding where we are going in our life.
No previous artistic skills or experience is required to attend an art therapy session. Art therapy is more focused on the therapeutic benefits an individual gets from the art-making process, rather than what the finished artwork looks like.
No, all materials are provided by me and we will work with paints, clay, pencils to collage. Activities will be planned session to session, but if the client is more comfortable with a particular material we can stay with that.
The focus of an Art Therapy session is on the art making process, rather than the finished product. The act of making art can be profound and healing in itself, however an ‘amplification’ process may be used which allows the client to explore and gain insight from their work.
Any age really but I prefer to work with 8yrs and up. From teens, young adults, parents and age care. It supports young people with developmental, emotional and behavioural problems by providing a safe and creative space in which they can begin to explore their worries, concerns and feelings – with guidance and support It has been proven effective in reaching even the toughest of teens!
Together these two modalities work extremely well but they are different. A counsellor is more in the business of enabling a client to sort out their conscious, cognitive and emotional situation in their mind through verbal communication. Where as, an art therapist works on the visual component to communicate self expression. Issues are worked through the art making process, where the client will feel the emotional release or the therapist will help interpret the creative work facilitated for the client to understand further more.
The first 15 minutes of the session is gathering basic information about the client’s history and the reason for them deciding to explore art therapy. From here we would start with a basic art activity and discuss some goals together that they would like to work on throughout the following sessions.
To gain a real transformation and to apply art therapy to your life, I recommend 6 to 8 sessions on a fortnightly basis. At halfway we do a ‘check in’, a basic assessment of how things are going and see if we’re on the right path for the goals set in the initial consultation. At the end of the 6 to 8 sessions we can cease altogether or continue on a month to month basis if the client wishes to do so.
Payment is made on the day either by cash or eftpos facilities.
Aora Therapy is a registered provider for Creative Kids vouchers.
Aora Therapy can provide Art Therapy to NDIS clients who are self-managed or plan-managed.
Art therapy is about achieving goals and learning how, where and why our thoughts are developed. It is a way of expressing feelings in a creative way often without words.
0416 703 016
cheree@aoratherapy.com
@aoratherapy
